The Iola Register, Oct. 26, 2022

EMS: Iola to ask county to return to the bargaining table

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

The Iola-Allen County EMS saga may soon take another turn.

City officials will ask if Allen County is willing to re turn to the bargaining table to renegotiate the city’s am bulance contract — even if it means divesting Iola from providing emergency medi cal services altogether.

City Council members Monday discussed further their decision earlier this

month to split Iola’s fire and emergency medical services, and have separate personnel for each.

As part of the discussion, City Administrator Matt Re hder asked for — and now has received — the Coun cil’s blessing to approach the county about renegotiating the contract ratified in late 2021.

The issue, Rehder ex plained previously, is a chron ic manpower shortage within the Iola Fire Department, in part because many fire

fighters are less enthusiastic about working on an ambu lance crew, while emergency medical technicians, para medics and other EMS staff ers are less inclined to want to fight fires.

Having separate services is projected to cost an extra $600,000 annually, primarily because of the added per sonnel to keep both running smoothly.

The city’s 2023 budget for the existing fire/EMS depart

Council OKs COLA hike

By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register

Iola city employees will get a pay raise in 2023 to keep up with inflation rates.

City Council members voted unanimously Monday for the 8.7% pay hike, which conforms with the Consum er Price Index, which will cost the city about $92,000 more in salaries next year.

City Administrator Matt Rehder told Council mem bers the city can absorb the higher salaries, in part be cause anticipated insurance premium hikes came in low er than anticipated.

While there are still some funding gaps, each depart ment in the city will adjust their budgets accordingly to

Red Devil rally will kick off season

School spirit takes the spotlight

By VICKIE MOSS The Iola Register

Mustang spirit was on full display at Monday night’s USD 257 school board meet ing.

The board met at Iola High School’s new science center and cafeteria, where Princi pal Scott Carson showed off a new audio/visual system.

Iola Elementary School

kindergarten and second grade students demonstrat ed the new music skills they are learning.

But at the end of the night, the underdog Iola Middle School — the district’s “dark horses,” if you will — took home the award for “Most School Spirit.”

It was all in good fun, of course, as school board members joked with admin

istrators about the middle school’s efforts over the past year to brighten the build ing. It started last spring with colorful window cover ings with the IMS and Mus tang logos, along with an electronic message board in front of the school.

Granted, the high school and elementary schools got brand new buildings in the 2019 school bond issue. The

middle school got a new HVAC system — an import ant upgrade, but not as visu ally exciting.

At Monday’s meeting, the board approved spending $2,865 for IMS Assistant Principal/Athletic Director Jason Coke to purchase sev eral recognition boards for the gymnasium. The total

Two killed in St. Louis HS shooting

ST. LOUIS (AP) — An armed former student broke into a St. Louis high school Monday morning warning, “You are all going to die!” before fatally shooting a teacher and a teenage girl, and wounding seven others before police killed him in an exchange of gunfire.

The attack just after 9 a.m. at Central Visual and Per forming Arts High School forced students to barricade doors and huddle in class room corners, jump from windows and run out of the building to seek safety. One terrorized girl said she was eye-to-eye with the shooter before his gun apparently jammed and she was able to run out.

Speaking at a news con ference Monday afternoon,

See

Kelly, Schmidt spin policy goals as race steps into final two weeks

By TIM CARPENTER Kansas Reflector

TOPEKA — Gov. Laura Kelly committed to building a comprehensive early child hood education system in Kansas during a second term as governor that makes child care more affordable, expands preschool and invests in liter acy programs.

She said reform would be streamlined under a secre

Vol. 125, No. 16 Iola, KS $1.00

tary of early childhood edu cation and would be paired with a plan to fully finance special education in public schools. Such adjustments would need to pass the Kan sas Legislature, which has a two-thirds Republican major ity.

“I’ve said time and time again that it’s my goal to leave office having built the most robust, comprehensive early childhood education system

in the country,” Kelly said.

She is running for reelec tion against Republican nom inee Derek Schmidt, who has served more than a decade as the state’s attorney general. With two weeks remaining in the general election, both candidates aimed Monday to reinforce campaign attacks and remind voters about what priorities they would pursue if elected the state’s chief ex ecutive on Nov. 8.

Schmidt released a lengthy statement that pointed to his first-term objectives on edu cation and other issues. He addressed Kelly’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to state and nation al emergency declarations and decisions to transition Kansas public schools to an online format rather than inclass instruction.

He said the state’s gover nor “rushed to lock kids out

of their classrooms” and that children and parents ought to be the first consideration when implementing edu cation policy. His remarks, first released to Fox News, didn’t address how he would have dealt with the COVID-19 health risks to teachers, staff and administrators if mass gatherings in schools con tinued when the pandemic

Iola Elementary School students, from left, Tyson Koehn, Addison Coke and Addison Chandlee play the bells at the USD 257 Board of Education meeting Monday night at Iola High School’s new science center and cafeteria. The performance shows school board members about early music education. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

Obituary

Vicky Page

Vicky Sue Page, 69, Iola, died Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022, at Allen County Regional Hospital, Iola.

Vicky was born Feb. 4, 1953, in Fort Scott, to Alfred M. Jones and Opal (Gillenwater) Brooks.

Vicky and Donnie Lee Page were married March 1, 1987, in Fort Scott.

He preceded her in death.

Vicky is survived by her daughters, Tammy (Robert Burton) Connolly, Chanute, and Man dy (Ernie Harbold) Connolly, Iola; sons, David Connolly, Iola, Justin Connolly, Iola, and Joseph Hilleand, Iola; a sister, Amelia Bower, Deerfield, Mo.; 10 grandchildren; and lots of nieces and nephews.

A funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, in the chapel at Feuerborn Family Funer al Service, 1883 U.S. 54, Iola. Burial will follow in Highland Cemetery, Iola.

Memorials are suggested to Allen County Ani mal Rescue Facility (ACARF), which may be left with the funeral home.

Condolences may be left at www.feuerbornfu neral.com.

Three arrested after marijuana bust

On Oct. 16, deputies with the Allen County Sheriff Office conduct ed a search warrant for illegal narcotics in the 400 block of South Sec ond in Iola.

During the search, deputies located sev eral items associated with illegal drugs to include over 2 lbs. of marijuana.

Deputies arrested Jacob Keene, 30, Iola, and Sharon Lindsey, 33, Iola, each on suspicion

of possession with in tent to distribute mari juana within 1,000 feet of a school, no drug tax stamp and pos session of drug para phernalia; and James Lindsey, 56, Iola, on suspicion of posses sion of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Reports will be for warded to the Allen County Attorney’s Of fice for review and con sideration of charges.

Food pantry delivers

Humanity House is now offering free deliv ery of its food pantry items and Grandma’s Kitchen Sunday meals as part of a partnership with DoorDash.

Project DASH is a na tionwide partnership between DoorDash, government agencies and community-based organizations to im prove access to food and reduce food waste.

Humanity House will take orders and sched ule deliveries, typical ly within one hour for food pantry orders. Deliveries can only be within 10 miles of Hu manity House. That means orders can be de livered to places in Iola,

Gas and LaHarpe. Hu manity House leaders will consider opening satellite locations in other communities at a future date, if there is enough demand and if drivers are available.

Orders for Grand ma’s Kitchen will need to be placed by noon the Friday prior to Sunday’s meal. The next two Grandma’s Kitchen days are Nov. 6 and 13.

There is no delivery charge, and recipients are asked to not tip drivers. Drivers are paid by DoorDash.

To place an order or for more information, call Humanity House at 620--380-6664.

Public notices

(Published in The Iola Register Oct. 26, 2022)

IN THE THIRTY-FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT DISTRICT COURT, ALLEN COUNTY, KANSAS IN THE MATTER OF THE ACQUISI TION OF PROPERTY BY EMINENT DOMAIN, EVERGY KANSAS SOUTH, INC., Plaintiff, vs. DAVID ALAN BOLLINGER and REGINALD VAN BOLLINGER, trustees of THE BOLLINGER IR REVOCABLE TRUST; THE ESTATE OF C. ELDON BOLLINGER AND ALLENE B. BOLLINGER; DONNA ARD trustee of the ORLIN E. ARD, JR. REVOCABLE TRUST; NICK AND NAOMI ARD, trustees of the NICK AND NAOMI ARD TRUST; THE ES TATE OF ORLIN E ARD, JR.; DONNA HALE ARD; STEVEN KYSER; and the unknown heirs, executors, ad ministrators, devisees, legatees, trustees, creditors and assigns of such of the above-named defen dants as may be deceased; the unknown spouses of the abovenamed defendants as are exist ing, dissolved or dormant corpo rations; the unknown executors, administrators, devisees, trustees, creditors, successors and assigns of such of the above-named de fendants as are or were partners or in any partnership; and the unknown guardians, conserva tors and trustees of such of the above-named defendants as are minors or in anywise under legal disability, Defendants.

Case No. AL-2022-CV-000032

Pursuant to K.S.A. Chapter 26

NOTICE OF APPRAISERS’ HEARING

Notice is hereby given that the undersigned appraisers, appointed by the Court, will, in accordance with the provisions of K.S.A. § 26-501, et seq., hold a public hearing on all matters pertaining to their appraisal of the fair market value of the lands or interests sought to be taken by the plaintiff in the above-en titled matter covering the tract of land described in Exhibit “A” attached hereto and incorporat ed by reference. Such hearing will commence on the 16th day of November, 2022 at 10 a.m. each day at The Allen County

(First published in The Iola Register Oct. 12, 2022)

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF ALLEN COUNTY, KANSAS CIVIL COURT DEPARTMENT

GREAT SOUTHERN BANK, Plaintiff, v.

