THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
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Wednesday, November 26, 2014
ACRH BOARD
Trustees withhold construction funds By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
At left, McKinley Elementary School students work together to create colored necklaces as part of a Thanksgiving activity Tuesday. At right, Jefferson Elementary School fifth-graders surround a teepee they helped build. The students are, from back left, Myriah Walls, T.J. Taylor, Rain Burleson, Josie Plumlee, Jenna Curry and Braxton Curry. PHOTOS BY TERRI CARLIN (LEFT) AND RICHARD LUKEN
Students celebrate Thanksgiving By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Jefferson Elementary School fifth-graders turned weeks of learning about Native American customs into a “potlatch” festival for Thanksgiving Tuesday. The term, a Chinook word meaning “to give away” was
part of a feast featuring an assortment of foods found naturally. The fifth-graders dined on pheasant, dove, venison and trout — all hunted or caught by instructor Karen Price’s father — as well as black walnuts, pecans, gooseberries, blackberries, corn, hominy, cornbread and honey. Their common thread?
“Everything you see before you is what Native Americans ate,” Price said. In addition to the feast, the students erected a giant teepee in the middle of Price’s classroom. The covering was made by “tanned” paper, which had been rubbed down with See STUDENTS | Page A6
Hospital trustees held off paying $95,000 to Murray Construction because of some items still not completed or operating correctly in regards to the building’s construction. It’s the first time trustees have withheld payment to Murray, the construction management company that oversaw construction of the hospital including hiring subcontractors. Stonework on the exterior of the building, the air exchange in the hospital’s heating and cooling system, and some landscaping issues pose the greatest concerns and remain unresolved, said Ron Baker, chief executive officer of Allen County Regional Hospital. Baker estimated about half of the items on the punch list had been completed since submitted to Murray early this fall. “Some are easy and straightforward, such as a cracked toilet seat,” Baker
said. In other instances, such as the air exchange requirements in various rooms, the hospital is waiting for a “test and balance report” to better document the precise levels to see if it needs to be corrected and to what degree. “If the report does not go well and there are significant changes that need to be done to HVAC in order to comply, then there will be significant costs,” Baker said. “I was not prepared personally to vote for the $95,000,” said Harry Lee Jr., trustee chairman. “I believe they are due 100 percent of what we owe them, and conversely we are due 100 percent of what they owe us.” Trustees first discussed withholding half of the fee, but after further discussion aligned with trustee Glen Buchholz who moved they pay “not one nickel,” until the outstanding issues are resolved. “I’m willing to hold their feet to the fire,” Buchholz said. See HOSPITAL | Page A6
COUNTY
Project 17: Allen County doesn’t lack for jobs ‘Everything’ By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Allen County doesn’t lack for jobs, rather in people to fill them, Heather Morgan told county commissioners Tuesday morning. Morgan is executive director of Project 17, a consortium of southeast Kansas counties with designs on improving the region’s economic development. She pointed out Allen’s unemployment rate is 4.2 percent, and said many of those
who make up that statistic don’t know how to navigate the intricacies of getting a job and keeping one. Consequently, “they feel defeated and depressed” and find themselves on the outside looking in. Another obstacle, Morgan said, is the unemployed knowing where and when jobs are available, an outcome that often occurs through friends and relatives and therefore limits applications. Drawing people from outside the county to local jobs also is limited by wages paid, which must be enough to com-
pensate for transportation or encourage a move to the community. That makes housing a chicken-and-egg issue, she said, and allowed that moderate-priced housing, not lowpriced, probably is the answer, but not definitively. Commissioner Tom Williams, former sheriff, noted he sometimes was told by those involved in the court system — as defendants — they couldn’t find jobs. “That might be a good place to advertise,” he said. Morgan embraced the idea. She said some employers are
on table to fix budget gap
willing to take on an employee with a record, to give them a chance to work their ways onto the right side of society, and not hold against them “screwing up in their 20s.” See COUNTY | Page A2
Local outreach helps feed the community By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
The community at large is welcome to a Thanksgiving dinner at First Presbyterian Church. Doors open at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday. The meal is an extension of the church’s Sunday Soups, an effort in its beginning stages to provide food and fellowship each Sunday evening from 5 to 7 o’clock. Initial response to the Sunday Soups has been heartening, organizer Elyssa Jackson said. An average of 100 meals has been served over the first four Sundays. “A core group has been showing up every Sunday,” Jackson said, in addition to a
few newcomers. A traditional Thanksgiving meal will be served Thursday. Organizers are preparing for about 120. BESIDES FILLING the belly, the meals provide fellowship, said volunteer Tom Waters. “People should come just for the companionship,” he said. Waters is director of Iola’s food pantry at the corner of Washington and Broadway as well as pastor of a Baptist church in Bronson. “I’ve tried to retire, but always am called back into action,” he said of his 48 years in ministry. Waters has been with the food pantry for five
Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 24
Volunteers helping with Sunday Soups are from left, April Hawkinson, Chris Stevens, Steve Hoag and John Walls. months, replacing Phil Honeycutt. Waters’ wife, Jeri, also volunteers at the pantry, as well
as her sister-in-law, Jackie Misenhelter. See HELP | Page A6
“There is no influence like the influence of habit.” — Gilbert Parker 75 Cents
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback said he is considering all options to fill a massive projected budget deficit that he didn’t know existed until after the election earlier this month. The state’s nonpartisan Legislative Research Department estimates the state’s shortfall for this fiscal year, which ends in June, will be $279 million, and it will grow by an additional $436 million in the following year. Based on current spending levels, the predicted budget hole for the next year will be $715 million, The Wichita Eagle reported. “We’re looking at all factors — everything — spending a lot of time thinking about it, talking with the agencies and others. We’re looking at it all very thoroughly,” Brownback told reporters Monday as he was leaving a meeting of the State Finance Council. When asked if the state needed to tweak its income tax policies and possibly delay income tax cuts scheduled for the future, the governor said, “We’re looking at all of it.” Brownback promoted and signed a bill eliminating income taxes for some See BUDGET | Page A6
Hi: 45 Lo: 25 Iola, KS