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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Noted, notorious Kansans recalled Medicaid
drug plan draws criticism
By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
On Tuesday, Roger Carswell mounted the podium at the Iola library and delivered a lecture called “Noted and Notorious Kansans.” Looking out across the crowd of four, the longtime librarian set himself the maximal task of describing 80 famous Kansans in under an hour. Which he did — with intelligence, with wit, with slides. To the person easily swayed by popular opinion, which still regards Kansas as a place of tremendous boredom and conformity, Carswell’s talk was a luminous reminder that across our largely blank skies, occasionally, a bright star goes streaking past. Of course, among Kansas’ notable offspring, some are the sources of great pride (George Washington Carver, Amelia Earhart, Jack Kilby — who invented the microchip), while others still make us cringe (Carrie Nat See NOTED | Page A5
By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
Iola Public Library director Roger Carswell lists former President Dwight Eisenhower in his presentation of “Noted and Notorious Kansans” Tuesday evening. REGISTER/RICK DANLEY
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A budget-balancing proposal from Republican Gov. Sam Brownback would deny needed medications to the poor and mentally ill in Kansas, health care advocates told legislators Wednesday. Brownback’s measure is aimed at cutting prescription drug costs for the state’s Medicaid program, which provides health coverage to 362,000 poor and disabled Kansas residents. The proposal would allow See PLAN | Page A5
Statehouse power plant put on hold By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s administration delayed construction Wednesday of a new power plant for the Kansas Statehouse and four nearby government office buildings following bipartisan legislative
criticism over the $20 million project’s financing. Brownback’s office confirmed the delay after top GOP legislators said they’d been told the project was on hold temporarily. The Senate Ways and Means Committee also indefinitely postponed a confirmation hearing for interim Administration Secretary Sarah Shipman.
“A number of the legislators wanted to take another look at it, wanted some additional information. I said, ‘Sure,’” Brownback told reporters. The Department of Administration wants to build the new power plant on the site of a parking lot north of See PLANT | Page A5
Iola High School junior Nathan Fawson, 17, earned his Eagle Scout ranking after a lengthy service project in which he and several of his friends photographed more than 6,000 headstones at Iola’s Highland Cemetery. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Eagle Scout project highlights Highland By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Thanks to Isaiah Fawson’s Eagle Scout project, researchers of loved ones can find the exact location of any of the 6,200-plus headstones in Iola’s Highland Cemetery. Fawson, 17, a junior at Iola High School, was awarded his Eagle Scout rank during a ceremony Jan. 13. It took nine months to complete the service project — photographing and uploading photos of most of the cemetery’s headstones. From November 2014 until July 2015, Fawson coordinated the effort, first to photograph each of the headstones, then to upload the photos onto the billiongraves.com website. From there, the photos were made available for others to put names and biographical information with each stone.
Daniel Cox, retired Iola city employee, has opened This & That Flea Market, 230 W. Garfield St., in the old Western Auto building. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
New flea market serves up ‘This & That’ By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Daniel Cox spent more than 27 years as an Iola city employee, and a lifetime of hunting bargains. “Basically, I’ve spent the past 40 years visiting flea markets,” said Cox, who re-
cently opened a flea market of his own, This & That, 320 W. Garfield St. Cox ramped up his flea marketing after retiring more than 11 years ago from the city’s Gas, Water and Wastewater Department. That’s when he accumulated much of his die-cast
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 64
car collection. Cox also has collected Avon for most of his adult life. “You don’t see many guys do that,” he joked. “When we’d go on vacations, I’d stop and see the flea markets,” Cox continSee THAT | Page A6
“I am at heart a gentleman.” — Marlene Dietrich 75 Cents
“A lot have been added,” he said. “It’s been a while since I’ve checked.” A major component of the service project required Fawson to involve others, and not just do the work himself. “I took only a few of the pictures myself,” he said. “I recruited lots of my friends, and people from church.” The effort required more than just snapping random pictures. Fawson mapped out entire sections of the cemetery, and each picture had to be done with a GPS-equipped device. (Most smartphones have that capability.) Finally, the lighting had to be just right so that the deceased’s name was easy to depict. “Some of the older stones were kind of faded, and it was hard to see the letters,” he said. “Some were partialSee SCOUT | Page A5
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