THE ESTATE OF ROBERTA L. MCGIE, DECEASED, et. al. Defendants.

Case No. AL-2022-CV-000018 Chapter 60 Title to Real Estate Involved

NOTICE OF SHERIFF’S SALE

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, that under and by virtue of an Order of Sale issued to me by the Clerk of the District Court of Allen County, Kansas, in the case above num bered, the undersigned Sheriff of Allen County, Kansas, will of fer for sale at public auction and

Courthouse, Assembly Room, 1 North Washington Avenue, Iola, Kansas, 66749 and may be continued thereafter from day to day or place to place until same is concluded with respect to all properties involved in this action. Any party may present either oral or written testimony at such hear ing.

You are further notified that the appraisers will be viewing the tracts of land described in Exhibit “A” as required by applica ble Kansas law as soon after the above-noticed appraisers hear ing as is practical.

When an award is filed with Clerk of the District Court any party dissatisfied with the award may appeal therefrom as by law permitted within thirty (30) days of the filing.

Respectfully submitted, MORRIS, LAING, EVANS, BROCK & KENNEDY, CHARTERED

By /s/ Will B. Wohlford Will B. Wohlford, #21773 Attorney for Plaintiff

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

I hereby certify that on the date of the above file-stamp, a true and correct copy of the above and foregoing was sent U.S. mail, certified mail and post age prepaid, properly addressed to the following and the Kansas Judicial Branch eFlex System to the following:

David Alan Bollinger, Trustee Reginald Van Bollinger, trustee The Bollinger Irrevocable Trust 1800 S. Baltimore Ste 810 Tulsa, OK 74119

The Estate of C. Eldon Bollinger and Allene B. Bollinger 317 S Highland Ave. Chanute, KS 66720

and the original was filed with the Court using the eFlex System at: Allen County District Court Thirty-First Judicial District 1 N Washington Iola, Kansas 66749

/s/ Will B. Wohlford Will B. Wohlford

EXHIBIT A TRACT AL001

The “Entire Ownership Tract” upon which the Right-of-Way is located is described as: The Southeast Quarter (SE 1/4) of Section Thirty-three

sell to the highest bidder for cash in hand at the front door of the Allen County Courthouse, Iola, KS, on Wednesday, November 2, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. of said day, the following described real estate situated in the County of Allen, State of Kansas, to-wit: Lot Nine (9) and the North Half of Lot Ten (N/2 of 10), Block Twelve (12) Sunnyside Addition to the City of Iola, in Allen County, Kansas. EXCEPT the oil, gas and minerals underlying the surface of said lands and all rights and easements in favor of said oil, gas and minerals, Commonly known as: 321 N. Tennessee St., Iola, KS 66749 (the “Real Property”), to satisfy the judgment in the above-entitled case. The sale is to be made without appraisement and subject to the redemption period as provided by law, and further subject to the approval of the Court.

(33), Township Twenty-six (26) South, Range Twenty-One (21) East of the 6th P.M., Allen County, Kansas.

The persons who may have an interest in the Entire Owner ship Tract pursuant to the Kansas Eminent Domain Procedure Act, K.S.A. §§ 26-501 et seq., are: Owners David Alan Bollinger, Trustee Reginald Van Bollinger, Trustee The Bollinger Irrevocable Trust 1800 S. Baltimore Ste 810 Tulsa, OK 74119

The Estate of C. Eldon Bollinger and Allene B. Bollinger 317 S Highland Ave. Chanute, KS 66720

The “Right-of-Way” on the En tire Ownership Tract to include the following:

A PERMANENT EASEMENT, more fully described below:

A PORTION OF THE SOUTH EAST QUARTER OF SECTION 33, TOWNSHIP 26 SOUTH, RANGE 21 EAST OF THE SIXTH PRINCI PAL MERIDIAN, ALLEN COUN TY, KANSAS, BEING DESCRIBED ON 01/04/2022 BY CHARLES W. BROOKSHER P.S. #1281 AND PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS P.A., C.L.S. #65, AS FOLLOWS:

COMMENCING AT THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF SAID SOUTHEAST QUARTER; THENCE S87°51’12”W (BEAR ING BASED ON THE KANSAS COORDINATE SYSTEM 1983 SOUTH ZONE) ALONG THE SOUTH LINE OF SAID SOUTH EAST QUARTER A DISTANCE OF 275.90 FEET TO THE POINT OF BEGINNING; THENCE CON TINUING S87°51’12”W ALONG SAID SOUTH LINE A DISTANCE OF 100.00 FEET; THENCE N02°04’05”W A DISTANCE OF 2256.60 FEET; THENCE N01°49’18”W A DISTANCE OF 520.95 FEET TO THE NORTH LINE OF SAID SOUTHEAST QUARTER; THENCE S87°04’37”E ALONG SAID NORTH LINE A DISTANCE OF 100.34 FEET; THENCE S01°49’18”E A DIS TANCE OF 512.44 FEET; THENCE S02°04’05”E A DISTANCE OF 2256.25 FEET TO SAID SOUTH LINE AND THE POINT OF BEGIN NING.

ENCOMPASSING 6.37 ACRES MORE OR LESS.

TRACT AL002

ALLEN COUNTY SHERIFF Bryan J. Murphy

Submitted by: SANDBERG PHOENIX & VON GONTARD P.C. Michele M. O’Malley KS# 20760 4600 Madison Ave., Suite 1000 Kansas City, MO 64112 Tel: 816-627-5546 Fax: 816-6275532

The “Entire Ownership Tract” upon which the Right-of-Way is located is described as:

The Northeast Quarter (NE 1/4) of Section Thirty-three (33), Township Twenty-six (26) South, Range Twenty-One (21) East of the 6th P.M., Allen County, Kansas

The persons who may have an interest in the Entire Owner ship Tract pursuant to the Kansas Eminent Domain Procedure Act, K.S.A. §§ 26-501 et seq., are: Owners

David Alan Bollinger, Trustee Reginald Van Bollinger, Trustee The Bollinger Irrevocable Trust 1800 S. Baltimore Ste 810 Tulsa, OK 74119

The Estate of Eldon and Allene Bollinger 317 S Highland Ave. Chanute, KS 66720

The “Right-of-Way” on the En tire Ownership Tract to include the following:

A PERMANENT EASEMENT, more fully described below: A PORTION OF THE NORTH EAST QUARTER OF SECTION 33, TOWNSHIP 26 SOUTH, RANGE 21 EAST OF THE SIXTH PRINCI PAL MERIDIAN, ALLEN COUN TY, KANSAS, BEING DESCRIBED ON 01/04/2022 BY CHARLES W. BROOKSHER P.S. #1281 AND PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING CONSULTANTS P.A., C.L.S. #65, AS FOLLOWS: COMMENCING AT THE SOUTHEAST CORNER OF SAID NORTHEAST QUARTER; THENCE N87°04’37”W (BEAR ING BASED ON THE KANSAS COORDINATE SYSTEM 1983 SOUTH ZONE) ALONG THE SOUTH LINE OF SAID NORTH EAST QUARTER A DISTANCE OF 313.48 FEET TO THE POINT OF BEGINNING; THENCE CONTINUING N87°04’37”W ALONG SAID SOUTH LINE A DISTANCE OF 100.34 FEET; THENCE N01°49’18”W A DIS TANCE OF 2529.43 FEET TO THE NORTH LINE OF SAID NORTHEAST QUARTER; THENCE N88°18’35”E ALONG SAID NORTH LINE A DISTANCE OF 100.00 FEET; THENCE S01°49’18”E A DISTANCE OF 2537.50 FEET TO SAID SOUTH LINE AND THE POINT OF BEGIN NING.

ENCOMPASSING 5.82 ACRES MORE OR LESS. (10) 26

momalley@sandbergphoenix. com ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF

SANDBERG PHOENIX & von GON TARD P.C. IS ATTEMPTING TO COL LECT A DEBT AND ANY INFORMA TION OBTAINED WILL BE USED FOR THAT PURPOSE. (10) 12, 19, 26

iolaregister.com

Susan Lynn, editor/publisher Tim Stauffer, managing editor

EMS: Iola seeks to renegotiate deal

ment is $3.5 million.

The Iola-only fire ser vice would cost the city about $2.2 million; EMSalone would cost $1.945 million.

A five-year contract reached last year with Allen County has the county paying the city $1.65 million for EMS, increasing that payment 2.5% each year through the life of the contract.

The EMS costs — in particular the roughly $250,000 difference be tween the projected cost next year vs. what the county agreed to pay the city — provided the crux of Monday’s discussion.

Councilman Nickolas Kinder noted the coun ty has expressed disap pointment with the con tract, particularly with revenues not meeting expenses this year, and a perceived lack of com munication with the city.

“There are issues the county commission would like to see ad dressed,” Kinder said. “By getting back togeth er, we can review where costs are, and come up with something more beneficial to the county and the city.”

However, Mayor Steve French noted the city’s decision may not go as merrily as Kinder sug gested.

“I want to make sure everyone’s aware,” French warned. “The county’s not been secret that they think they al ready pay us too much. Their desire is to have the contract renegotiat ed at a lower rate than $1.6 million.”

Rehder, in response to

questioning from Coun cilman Nich Lohman, said the city would be able “to soldier on” for a year under the current contract terms, noting the county has brought in less than expected run revenue this year af ter going to a third-party administrator to handle collections. Rehder de clined to speculate if the city could go longer than that.

“I’m very uncomfort able asking to renegoti ate a contract that was very difficult to get in the first place,” Lohman replied.

Councilman Carl Slaugh, who along with Kinder voted against splitting the fire and EMS services at the Council’s Oct. 11 meet ing, reiterated his belief a combined fire-EMS service is the best way to save money for the city and county.

