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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
Grant advances bridge plans
Iola will receive a $59,320 grant to support activities preparing for construction of a pedestrian bridge spanning Elm Creek along South Washington Avenue. The grant, from the Health Care Foundation of Greater Kansas City, was announced Dec. 21 by the Kansas City Business Journal. Twelve grants totaling $4.25 million were awarded in the HCF’s service area. Thrive Allen County has spearheaded efforts to pursue the walking bridge as a means to connect Iola to recently developed recreation areas, including the Elm Creek Park South and the nearly finished Lehigh Portland Trail near Elks Lake. The bridge also would connect Iola with Gates Corporation and other businesses south of town. Funding resources for the bridge’s construction have yet to be decided. No price See BRIDGE | Page A4
Monday, December 28, 2015
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NATURE’S FURY
A car is flooded in a drainage ditch in Rowlett, Texas, on Sunday, a day after a tornado hit the area. DALLAS MORNING NEWS/NATHAN HUN-
SINGER/TNS
Twisters, snow, floods blast much of U.S. By DAVID WARREN and REESE DUNKLIN The Associated Press
GARLAND, Texas (AP) — As residents of North Texas surveyed the destruction from deadly weekend tornadoes, the storm system that spawned the twisters brought winter storm woes to the Midwest today and amplified flooding that’s blamed for
more than a dozen deaths. At least 11 people died and dozens were injured in the tornadoes that swept through the Dallas area on Saturday and caused substantial damage. That, plus the flooding in Missouri and Illinois, was the latest in a succession of severe weather events across the country in the last week that led to at least 43 deaths. A range of precipitation
was forecast today for the country’s midsection, including heavy snow, ice and blustery winds in parts of 11 states and heavy rain in already-waterlogged parts of Missouri and Arkansas. In North Texas, local officials estimated as many as 1,450 homes were damaged or destroyed by at least nine tornadoes. “This is a huge impact on
our community and we’re all suffering,” Garland Police Lt. Pedro Barineau said of the suburb about 20 miles northeast of Dallas, where eight people died, 15 were injured and about 600 structures, mostly single-family homes, were damaged. The weather service said an EF-4 tornado, which is the See STORMS | Page A4
Former Kansas prisoners seek to make up for lost time By OLIVER MORRISON The Wichita Eagle
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Peter Ninemire said he was a rebellious Kansas farm kid but that he lost control when his dad passed away when he was in his early 20s. “The reins came off of the wild horse,” Ninemire said. He was caught growing marijuana and faced 24.5
years in prison, which became 27 years. His first night in federal prison in 1991, he said, the man in the cell next to him hanged himself with his sheets. “I woke up in the middle of the night,” Ninemire said. “I thought, Wow this is not going to be fun, this is going to be a journey.’ “ He realized he had a choice. “I wanted to have a bigger
Lawmaker seeks end to private foster care system TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Republican Kansas lawmaker is calling for an end to the state’s first-in-the-nation privatized foster care system, as it nears its 20th anniversary with increasing scrutiny and a record number of children in foster homes. Rep. Mike Kiegerl, an Olathe Republican, wrote a report titled “When Children Die We Must Act” in which he concluded that the mid-1990s privatization wasn’t successful, the Topeka Capital-Journal reported. “It grieves the author of this report who as an economist fervently believes in privatesector efficiency to categorically state that this program as currently in place ought to
be eliminated. Perhaps another method of privatizing services could be studied,” Kiegerl wrote. His report was among more than 100 pages of documents provided to the Legislature’s Special Committee on Foster Care Adequacy, which met for one day last month and hopes to get permission to meet again. The Department for Children and Families, which oversees the state’s foster care contractors, has been facing questions and criticism in recent months over the deaths of multiple children in the foster care system. The scrutiny intensified afSee FOSTER | Page A4
Quote of the day Vol. 118, No. 42
purpose and calling in life than just being a prison inmate,” Ninemire said. “We could either live our life or do the time, and I decided that I was going to live my life.” Many of the current prison reform efforts in states and in Congress include proposals for allowing prisoners to work off time if they show evidence of growth inside. Many prisoners he saw fell
further into the mindset of a criminal, Ninemire said, and would return not long after they were released. Ninemire earned a reputation for being the most positive person in the prison, he said, and sometimes people called him “the mayor of Englewood prison” for trying to mediate disputes between prisoners and the staff at the federal prison in Colorado. He
helped start a counseling center for youth and a chapter of the prisoner advocacy group Families Against Mandatory Minimums. He realized he liked social work. The Wichita Eagle reports that President Clinton commuted Ninemire’s sentence in 2001, just 15 minutes before he left office, and Ninemire See PRISONERS | Page A4
Piqua cemetery vandalism investigated PIQUA — For the second time in a month, vandals left their marks on a Woodson County cemetery. Woodson County sheriff ’s deputies were called to the St. Martin’s Old Cemetery, where somebody drove a vehicle onto the cemetery grounds, marring it with deep tire ruts. The cemetery is about a mile west of Piqua on 140th Road. Deputies speculated the damage was caused by a small vehicle with “highway” tread tires. The vandalism mirrors damage reported in late November at Kalida Cemetery, about 2 miles southeast of Yates Center, where a motorist left
St. Martin’s Cemetery, Piqua several tire ruts across the cemetery grounds. Tipsters are encouraged to contact the Woodson County sheriff ’s office at (620) 625-
“Dreams are today’s answers to tomorrow’s questions.” — Edgar Cayce, American mystic 75 Cents
8640 with information. Tips also can be left at the Sheriff ’s Department Facebook page, or by calling Crime Stoppers.
Hi: 33 Lo: 19 Iola, KS