Sports: Area hoops teams gear up for substate See B1
The Weekender Saturday, February 28, 2015
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A ‘WONDERLAND’ OF DANCE
ACRH trauma care upgraded By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
The Kansas Youth Dance Center wraps up its two-night run of “Alice In Wonderland” tonight at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center. At top left, Chelsea Lea leads the caterpillar’s dance in one scene, before the character is transformed into Emma Weseloh’s butterfly, above at right. At left, Averie Sharon is the titular character, leading a drumline dance. Tickets sell for $10 for the 7 o’clock show.
Allen County Regional Hospital is in the final stages of having its emerg e n c y room certified as Lisa Griffith a Level 4 trauma center, despite already operating at Level 4 for some time, Lisa Griffith told Iola Rotarians Thursday. Griffith, an ACRH employee for 17 years, has been the ER director the past 12. She explained that Level 4 trauma care was designated for rural areas and the types of physical dangers that arise in such environSee ACRH | Page A4
REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Hopefuls sound off on 257 Board of Education race Taylor: Our students deserve better
Grigsby vows open-minded manner
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Outside of teachers you’d be hardpressed to find anyone who has spent more time in USD 257’s schools than Jen Taylor. She grew up in Iola, attending both Lincoln and Elementary schools as a youth, then Iola Middle School and on to Iola High School, where she graduated in 1994. Her mother, Deb Greenwall, is school librarian at Jefferson and McKinley. Her father, Steve, is a retired Allen Community College art teacher. And now the mother of four children — the oldest of which is a junior in high school — Taylor figures she’s been in one school or another at least once a week for the past 12 years. “That’s why I’m running,” she
Stan Grigsby likes to entertain ideas. “A friend once told me I can maintain a level of uncertainty longer than most people,” Grigsby said. “I don’t know that he meant it as a compliment.” Grigsby did. “The mark of an educated mind is one that can entertain an idea without accepting it,” he said. He hopes his open mind serves him well as he vies for a seat on the USD 257 Board of Education. Voters will choose between Grigsby and Jen Taylor in the April 7 general election. (A profile on Taylor appears elsewhere in today’s issue). Grigsby sees his ability to listen to others in a thoughtful debate before
Jen Taylor said. “I care about kids. Decisions the school board makes affect my whole family.” Taylor is running for a seat on See TAYLOR | Page A6
Stan Grigsby coming to a decision. “That’s who I am,” he said. “That’s how I try to do things. To say I’m toSee GRIGSBY | Page A6
Author: Persistence begets success By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
Wendelin Van Draanen signs a copy of her book, “The Running Dream,” at Thursday’s Iola Reads event at Iola’s New Community Building. REGISTER/KAYLA BANZET
Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 82
Hope and perseverance are the two things that rocketed author Wendelin Van Draanen to literary success. Van Draanen is the author of numerous books, including “The Running Dream,” the Iola Reads winter selection. Van Draanen came to Kansas from California to speak to the community during an Iola Reads presentation Thursday night. “When you write a book,
you don’t know how people are going to feel when they read it,” Van Draanen said. “Any community that does an all-read of your book is an honor.” Van Draanen is the daughter of Dutch immigrants. They encouraged their children to be the best they can be, which instilled perseverance into Van Draanen. Writing wasn’t her favorite subject in school and she didn’t grow up dreaming of becoming an author. “To me, being an author was
“Go to Heaven for the climate, Hell for the company.” — Mark Twain 75 Cents
someone who wore a tweed jacket or they were dead,” she said. Instead she became a computer science teacher in California. Devastation broke out in her life and writing stepped in. An arsonist set fire to her parents’ business and then six months later her father died. “I began writing about what happened to get it out of my system but it didn’t change anything,” she said. She then discovered fiction See AUTHOR | Page A4
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