“If we split them, that does away with the in centive to keep both ser vices within the city,” Slaugh said. “I’d be in favor of giving EMS to the county.”

Fellow Council mem bers Josiah D’Albi ni and Kim Peterson agreed with Slaugh’s sentiment.

“With a deficit with what we’re running at vs. what the county is paying, we’re being dou ble-dinged,” D’Albini said. “The county prop erty tax is part of their budget. We’re also using money we get from city taxes to pay for this. The 5,000 people who make up the city are being double-dinged.”

D’Albini suggested giving EMS “completely to the county, then ev erybody is paying their fair share.”

“People stop me at Walmart, asking why they are paying city and county taxes for ambu lance service,” Peterson added.

Rehder cautioned the Council to avoid making hasty decisions.

“We don’t need to talk about getting rid of EMS right away,” he said.

As an aside, Rehder said splitting the ser vices will take several months to occur because

of the length of time it will take to hire addi tional personnel.

“I’d be surprised if we could do it by March,” Rehder said. “We’re probably looking at a year.”

AMBULANCE ser vice for the city and county has been an oc casionally touchy sub ject for more than a de cade.

For the last quarter of the 20th century, Iola and Allen County worked together in a cooperative agreement, in which the county was responsible for EMS, while ambulances in Iola were run by Iola firefighters in exchange for an annual subsidy.

A split occurred in 2009 after county com missioners announced their intentions to as sume all EMS responsi bilities for the county. In response, the Iola officials started up a city-only ambulance service.

Wary of the costs of running duplicated services, including hav ing ambulance stations just a few blocks from each other, the two sides reached agreement on a contract in 2012 in which Iola oversaw countywide EMS, a sys tem that’s been in place since 2013.

That agreement near ly ended in 2021, when the county notified the city it was going to let the contract expire, and instead hire a private company to provide countywide ambulance services.

However, the county’s talks with American Medical Response ended after the City Council voted again to break apart from the coun ty EMS and run a city-only ambulance department — thus keeping much of the ambulance person nel AMR would have hired.

The city and coun ty subsequently re turned to the nego tiating table before reaching the current five-year pact last No vember, which sees the county’s subsidy increase 2.5% an nually, to $1,691,250 in 2023, $1,733,531 in 2024, $1,776,869 in 2025 and $1,821,290 in 2027.

Raises: City workers get hike

Continued from A1

afford the pay raises, Re hder said.

Since 2004, the city has tied its cost-of-liv ing adjustments with the CPI, which also is used by the Social Se curity Administration to dictate how benefits are calculated each year.

Last year’s COLA ad justment was 5.9%.

Of note, the adjust ments are separate from the city’s pay scale, which gives annual rais es based on longevity and promotions within their departments.

IOLA will beef up its incentives for those who take part in the city’s Neighborhood Revital ization Plan.

The plan is offered to residential, commercial or industrial property owners who increase the appraised values of

their properties by at least $5,000.

If they do, the owners receive a refund equal to the difference in what they paid in taxes with the more valuable prop erty.

With Rehder’s encour agement, the plan now offers a full 100% rebate for those improvements, minus a small percent age given to Allen Coun ty to cover administra tive costs.

The previous incen tives offered 100% re bates for the first six years, then reducing that with 20% incre ments in years 7-10.

The revamped plan now will go to Allen County, Allen Commu nity College and USD 257 for ratification be cause of the interlocal agreement among the entities.

The new plan, which runs through 2027, was

ratified with a 7-1 vote, with Councilman Carl Slaugh opposed.

Slaugh said he fa vored keeping the exist ing incentives in place.

OCTOBER has been Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Iola.

Mayor Steve French read the proclamation at the urging of Hope Unlimited, a local agen cy that serves victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.

Donita Garner, child advocacy center coordi nator at Hope Unlimit ed, noted the agency has been a part of the Iola community for 35 years, and has recently em barked on a capital drive to open a new shelter to meet the growing needs of its clients.

“We know it’s going to take a lot of hard work,” Garner said.

Undersheriff faces charges in beanbag shooting

BELLE PLAINE, Kan. (AP) — Jury se lection began Monday in the trial of a Kan sas undersheriff in the fatal shooting of an unarmed man with a homemade beanbag round out of his per sonal shotgun, a case that comes amid a na tional reckoning on police violence.

Virgil Brewer, who was with the Barber County Sheriff’s Of fice at the time, is facing a charge of reckless involuntary manslaughter for his deadly encounter with Steven Myers on Oct. 6, 2017. The shooting occurred in Sun City, a rural area about 300 miles (555 kilometers) from Kansas City, Kan sas.

A civil lawsuit brought by Myers’ family against Brew er and then-Barber County Sheriff Lon nie Small was settled in 2020 after county officials agreed to pay $3.5 million.

Brewer’s criminal trial is expected to focus on whether his lack of knowledge and training with the less-lethal munitions amounted to a crime.

Defense attorney

David Harger did not respond to messages seeking comment on the case. Brewer has been on unpaid leave since his 2018 arrest. He has been free pend ing trial.

“The fact of the matter is that it is not going to be a good outcome for anybody, no matter whether or not he gets convicted,” Steven Myers’ widow, Kristina Myers, told The Associated Press on Thursday. “Yes, it will be over in that sense, but this one bad decision has ruined the lives of so many people.”

On the evening of Oct. 6, 2017, Brewer was carrying his per sonal weapon when he, along with the sheriff and a sheriff’s deputy, responded to a call about a man hold ing a rifle on a street after an altercation at a local bar.

About five minutes before the fatal shoot ing, Small said: “A lit tle luck and he’ll just pass out and die,” a re mark captured on the sheriff’s body camera as they searched for Myers. They eventual ly found him hiding in a shed.

8

BE A VOICE FOR KANSAS. VOTE DEREK SCHMIDT FOR KANSAS GOVERNOR

Come join us as we celebrate Donna Culver turning 90 years young!

Hosted by her children

Iola Mayor Steve French, from left, stands with Hope Unlimited officials Monday after declaring October Domestic Violence Awareness Month. On hand with French are Donita Garner, Megan Meiwes and Kayla Knavel. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN

Iola will ask Allen County to renegotiate the EMS con tract ratified less than a year ago. REGISTER FILE PHOTO

Japan Cabinet minister resigns over Unification Church ties

TOKYO (AP) — Ja pan’s economy minister submitted his resigna tion Monday over ties to the Unification Church after facing mounting criticism in a widening controversy involving dozens of governing party lawmakers.

Daishiro Yamagi wa’s resignation is a further blow to Prime Minister Fumio Kishi da’s government, which has been rocked by his party’s close ties to the controversial South

Korean-based church following the assassi nation of former leader Shinzo Abe in July.

Yamagiwa faced op position lawmakers’ growing demands for his resignation after he re peatedly said he did not remember his past atten dance at church meetings during overseas trips and posing for group photos with church leader Hak Ja Han Moon and other executives.

Kishida on Tues day appointed former

Health Minister Shig eyuki Goto to take Ya magiwa’s place as the economy minister.

Kishida said Goto is a veteran politician who is “highly capable of giving explanation” and has “passion” for economic and social re forms. Kishida said he expected him to play a central role in coordi nating and achieving key policy goals, includ ing a major economic package that Kishida plans to announce lat

er this week. Goto’s appointment is to be of ficial after a palace cere mony later Tuesday.

The Kishida govern ment’s support ratings have nosedived over his handling of the scandal and for holding a highly unusual state funeral for Abe, one of Japan’s most divisive leaders who is now seen as a key link between the governing Liberal Dem ocratic Party and the church. Abe sent a video message in 2021 prais

ing Hak Ja Han Moon at a meeting of the church affiliate the Universal Peace Federation.

Since the 1980s, the church has faced accusa tions of devious business and recruitment tactics, including brainwashing members into turning over huge portions of their salaries to it.

“I just submitted my resignation” to Kishida, Yamagiwa told report ers Monday. He said he routinely discards doc uments and therefore

could not clearly verify past contacts with the church and only provid ed explanations after re ports of his past church ties surfaced.

“As a result, I ended up causing trouble to the administration,” Ya magiwa said. “I attend ed the church’s meet ings a number of times and that provided cred ibility to the group, and I deeply regret that.” He pledged to stay away from the church in the future.

Race: Kelly, Schmidt spar over COVID response, tax plans

Continued from A1

struck in 2020.

“Our current self-pro claimed education gov ernor … has done more damage to more of our children than any other governor in state histo ry,” Schmidt said.

The economy Kelly’s outline of second-term priorities included investment in recruiting businesses and jobs to Kansas. She would emphasize ex pansion of apprentice ship programs, lower ing of college costs and construction of more affordable housing.

She would commit the state to delivery of high-speed internet to every hospital, school, business or home that sought it.

“In just four years,” Kelly said, “we’ve put Kansas back on track, built an award-winning stable economy and broke records for new business investment. But there is more we must do.”

The Kelly adminis tration claims to have attracted $14 billion in new business invest ment, including a $4 billion Panasonic man ufacturing plant, and to creating or retaining 51,000 jobs.

Schmidt, who served in the Kansas Senate with Kelly, said an in flux of federal funding associated with the pan demic had inflated state budgets approved by the GOP-led Legislature and the Democratic gov ernor to unsustainable levels.

He referred to Kelly’s time as governor as a period of “big spend ing, big government.”

On Sunday during a speech at a Kansas Cap itol rally with members of the Kansas Patriots, Schmidt said socialists in Washington, D.C.,

had taken over instru ments of political pow er. That’s a direction “that is simply not right for so many of us in Kansas,” Schmidt said.

The sparsely attend ed event in Topeka in cluded remarks by Jus tin Spiehs, a Lawrence resident arrested at least twice for protest ing COVID-19 policies. He directed his ire at “milquetoast” govern ment officials, includ ing Republicans, and lauded the repeated de mand by one person in the crowd to “get rid of these traitors.”

