The Weekender Saturday, May 28, 2016
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Second community conversation in works By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Suspects sit silently as law enforcement personnel conduct a raid Thursday in the 300 block of West Jackson Avenue in Iola. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Raid nets arrests at Iola home
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Six people were taken into custody late Thursday morning after law enforcement personnel raided a home in west Iola. Iola Police Chief Jared
Warner said a search warrant was executed at the home of Jonathan Ingram, 414 W. Jackson Ave. The warrant resulted from an ongoing drug investigation. There, they found evidence they said warrants charges of distributing opiates (meth-
amphetamine) against Ingram, 36, Chelsea Dodson, 28, Christopher Trester, 42, Kristy Ginsburg, 37, and Allen Young, 51. Ingram, Trester and Ginsberg also face charges of obstructing justice, Warner said. Summer Salzwedel, 31, is accused of
possessing drug paraphernalia. The suspects were arrested without incident, although a Kansas Bureau of Investigation agent injured his knee. The agent was taken to Allen See RAID | Page A4
Last August, more than 160 residents from across Allen County spelled out how they’d like to see their communities improve. Some of the wishes were taken care of in Damaris short order. Kunkler Elsmore, for example, now is integrated into Allen County’s storm siren network, and Iola now has a “complete streets” policy that takes into account pedestrian traffic when street See ACT | Page A3
Speaker: State’s Medicaid rejection is foolhardy By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Kansas leaders are “shooting themselves in the foot to make a political statement,” Sheldon Weisgrau said here Thursday, of the state’s refusal to accept federal dollars to expand Medicaid. Expansion is provided through the Affordable Care Act, most often referred to as Obamacare, and, he added, that’s where the political influence resides. Conservative Republicans in Congress and in Kansas and many other states abhor President Obama’s signature program, to the point of self-flagellation. Weisgrau is director of the Health Reform Resource Project, a foundation-funded ini-
tiative to provide education and technical assistance to consumers and others in the implementation of health reform and the ACA in Kansas. He also is imminently familiar with critical access hospitals, of which Allen County Regional Hospital is one. He helped develop the rural hospital program, with the first opening in South Dakota and the second in Ransom, Kan. He spoke at ACRH and then at a noon meeting of Rotary. Without ever falling into a plodding vein, Weisgrau recounted recent Kansas history of Medicaid assistance, known as KanCare since its administration was privatized. “It is the biggest issue in Kansas today,” he said, with
Senate hopeful speaks out By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
What Chris Johnston lacks in terms of political organization he more than makes up for with passion and a determination to help take Kansas in a better direction. Johnston, 57, is a Democrat in the race for state senator representing the 12th District. His opponent, as of this writing, is incumbent Sen. Caryn Tyson, a Republican from Parker. Johnston, Ottawa, points to four issues he deems are eroding the state’s good character. 1. The Legislature’s tack of defunding public schools; 2. The Legislature’s income tax code, which provides lucrative tax breaks for the wealthy; 3. The Legislature’s treatment of its state hospitals
56 percent ($1.8 billion in federal money) and 44 percent ($1.2 billion from the state) paying medical costs for 400,000 residents. Expansion was promised under ACA but was made optional for states by a Supreme Court ruling — the only portion of the health care plan not judicially upheld — and would have added 140,000 recipients in Kansas. As is they fall into a financial abyss: Those who make too much to qualify for Medicaid under poverty guidelines and too little to qualify for purchase of insurance through ACA marketplaces. “Many legislators think, and say, the program is for the poor, which is only half See MEDICAID | Page A3
Sheldon Weisgrau
A historical journey for IHS instructors By DYLLAN JONES IHS Messenger
Chris Johnston and what he judges are calculated steps to privatize them, and, 4. The Legislature’s attacks on the judiciary branch and the goal of putting the courts under the responsibility of the governor. As the son of a public school teacher, Johnston contends public education is what makes the United See JOHNSTON | Page A4
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 150
Ten days to most people is just a unit of time. To Jeff Fehr and Bill Peeper, it’s a promise of adventure and, in many ways, an educational experience that Dyllan Jones can be brought back to benefit the student body and local community. Through a rural trust opportunity known as the Global Teacher Program provided by the Rural School and Community Trust, the two teachers found a window of opportunity to travel across the ocean and cultural borders without having to pay a dime out of pocket. Fehr and Peeper are two
Bill Peeper and Jeff Fehr, teachers at Iola High School, were recently selected by the Rural School and Community Trust to travel abroad this summer. PHOTO BY DYLLAN JONES Iola High School teachers with a dream to experience firsthand some of the world’s history; a dream that takes place in Western Europe, home to some of the most revolutionary inventions and ideals to impact mankind, as
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” — Winston Churchill 75 Cents
well as some of its greatest destructive forces. Now that this goal has been made a reality, the two history instructors will be traveling that stretch of the world See TEACHERS | Page A4
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