Schmidt also criti cized Kelly for vetoing 20 individual tax cuts, including a package of tax cuts sought by business interests that was paired with reduc tion in the state’s 6.5% sales tax on groceries.

Kelly proposed repeal of that unpopular food sales tax effective July 1, but signed an alterna tive adopted by the 2022 Legislature phasing out that tax over three years.

“Kansas needs a new governor who will

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make daily life more affordable during this time of record high gas prices, soaring grocery bills and a lagging state economy,” Schmidt said.

Biden v. Brownback Schmidt responded to claims that he would be a clone of former Gov. Sam Brownback by declaring the state’s current gov ernor was nothing more than a puppet for “out-oftouch” policies favored by President Joe Biden, U.S. House Speaker Nan cy Pelosi of California and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York.

Brownback, who re signed in 2018 to work for President Donald Trump, anchored his governorship on the “experimental” prem ise that eliminating the state’s income tax would generate widespread job

growth and overall eco nomic prosperity. It re sulted in a state revenue collapse, budget cuts, an increase in the sales tax rate and eventual repeal of his tax program.

Schmidt said Kelly sought to “hide behind a fake middle-of-the-road facade” and the Novem ber election was about changing course “from the party of Joe Biden and Laura Kelly.”

In that same vein, a theme of special-inter est advertising crafted to undermine Schmidt al leged his agenda would parallel that of Brown back. The association between Schmidt and Brownback has been relied upon by Kelly to outline what could tran spire if she wasn’t re elected and what she had done to reverse Brown back-era “mismanage ment.”

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 5014

A PROPOSITION to amend Article 1 of the Constitution of the state of Kansas by adding a new section thereto, concerning oversight by the legislature of certain executive branch actions.

Be it resolved by the Legislature of the State of Kansas, two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the Senate concurring therein:

Section 1. The following proposition to amend the Constitution of the state of Kansas shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the state for their approval or rejection: Article 1 of the Constitution of the state of Kansas is hereby amended by adding a new section to read as follows: Ҥ 17. Legislative oversight of administrative rules and regulations

Whenever the legislature by law has authorized any officer or agency within the executive branch of government to adopt rules and regulations that have the force and effect of law, the legislature may provide by law for the revocation or suspension of any such rule and regulation, or any portion thereof, upon a vote of a majority of the members then elected or appointed and qualified in each house.” Sec. 2. The following statement shall be printed on the ballot with the amendment as a whole:

“Explanatory statement. The purpose of this amendment is to provide the legislature with oversight of state executive branch agencies and officials by providing the legislature authority to establish procedures to revoke or suspend rules and regulations.

“A vote for this proposition would allow the legislature to establish procedures to revoke or suspend rules and regulations that are adopted by state executive branch agencies and officials that have the force and effect of law.

“A vote against this proposition would allow state executive branch agencies and officials to continue adopting rules and regulations that have the force and effect of law without any opportunity for the legislature to directly revoke or suspend such rules and regulations.”

Sec. 3. This resolution, if approved by two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the Senate, shall be entered on the journals, together with the yeas and nays.

The secretary of state shall cause this resolution to be published as provided by law and shall cause the proposed amendment to be submitted to the electors of the state at the general election in the year 2022, unless a special election is called at a sooner date by concurrent resolution of the legislature, in which case it shall be submitted to the electors of the state at the special election.

“It resulted from pol iticians who put their own ideological agen da ahead of what was best for Kansas,” Kelly said. “Those same old extreme politicians threaten to take us back. We can’t afford to

do that.”

Schmidt has been endorsed by Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts and a collection of GOP governors. Kelly’s list of Republican en dorsements included U.S. Sen. Nancy Kasse baum, former Govs. Bill Graves and Mike Hayden and, recently, former Attorney Gener al Carla Stovall.

Stovall left office in 2003 and intentionally had stayed on the polit ical sidelines.

“But the stakes of this election are too high,” Stovall said. “I have seen how Derek Schmidt has used my former office these last few years and I worry he will replicate that in the governor’s office. He uses taxpayer dollars to pursue a particular po litical agenda that does not respect the views of most Kansans.”

HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION No. 5022

A PROPOSITION to amend sections 2 and 5 of Article 9 of the Constitution of the state of Kansas to require that a sheriff be elected in each county for a term of four years.

Be it resolved by the Legislature of the State of Kansas, two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the Senate concurring therein: Section 1. The following proposition to amend the Constitution of the state of Kansas shall be submitted to the qualified electors of the state for their approval or rejection: Sections 2 and 5 of Article 9 of the Constitution of the state of Kansas are hereby amended to read as follows:

Ҥ 2. County and township officers. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), each county shall elect a sheriff for a term of four years by a majority of the qualified electors of the county voting thereon at the time of voting designated for such office pursuant to law in effect on January 11, 2022, and every four years thereafter.

(b) The provisions of subsection (a) shall not apply to a county that abolished the office of sheriff prior to January 11, 2022. Such county may restore the office of sheriff as provided by law and such restoration shall be irrevocable. A county that restores the office of sheriff shall elect a sheriff by a majority of the qualified electors of the county voting thereon for a term of four years. Such sheriff shall have such qualifications and duties as provided by law. The time of voting for the office of sheriff may be provided for by the legislature pursuant to Section 18 of Article 2 of this Constitution.

(c) The filling of vacancies and the qualifications and duties of the office of sheriff shall be as provided by law.

(d) The legislature shall provide for such other county and township officers as may be necessary.”

Ҥ 5. Removal of officers. (a) Except as provided in subsection (b), all county and township officers may be removed from office, in such manner and for such cause, as shall be prescribed by law.

(b) A county sheriff only may be involuntarily removed from office by recall election pursuant to section 3 of article 4 of this constitution or a writ of quo warranto initiated by the attorney general.”

Sec. 2. The following statement shall be printed on the ballot with the amendment as a whole:

“Explanatory statement. This amendment would preserve the right of citizens of each county that elected a county sheriff as of January 11, 2022, to continue electing the county sheriff. The amendment would also provide that a county sheriff only may be involuntarily removed from office pursuant to either a recall election or a writ of quo warranto initiated by the attorney general.

“A vote for this proposition would preserve the right of citizens of each county that elected a county sheriff as of January 11, 2022, to continue electing the county sheriff via popular vote. The amendment would also direct that a county sheriff only may be involuntarily removed from office pursuant to either a recall election or a writ of quo warranto initiated by the attorney general.”

“A vote against this proposition would not make any changes to the constitution and would retain current law concerning the election of a sheriff and the procedures for involuntary removal of a sheriff from office.

Sec. 3. This resolution, if approved by two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the House of Representatives and two-thirds of the members elected (or appointed) and qualified to the Senate, shall be entered on the journals, together with the yeas and nays. The secretary of state shall cause this resolution to be published as provided by law and shall cause the proposed amendment to be submitted to the electors of the state at the general election in November in the year 2022, unless a special election is called at a sooner date by concurrent resolution of the legislature, in which case it shall be submitted to the electors of the state at the special election.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and Republican Attorney General Derek Schmidt enter the two-week push ahead of the Nov. 8 election for Kansas governor. KANSAS REFLECTOR/SHERMAN SMITH

The

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~ Journalism that makes a difference

Protecting abortion rights still hinges on Nov. 8 election

Abortion rights may not be on the ballot, but they will undoubtedly influence the November election.

You’ve probably heard a lot of people try to extrapo late from the Aug. 2 results to forecast what will happen on Nov. 8.

Doing so is like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

November is a different election with different moti vations for voter turnout. The question of abortion rights is not on the ballot for a direct democratic vote the way it was in August.

Between 20% and 30% of “No” voters in August were registered Republicans. On the issue of abortion alone, those Republicans voted that it should remain legal, but this issue isn’t a priority for many Republicans when there are other issues at play in the election.

In national polling, abor tion is battling with inflation as the top political issue of the midterms.

In the polls, Republicans are more likely to say infla tion is the most important issue, while Democrats and independents still seem to be mostly mobilized by abortion rights.

So, if the August results can’t tell us who will win the general election, what can they tell us?

It’s mostly about voter turnout.

Turnout is likely to remain higher than previous mid term elections and it is like ly due to increased turnout among specific demographics of voters.

Women, especially young women, had a massive surge in turnout in August.

In the months leading up to the election, women made up a majority of first-time regis tered voters. Also, the number of women registering to vote increased about 35% over the summer compared to previ ous years. There was only a 9% increase among men.

Furthermore, women cast 56% of all votes on the amend ment. The 12-point gender gap in turnout was larger than any recent election and more than double the 2018 gender gap.

Additionally, 21% of all vot ers in August were young peo

Alexandra Middlewood Insight Kansas

ple — those under the age of 35. In the 2018 primary, only 14% of ballots were cast by this same age group.

Turnout among Latino vot ers was also higher than in any other midterm election. In fact, it was higher turnout than we’ve ever seen from Latino voters with the excep tion of the 2020 presidential election.

Now that these citizens have voted, many of them for the first time, they’re more likely to vote again in the fu ture because with each elec tion they become more famil iar with the voting process.

Familiarity makes it easier for voters to navigate an in creasingly complex system.

In general, these turnout trends are good news for the Democratic Party, which holds a majority of women, young people, and Latino vot ers within its coalition. But it’s far from a guaranteed vic tory for any of the statewide Democrats on the ballot.

We will likely once again see elevated turnout from the most ardent pro-life voters. While abortion is not on the ballot, the six judicial reten tion elections could dramati cally alter the makeup of the Kansas Supreme Court — the very court that made the deci sion, in Hodes and Nauser v. Kansas, that abortion rights are protected by the state con stitution.

Pro-life activists are cer tainly motivated to mobilize their voters against retaining these justices. A new slate of justices could potentially overturn the decision on the Hodes case if they were polit ically inclined to do so.

There’s a lot we don’t know about what will happen in November. Many statewide races are too close to call. And analyzing the Aug. 2 results can set some general expecta tions, but it can’t give us the answers.

The results of the Nov. 8 election are between Kansas voters and the ballot box.

This is no time to go wobbly on resisting Russian aggression

It’s no surprise that the Kremlin would try to divert attention from its failures in Ukraine toward a new sto ry about Kyiv’s purported plans to detonate a radio active “dirty bomb.” Trans parent disinformation, Mos cow’s tale might be intended to serve as a pretext for its own first strike with uncon ventional weaponry. More likely, it is another attempt to play on the West’s fears of nuclear war, the goal of which, according to the In stitute for the Study of War, a think tank that tracks the conflict, is “to slow or sus pend Western military aid to Ukraine and possibly weaken the NATO alliance.”

Russian President Vlad imir Putin guessed right that Western solidarity with Ukraine would be crucial; he has consistently guessed wrong about the willingness of Kyiv’s friends to stay the course, despite the costs of doing so. As Mr. Putin has no doubt noticed, however, there are incipient fissures in that united front, includ ing — ominously — signs of a split within the Repub lican Party over U.S. aid to Ukraine, which has totaled $54 billion since the war began in February. Rankand-file GOP voters, possi bly influenced by messaging from former president Don ald Trump and Fox News’s Tucker Carlson, are warm ing to the idea that U.S. aid is a waste of money better spent on domestic problems.

A September Pew Research poll found that a significant minority of Republicans — 32 percent — say the Unit ed States is providing “too much” aid, up from 9 percent in March. Small wonder 57 GOP members of the House and 11 GOP senators voted no on a $40 billion package in May. Trump-endorsed Re publican candidates for Sen ate in Arizona, Nevada, New Hampshire and Ohio have disparaged aid for Ukraine, as have several House candi dates. Republican Joe Kent, running for Congress in a historically red district in Washington state, has tweet ed: “No aid to Ukraine un less they are at the [negoti ating] table.”

If indeed the Republicans take one or both chambers of Congress in the mid term elections, it will be up to their leadership to con tain isolationist sentiment and work with President Biden and other Democrats on aid for Ukraine. Unfor tunately, potential speaker of the House Kevin McCar thy (R-Calif.) said last week that next year “people are going to be sitting in a re cession and they’re not go ing to write a blank check to Ukraine.” Mr. McCarthy — who voted for the May bill — modified that remark slightly later, noting that he supports “making sure that we move forward to defeat Russia.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell countered Mr. McCarthy by

calling for “expedited” aid. To his credit, Mr. McConnell has been a strong supporter of a robust U.S. response to Russian aggression in Eu rope, based on the succinct, and apt, rationale that it is an investment in vital U.S. interests: “The future of America’s security and core strategic interests will be shaped by the outcome of this fight. Anyone con cerned about the cost of sup porting a Ukrainian victory should consider the much larger cost should Ukraine lose.”

The GOP’s mixed signals are music to Mr. Putin’s ears.

Also unhelpful, in its own way, was Monday’s letter from a group of 30 progres sive House Democrats to Mr. Biden, urging the president to open direct cease-fire ne gotiations with Moscow.

The Democrats, unlike Mr. Biden’s critics in the GOP, said they want to “pair” this new diplomatic push with continued aid; there is no moral equivalence between the two parties in that re gard. Still, Russia is all too likely to advertise the pro gressives’ letter, which in cludes the suggestion that ending the war would help ease high gas prices, as ev idence of flagging U.S. re solve. The White House po litely but firmly rebuffed the idea, as it should have. This is no time to go wobbly — and that goes for lawmakers in both parties.

— Washington Post

Britain’s new leader will need to make people his first priority

It is a sign of democratic progress that Britain’s next prime minister will be of In dian heritage. The Conserva tive party is not the natural home for many of the coun try’s non-white voters. Yet so many Tory MPs wanted Rishi Sunak to be their leader that he was elected unopposed. Mr. Sunak will be the first prime minister of color and the first Hindu in Downing Street. His elevation during Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, will be a source of pride for many of his co-religionists — and for Britain’s political system.

The Tories have now had three female prime minis ters, four non-white chancel lors and Mr. Sunak as prime minister. The Conservative party can with good reason claim that identity is not a bar to the highest office in the land. Labor cannot say the same. In politics, symbols are important. But images them selves are powerless. Mr. Su

nak, the country’s youngest prime minister in modern times, ascended to the top job without saying how he would deal with a looming recession and rocketing inflation.

The new prime minister is the richest man in parlia ment. Despite having no pop ular mandate, he did little to reassure people who are wor ried sick about rising costs or lengthening NHS waits. The emergency is real. Yet Mr. Sunak seems intent on turning off household sup port for energy bills next

April. He plainly thinks that meeting an arbitrary target of reducing national debt is more important than saving people from penury. Without fiscal expansion and the ener gy price guarantee, inflation will be higher and the reces sion deeper. Interest rates are likely to rise. Analysts at Morgan Stanley say borrow ing costs for homes could hit 6%, which — along with high er utility bills — would see up to 40% of households strug gle to pay their mortgage.

Mr. Sunak is a smart politi

cian in what has been called the stupid party. His wonk ish delivery does little to ex cite fellow Conservatives. In the summer, Tory members preferred Liz Truss’s trick le-down economics to his unflashy plans. Yet Mr. Su nak looked attractive after Trussonomics blew up on the launch pad before it took off. The parliamentary party be came ungovernable with Ms. Truss as leader. Mr. Sunak is lucky, as he is able now to blame Ms. Truss for the pain that the country will endure.

Perhaps it is Mr. Sunak’s background as a hedge fund manager rather than his race that explains his politics. The big winners from his arrival in office will be the owners of UK government bonds. The yield on 30-year gilts is now back to roughly where it was before the Truss govern ment’s mini-budget. While the City profits, voters will pay through austerity.

The next Tory prime minister has a mountain to climb. Polling for the right wing thinktank Onward shows that Labor is leading the Tories on every issue fac ing the country other than defense and Brexit. The bad news for Mr. Sunak, a fiscal conservative, is that just one in six voters have economi cally rightwing values. More prefer equality over growth. Climbing divulges hidden truths about the climber. Mr. Sunak could emulate the former Tory prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, who was born Jewish, with a promise to heal social divides. With out such a commitment and policies to back it up, Mr. Su nak’s premiership is likely to be short and messy. Britain cannot afford another prime minister elected by Tory MPs or party members. The coun try’s next leader must be cho sen through the ballot box.

— The (London) Guardian

A man takes pictures with a phone beside a damaged building in Lyman, Donetsk region, on Oct. 21, 2022, after the recapture of the area from the Russian forces, amid the Russian inva sion of Ukraine. (DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP/GETTY IMAGES/TNS)

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak (DANIEL LEAL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES/MCT)

257: Iola schools show spirit

Continued from A1

cost is $5,165, but some of the money will come from a golf tournament fundraiser hosted by the school.

The boards will in clude a large, circular board that will display logos from all schools in the Pioneer League.

Other boards will rec ognize when the school wins league competi tions. Initially, Coke and the board wanted to include not just sports but Scholars Bowl and music; however, they learned the music con tests don’t have a league championship, so they’ll think of another way of recognition.

Plans also call for boards just outside the gym that will show records for track stu dents, both girls and boys in seventh and eight grades.

The challenge now is tracking down records and league champi onships. Coke said it hasn’t been as easy as one might expect. He’s been looking through old yearbooks and newspaper archives, and will probably just go back to the year 2000.

THE BILLS FOR the middle and high school bond projects have been fully paid, board presi dent Dan Willis said.

All aspects of the science building have now been completed, al though work continues on a new parking lot next to the building.

The HVAC system at the middle school still needs some adjust ments, which means the warranty period hasn’t started yet and there have been no ad ditional charges for any repairs.

A few “punch list” items remain at the el ementary school. Crews with Coonrod & Associ

ates are likely to remain at IES through Thanks giving and perhaps be yond, Willis said.

THE BOARD accept ed a check for $4,052.77 from G&W Foods.

Schools collect re ceipts and the grocery store gives back an amount based on qual ifying purchases. G&W customers can also re

quest cashiers to desig nate their receipts for the schools.

The money will be split among the schools to use for student pro grams.

Superintendent Stac ey Fager thanked G&W Foods, school secretar ies and business direc tor Marcie Boring for their efforts on the pro gram.

Shooting: 2 killed, 7 injured

police Chief Michael Sack identified the shooter as 19-year-old Orlando Harris, who graduated from the school last year.

Sack said the motive was still under inves tigation but “there’s suspicions that there may be some mental illness that he’s experi encing.” Investigators later searched Harris’ home, Sack said.

Authorities didn’t name the victims, but the St. Louis Post-Dis patch identified the dead teacher as Jean Kuczka. Her daugh ter said her mother was killed when the gunman burst into her classroom and she moved between him and her students.

“My mom loved kids,” Abbey Kuczka told the newspaper. “She loved her stu dents. I know her stu dents looked at her like she was their mom.”

Sack said the other fatality was a 16-yearold female who died at the school.

Seven other 15- and 16-year-old students, four boys and three girls, were all in sta ble condition. Four students suffered gun shot wounds or graze wounds, two suffered bruises and one had a broken ankle.

Sack declined to say how Harris was able to get into the build ing, which has security guards, locked doors and metal detectors.

“If there’s somebody who has a will, they’re

going to figure out, we don’t want to make it easy for them,” Sack said. “We just got to do the best we can to ex tend that time it takes them to get into the building to buy us time to respond.”

Harris had the gun out when he arrived at the school and “there was no mystery about what was going to hap pen. He had it out and entered in an aggres sive, violent manner.”

Harris had nearly a dozen high-capacity magazines of ammu nition with him, Sack said. “That’s a whole lot of victims. ... It’s certainly tragic for the families and it’s tragic for our community but it could have been a whole lot worse.”

St. Louis Schools Su perintendent Kelvin Adams said seven secu rity guards were in the school at the time of the attack, each stationed at an entrance of the locked building. One of the guards noticed the gunman trying unsuc cessfully to get in at a locked door. The guard notified school officials,

who contacted police. Sack said the call about a shooter came in at 9:11 a.m. and officers arrived and had Harris down by 9:25 a.m. He and others praised the quick response of of ficers and other emer gency responders.

Central Visual and Performing Arts shares a building with another magnet school, Colle giate School of Med icine and Bioscience. Central has 383 stu dents, Collegiate 336.

Monday’s school shooting was the 40th this year resulting in injuries or death, ac cording to a tally by Education Week — the most in any year since it began tracking shoot ings in 2018. The deadly attacks include the kill ings at Robb Elemen tary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May, when 19 children and two teach ers died. Monday’s St. Louis shooting came on the same day a Michi gan teenager pleaded guilty to terrorism and first-degree murder in a school shooting that killed four students in December 2021.

Saturday, October 29

10 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Always store your medications securely to prevent others from taking them, and properly dispose of medications that you no longer need.

Visit DEATakeBack.com to learn more.

Together we are building a healthierand safer community.

Gardner for Kansas, James A. Schmidl, Treasurer

Iola Police Department Located in Iola City Hall 2 W. Jackson Ave., Iola

Iola High School Principal Scott Carson, right, speaks at Monday’s USD 257 Board of Education meeting along with Supertintendent Stacey Fager.

Iola Middle School Assistant Priicnpal Jason Coke shows USD 257 school board members a recogni tion board planned for IMS. REGISTER/VICKIE MOSS

Sports Daily

HMS runners race at state

EMPORIA — Several Humboldt Middle School cross country runners raced at the Kansas Ju nior High State Cross Country Championships at Jones Park in Emporia last Sunday.

Eight-grader Jo Ellison placed 33rd in the girls 2-mile race with a time of 17:19.

“It was a well-run meet and the kids had a great time,” said Humboldt head coach Eric Carlson.

“Longtime Brocaw Blaz ers coach, David Ramsey. did a great job running the meet. We had two oth er girls who had planned to run, but both of them were sick and couldn’t compete.” Thatcher Mueller led the eighth grade boys with a speedy time of 14:10, earning him 54th place. It was the fastest Mueller has run this sea son other than the Co lumbus race which was not a full 2 miles.

Sixth-grader Jayden Brady came in sixth place with a 10:11 time, followed by seventh-grad er Tripp Carlson in sev enth place, 10:15.

“I was really proud of the two younger boys. This was their first race. They both ran hard and did a great job,” Carlson said.

Bochy set to lead Rangers

ARLINGTON, Tex as (AP) — Bruce Bochy has won a World Series in Texas, something the Rangers haven’t done. Now he is coming out of a three-year retirement in hopes of getting the home team back there.

Bochy, who won the first of his three World Series titles with the San Francisco Giants in the old Rangers ballpark in 2010, was introduced Monday by the Texas general manager who pitched for the manager in San Diego four years before that.

“One of the things I told Boch when we of fered him the job. I said, I’m not doing this be cause I loved you when I played for you. I’m doing this because we believe as an organization, you’re the right person to lead us into the future,” GM Chris Young said. “Boch fit every part of our cri teria.”

Bochy hasn’t man aged since 2019, when he stepped away after 13 seasons with the Giants, which followed 12 sea sons with the Padres. The

See

Red Devils tip-off

By QUINN BURKITT The Iola Register

“Everybody get up, it’s time to slam now,” in the words of the 1990s Space Jam tune.

The Allen Community Col lege men’s and women’s bas ketball teams will be intro duced at the Red Devil Rally in the college’s gymnasium Friday beginning at 7 p.m.

The fall sports teams will also be recognized at the rally for their achievements this season before the winter sports season tips off next week.

The Red Devil men face Cowley County Com munity College Nov. 4 in Ark City.

The women will tip off against Northern Oklaho ma-Tonkawa also in Arkan sas City on Nov. 4.

Friday’s rally will include a dunk contest for the men’s basketball team and a threepoint contest for the wom en’s.

The event is free of charge.

“We did the Red Devil Ral ly last year for the first time and we want to keep making

it an annual thing to kick off basketball season,” said Al len cheer coach Mackenzie Weseloh.

The Red Devil school spirit is always off the charts, We seloh noted.

“I think it builds school spirit for sure. We kind of got away from a lot of school traditions so this is anoth er way to bring those things back and get people excited about the school in general,” Weseloh said.

The Allen men’s basketball team is ranked No. 4 in the NJCAA D-II preseason rank ings behind South Suburban, Davidson-Davie and Sulli van County. Milwaukee Area Tech is ranked No. 5.

The Red Devils clinched a spot in the national tour nament last season and fin ished with a 28-7 overall re cord. The strong season was a drastic improvement from the 7-16 overall mark the sea son before.

“It will be fun to meet the new teams for the year. They should have a good year. Men’s basketball did really well last year so we’re hoping

they do that again and wom en’s basketball looks really good this year so I think it’ll be exciting,” said Weseloh.

An implementation to bas ketball and volleyball games have been themed games in which the students and com munity wear certain colored clothing to support their Red Devils. This adds a festive atmosphere to root on Allen sports.

“I think it’s grown a lot,” said Weseloh. “We have a lot of students who come now and the themes make it fun. This is my fourth season here and since I’ve started, the student section has grown a lot. It makes everything more fun.”

The event will also include games and activities includ ing a relay race, knockout game, staff versus student basketball game and prizes.

“We’re going to play a game of knockout so we’ll have some staff and faculty that will play and our MC of the night will pick some ran dom people from the crowd to come down and play against the staff,” Weseloh said.

2022 NFL not for old men

DENVER (AP) — De fenses have finally fig ured out how to keep all those high-powered of fenses from lighting up NFL scoreboards, and they’re also showing that in 2022 this is no league for old men.

Tom Brady, whose un retirement at age 45 is looking like a big mis take, was held without a touchdown throw Sun day by a woeful Caroli na Panthers team that throttled the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21-3 after trading its best player and starting a thirdstring quarterback.

Aaron Rodgers, 38, was held without so much as a third-down conversion — or one on fourth down, for that matter — for the first time in his career in the Green Bay Packers’ 2321 loss to Washington and Taylor Heinicke.

Matt Ryan, 37, sep arated his throwing shoulder in the India napolis Colts’ 19-10 loss at Tennessee, but coach Frank Reich said Mon day that’s not why he’s benching his bruised and battered 15-year veteran in favor of sec ond-year QB Sam Eh linger.

Russell Wilson, side lined by a pulled ham string, donned a headset instead of a helmet in Denver, where the offen sively-challenged Bron cos lost another close one Sunday with back up Brett Rypien making his second career start against the Jets.

Nathaniel Hackett said afterward that Wilson was trending to ward returning against the Jaguars in London next weekend, although it might be best for the 33-year-old QB who’s off to the worst start of his career to sit out until after the Broncos’ bye and return against the Titans on Nov. 13.

There’s a multitude of reasons for the quar terbacks’ struggles and the league-wide dip in point production so far, including more blitzes and a rash of elite re ceivers getting traded, leaving their former teams to recreate chem istry, which takes time.

A major factor is the explosion of shell cov erages where players cover portions of the field to form a “shell” defense, a strategy popularized by former Broncos coach Vic Fan gio that is menacing of fensive play-callers and ruffling quarterbacks this season, especially in the red zone.

Some of the game’s most accomplished QBs are really feeling the

Allen’s Brayden Thompson (22) receives a pass in a 2021 home game against Labette County . REGIS TER/RICHARD LUKEN

EMPLOYMENT EMPLOYMENT

NFL: Not for the old

from

pinch.

Brady doesn’t look like a seven-time Super Bowl winner without retired sidekick Rob Gronkowski, and Rod gers doesn’t look like the league’s two-time reigning MVP without pal Davante Adams, who was traded to the Raiders in the offsea son.

Conversely, Patrick Mahomes, 27, doesn’t look like he misses superstar speedster Tyreek Hill at all.

Mahomes already has thrown for 20 touchdowns, putting him on pace for 48, just shy of the 50 he threw his first season as a starter in 2018. He’s av eraged 34 TDs over the last three seasons, all with Hill, who asked out of Kansas City in the offseason and was dealt to the Dolphins.

“I know this sounds crazy, but I’m telling you, they’re a better of fense without Tyreek Hill,” NBC Sports ana lysts Chris Simms said on “Football Night in America.”

Josh Allen, 26, also is on pace for 48 TDs, and Joe Burrow, 25, is on pace to throw for three dozen touchdowns. La mar Jackson, 25, has 13 TD throws, three shy of last year’s total, and he’s fifth in the league with 510 rushing yards.

Mahomes, Allen, Burrow and Jackson make up the league’s new upper echelon of elite quarterbacks, supplanting the likes of Brady, Rodgers, Ryan and Wilson.

With 11 TDs through seven weeks, Rodgers is on pace for half about half of Mahomes’ pro jectied TD total — 26 — after throwing for 37 last year and 48 the year before.

Counting play offs, Brady had 96 TD throws his first two seasons in Tampa, mir roring Peyton Man ning’s renaissance in Denver in the second chapter of his Hall of Fame career. But he has just eight through seven games this sea son, putting him on pace for 19.

That would be his lowest in a healthy sea son since his first year as the Patriots’ starter in 2001, when he had 18 TDs.

Like Brady’s Bucs, the Packers are 3-4 fol lowing three straight years of Rodgers going 13-3.

Their common strug gles have led to both

scuffling superstars dressing down team mates over dropped passes or missed as signments.

At least they’ll get the chance to turn things around. Ryan won’t, even though he the Colts took on the more than $50 million remaining on his sala ry when they acquired him from Atlanta in the offseason.

Nowhere is the league’s tilt toward defense more pro nounced than in Den ver, where the Broncos are giving up just 16.4 points a game but are 2-5 because their odi ous offense is averag ing just 14.3 points per game.

That has Denver fans wondering if they didn’t get themselves a lemon in Wilson, who cost the Broncos three players and four high draft picks plus a $245 million extension be fore the season.

Wilson’s five TD throws in six games puts him on pace for 13 this season, a year after he threw for 25 touchdowns and two years after he had a ca reer-best 40 in Seattle.

His struggles in Hackett’s hybrid of fense come just months after the Walton-Pen ner ownership group paid a global sports record $4.65 billion for the team but have seen thousands of empty seats at Empower Field and thousands of fans streaming for the exits in crunch time to beat the traffic rather than watch the Broncos fall short again.

Hackett is on the hot seat just two months into his rookie season as head coach and gen eral manager George Paton might be getting sweaty himself.

“When your de fense is playing as well as our defense is you shouldn’t be los ing games. That’s just point blank, period, a fact,” Rypien said after the Broncos’ 16-9 loss to the Jets Sunday that gave them five losses by an average of 4.6 points.

“We have to fig ure out what we can do to turn this thing around,” said Rypien, echoing Brady in Tam pa, Rodgers in Green Bay and Reich in In dianapolis as their teams stumble toward the season’s halfway point with unenviable records, sputtering of fenses and few, if any, answers.

Spanish trekker headed to World Cup missing in Iran

MADRID (AP) — A Spanish man trekking from Madrid to Doha for the 2022 FIFA World Cup has not been heard from since the day af ter he crossed into Iran three weeks ago, his family said Monday, stirring fears about his fate in a country con vulsed by mass unrest.

The experienced trekker, former para trooper and fervent soccer fan, 41-year-old Santiago Sánchez, was last seen in Iraq after hiking through 15 coun tries and extensively sharing his journey on a popular Instagram ac count over the last nine months.

Sánchez’s family last heard from him on Oct. 2, a day after he crossed the Iraq-Iran border.

“We are deeply wor ried, we can’t stop cry ing, my husband and I,” his mother, Celia Cogedor, told The Asso ciated Press.

Cogedor and Sán chez’s father, Santiago, sat next to the fireplace at the family’s home in a hamlet in central Spain. Clearly exhaust ed, the couple shared with journalists the treasured last audio message their son sent them that morning, al legedly already from Iranian soil, detailing his future plans.

“I’m with a friend who has come to pick me up. I’m going to go to Bandar Abbas, very far away 1,700 kilome ters (1,056 miles) south in Iran, near the island of Hormuz,” Sánchez’s calm voice said.

The Spanish adven turer explained how he planned to go to Tehran, the Iranian capital, the following day, where a television station wanted to in terview him. His next step would have been Bandar Abbas, a port in southern Iran where he

would hop on a boat to Qatar. But all traces of him evaporated even before he reached Teh ran, his parents think.

Sánchez had already warned his family be fore crossing into Iran that communication wouldn’t be as easy as it had been in previous months.

“After a few days we didn’t worry about him not posting, it matched what he had said. But after 8 or 9 days, my daughter and his clos est friends ... we al ready began to think that we had to report his disappearance,” his mother said.

His parents reported him missing on Oct. 17, and they said Spain’s police and diplomats were helping the family.

Spain’s Foreign Min istry said it had no in formation about Sán chez’s whereabouts, adding that the Spanish ambassador to Tehran was handling the mat ter. Calls to the Iranian Foreign Ministry seek ing comment were not immediately returned.

This was not San chez’s first time in Iran. In 2019 he biked a sim ilar route to get from Madrid to Saudi Ara bia.

His parents are proud of his adventur ous spirit and say his only goals are to help others and promote the Real Madrid soccer team.

“He has not been making propaganda, neither for nor against any situation. The only thing that moves him is supporting Real Ma drid, and walking to get on time to the World Cup in Qatar,” they said.

Sánchez’s reported disappearance in Iran comes as protesters are rising up across the Islamic Republic in the largest anti-gov

ernment movement in over a decade. The demonstrations erupt ed on Sept. 16 over the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman taken into custody by Iran’s morality police for allegedly not ad hering to the country’s strict Islamic dress code.

Tehran has violent ly cracked down on protesters and blamed foreign enemies and Kurdish groups in Iraq for fomenting the un rest, without offering evidence. The Iranian Intelligence Ministry said authorities had ar rested nine foreigners, mostly Europeans, over their alleged links to the protests last month.

Westerners and dual nationals have increas ingly become pawns in Iran’s internal political struggles and in ten sions between Tehran and Western capitals, analysts say, with at least a dozen dual na tionals arrested in re cent years on disputed spying charges.

Sánchez arrived in Iraqi Kurdistan in late September, after trek king thousands of kilo meters carrying a small suitcase in a wheeled cart, packed with little more than a tent, water purification tablets and a gas stove for his 11 months on the road. He said he wanted to learn how others lived before reaching Qatar, the first World Cup host coun try in the Arab world, in time for Spain’s first match on Nov. 23.

“THE IDEA of the journey is to motivate and inspire other peo ple to show that they can go very far with very little,” he told the AP from Sulaymani yah, a Kurdish city in northeastern Iraq.

The day before he disappeared, Sánchez

had breakfast with a guide in Sulaymani yah. The guide, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said he tried to warn Sánchez about the dangerous political situation in Iran.

Protests in Iran’s Kurdish region after Amini’s death kindled the nationwide unrest still roiling Iran. In re sponse, Iranian forces have unleashed drone and artillery attacks targeting Kurdish sep aratists in northern Iraq.

But Sánchez was un deterred and confident, the guide said.

“He didn’t look ner vous at all. He told me, ‘I sorted out every thing, don’t worry,’” he said.

Sánchez, the guide added, planned to meet an Iranian family in the Kurdish town of Marivan — a scene of recent anti-government protests. The family, delighted by Sánchez’s Instagram posts, had offered to host him.

After Sánchez crossed the border on Oct. 1, his messages became sparse and cryptic, the guide said. Sánchez told him that things were “very dif ferent” in Iran from Sulaymaniyah, an Iraqi metropolis filled with parks and cafes.

“It’s been a long sto ry,” his last message read.

In his last Instagram update, the night before he crossed the Iranian border, he posted im ages of his emotional farewell to Iraq and told of a Kurdish fami ly’s generosity. He had planned to camp on a mountain, but the own er of a nearby farm took him in, giving him a bed, a shower and a hearty dinner of bread and chicken soup and tea over an open fire.

team that makes it happen:

Quinn is a sports reporter from Ellicott City, Maryland and a recent graduate of West Virginia University. He joined The Register in 2022.

His hobbies include watching and playing sports, being outdoors and spending time with family and friends. His favorite sports to cover are baseball, football and basketball—in that order.

Photo by April Kroenke Photography

Harper powers Phillies to World Series

PHILADELPHIA

(AP) — The billionaire owner of the Philadel phia Phillies pounded his fists on Bryce Harp er’s chest and joked the Phillies slugger was al most underpaid at $330 million over the life of his contract.

It was absurd to put a price tag on the moment for John Middleton as he pulled in Harper for a hug while the Nation al League champion ship celebration swirled around them on the field. This was a mo ment the duo visualized when Middleton took a jet in February 2019 to Las Vegas to court Harper in meetings and dinners that would eventually yield a 13year, $330-million deal, the biggest in baseball history for a free agent.

So when Harper and Middleton finally em braced — once the Phil lies beat San Diego 4-3 on Sunday in Game 5 of the NLCS and reached their first World Series since 2009 — yeah, the feelings were a bit more personal.

“You bet it was! Of course it was,” Mid dleton said. “(It’s) $330 million later, mutual promises of being com mitted to winning and doing whatever it took to win.”

Harper delivered in the postseason, a place seen only in fits and spurts for a franchise that has two World Se ries championships in 140 years. The tater for ever etched as an all-tim er in team history — the one that had Middleton

and Phillies fans every where pleading for the ball to keep going — was his game-winning, tworun homer in the eighth that lifted Philly into the World Series and left even Harper momentar ily bewildered.

“Oh my gosh. I just did that,” Harper said in the dugout.

Sure did.

Next stop, Houston.

The Phillies open the World Series on Friday against the Astros with more than a punch er’s chance against the defending Amer ican League champi ons strictly because of Harper. The numbers only tell part of the tale, even as the 30-year-old designated hitter is pil ing up stats among the best in postseason his tory, all while declaring Citizens Bank Park is his house. He leads in the clubhouse, and from his Phillie Phanatic cleats and headband, to his novelty T-shirts to his shoutouts for Philly sports legends, he has embraced the fans and the pressure of playing in the city like few out siders ever have in any sport.

“All the things we thought he was, have turned out to be true,” Middleton said.

“There’s been no disap pointments. Sometimes when you go through that process you think you understand some body and what you re ally get is a little bit dif ferent. There is nothing different with Bryce.

He is just committed to winning. He’ll do what

ever it takes. I think if I told him he had to play third base, he’d play third base.”

The right fielder who bowed to Phillies fans each time he ran out to start the game was forced into a DH role in April because of a small tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of his throwing elbow. Be cause Harper could not throw with the injury, had the National League not adopted the DH rule this season, he might have missed a consid erable chunk of time, if not the season. Remem ber, too: When Harper’s

thumb was broken by a pitch from San Diego’s Blake Snell in late June, there were concerns he might not be back until next year.

The 2021 NL MVP slumped a bit late in the season as the Phil lies made a run a the NL wild card. But in the playoffs against St. Louis, Atlanta and the Padres, Harper’s num bers soared higher than his jersey sales. Unlike Padres slugger Manny Machado, Harper did not ask for an out in his contract, though his postseason play would have provided ample ne

gotiation fuel.

Among his October achievements:

— Harper is hitting .419 with six doubles, five homers, 11 RBIs, 10 runs scored and a 1.351 OPS in the postseason.

— His 11 extra-base hits are most for a Phil lies player in a postsea son and his 10-game hitting streak matches Lenny Dykstra (1993) for the team’s longest in the playoffs.

— Harper’s go-ahead home run was the sixth in MLB postseason his tory in the eighth in ning or later that gave his team the lead when

trailing in a potential series-clinching game.

“As good as it gets,” Phillies manger Rob Thomson said. “I mean, he’s proved to me over and over and over again that there’s no moment that’s too big for him, and he’s come through so many times. You just kind of expect it when he goes to the plate.”

Harper almost does, too. With the Phillies down 3-2 and reliever Robert Suarez on the mound, Harper had a message in the dugout.

“Let’s give them something to remem ber,” Harper said.

Bochy: Set to lead in Texas, where he has already won

Continued from B1

top choice in the Rang ers search, Bochy was convinced after extend ed conversations with Young.

“Some have asked why. Well, the simple answer is, I miss this game,” Bochy said. “We talked many hours about the team and the culture that he wanted to create. And I was in.”

The 67-year-old Bochy got a three-year con tract. The former big league catcher, who be gan his playing career in Houston, has 2,003 career wins in his 25 seasons as a manager. He also took the Padres to their last World Series in 1998.

The Rangers were 6894 this season and had

35 one-run losses, a fran chise record. Their six consecutive losing sea sons mark the longest streak sin the half-cen tury since the franchise moved to Texas in 1972. Their last winning re cord was at 10-9 early in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, and they lost 102 games last year.

After clinching the 2010 World Series with a Game 5 victory in Texas, San Francisco added ti tles in 2012 and 2014. The Rangers returned to the World Series in 2011, and lost in seven games to St. Louis.

“I had a hard time get ting over 2010, but then after I got over 2010, I thought was a pretty good idea,” Rangers pri mary owner Ray Davis

said about when Young presented Bochy as his choice before meeting with him. “It took about 10 minutes into the pro cess where I was sold.”

Fourth-year Rangers manager Chris Wood ward was fired Aug. 15, two days before the team also let go of president of baseball operations Jon Daniels — who was the GM for their two World Series teams, and division titles in 2015 and 2016.

Bochy takes over a Rangers roster that was bolstered in free agency last offseason with the signings of shortstop Corey Seager ($325 mil lion, 10 years) and sec ond baseman Marcus Semien ($175 million, seven years). Top pros

pect third baseman Josh Jung was among young players who made their big league debuts or got extended looks this year.

“When I look at this team and I look at the core players, and the deep system and the vi sion that CY has, I get excited. I just see tons of potential for next year and years beyond,” said Bochy, who was a special adviser for the Giants the past three seasons, and managed Team France in the World Baseball Classic quali fier last month. (Bochy was born on a U.S. Army base in France).

Semien grew up in the San Francisco area root ing for Bochy’s teams, including that 2010 championship.

“It was a special time just seeing what he and that staff built over there,” said Semien, who was at Monday’s introduction. “And I think that we have the talent in the clubhouse to do the same things, and know that we have the support from (Davis) on spending on pitchers and everything like that. So I think we’re heading in the right direction.”

Houston Astros man ager Dusty Baker called Bochy one of his favor ites guys, and a top man ager.

“I wish he was in the other division. But I’m glad he’s back. ... A great baseball man, baseball mind. One more for the old dudes,” Baker said before the Astros won

the AL Championship Series to get to their fourth World Series in six seasons. “I had a feel ing he would be back.”

Baker is the oldest manager in the majors at 73, and Bochy will be the next-oldest. They managed in the same di vision from 1995 to 2002, when Baker was the Gi ants manager after Bo chy got to the Padres.

Tony Beasley served as interim manager for the final 48 games and was interviewed after the season for the job. The beloved Beasley, the Rangers third base coach since 2015, is stay ing to be a part of Bo chy’s staff.

The last three Rang ers managers were all hired by Daniels.

Bryce Harper holding up the NLCS Most Valuable Player trophy on Sunday night. TNS

Are all connections healthy, or can we skip dull relatives?

Dear Carolyn: We’re told from magazines, television ads, webpages and more to get connect ed with others because it’s good for us. Meet ing up with friends is its own reward. I crave time with them. But get ting together with some extended family mem bers is torture. We have little in common, and the topics we do share interest in were used up long ago.

If getting together with people who interest and amuse us is good for our mental health, does time spent with the bor ing or unpleasant drain us of something? (They make me crazy but only figuratively, as far as I can tell.) — M. M.: They drain us of hours, certainly, that we’re never, ever, ever getting back. Ever. (Sor ry, unnamed relative I have in mind.)

But with family, as with all things, some work is good work. Our lifetimes are dotted with things we didn’t want to do and hated doing but are glad we did. The

Carolyn Hax Tell Me About It

chore I most resented, for example, and would have dropped forever within a nanosecond of receiving permission to, was writing papers in school. Ha.

So those dreary rela tives may represent far more to any of us than good or bad company. Each one contains a por tion of your history, if nothing else. Each pro vides context for your lifetime through small moments and momen tous events. Each may be putting up with you, too, because the institu tion of family is a valid shared interest.

And in combination, these conversational black holes may rep resent, as they do for so many of us, the so cial equivalent of cata strophic insurance. Will those more sparkly peo

ple you love and crave agree to meet as a group to figure out how to make sure you’re loved and cared for, or at least just off the street, when life goes haywire, leav ing you with dementia or addiction or without a dime to your name?

Maybe they will. I hope they don’t need to, obviously, but I hope they do if you need it.

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More likely, though, it’ll be a relative or three stepping in to catch such a precipitous fall.

Not always, of course. There are families who cause the problems that friends step in to clean up. And there are fami lies who step in strictly out of duty and feel no love doing it. I’m not romanticizing anything here.

I am representing, I hope, the reality that peeks out from so many hard-luck and end-oflife stories: The people there for the worst of it are typically related somehow. It’s Mom or Dad on camera for the local news, or following

Don’t ignore bleeding from your ear

DEAR DR. ROACH: I am a 67-year-old male in relatively good health. I exercise regularly (four times a week). I have been taking medication for hypertension, which is getting much better since I started a plantbased diet three months ago.

About every three months or so for the last five years, there are two half-dollar-sized blood stains on my pillow com ing from my right ear. I have no headaches, and my hearing is what it is for my age. My wife is concerned, but I am not. What do you think? — J.G.

ANSWER: I think your wife is wise to be concerned. This is not something I commonly encounter, and the an

Dr. Keith Roach

To Your Good Health

swer is very likely to be found inside your ear by a clinical exam. I do sometimes see small in fections in the ear that may bleed, and there are benign tumors of the ear canal and eardrum that may sometimes bleed as well. I have read about a very rare con dition of an aneurysm bleeding from the ear. This has been going on a long time, so it’s worth an evaluation.

DEAR DR. ROACH: My husband and I re cently contracted CO

VID and are currently recovering well, follow ing treatment with Pax lovid. We are both over 60 years of age with no other major risk fac tors. I know that we both need to wait at least three months before we can get the new COVID booster shot. How long should we wait before we get our annual flu shot? — K.P.

ANSWER: You may get the flu vaccine as soon as you are feeling better from your COVID infection. You should no longer have a high tem perature. For most peo ple, that’s somewhere around a week or two af ter the start of the infec tion, but can be shorter or longer depending on who you are.

up with doctors or detec tives. It’s the grandpar ents taking neglected children in. It’s the sib lings or niblings bicker ing over whose turn it is to handle their elderly mother’s/aunt’s bills.

In my experience, family members dispro portionately make up the ranks of people who realize either they step up for a person in need or nobody will.

If you want your friends to be that insur ance policy for you, then great. I regard families of choice as equal to families of origin. You just need to nurture those kinds of friend ships — which includes being “family” to those friends. Which, irony alert, involves stick ing by them long after they, too, grow too sick or addled or cranky or familiar to interest you anymore.

So, yes, connection is important. Connections, plural, are important — of all kinds, to meet many kinds of needs. Think of your part in such a reciprocal web before you go cutting the threads.

BEETLE BAILEY by Mort Walker

HAGAR THE HORRIBLE by Chris Browne FUNKY WINKERBEAN by Tom Batiuk BLONDIE by Young and Drake

Yesterday’s Cryptoquote:

When witches go riding, and black cats are seen, the moon laughs and whispers, “‘Tis near Halloween!”

MARVIN by Tom Armstrong

HI AND LOIS by Chance Browne

ZITS by Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman

CRYPTOQUOTES N Q Q M P H L Y L K E L N E T U H Q V V M Q Q T P H J , I Y H J P V L Y Y N L K Q T Q . . . N T Q E G P H J N T Q E G V H Y G Y T L E I Q Z Q T N E T Q N L Y N T Q E G F Q C Y T Q . — Q N J E T E I I E H M Y Q