Sports: Red Devils edge Independence See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
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Thursday, January 29, 2015
Schools will feel budget squeeze 257 targeted for $468K cut
Pinching pennies at ANW By KAYLA BANZET The Iola Register
By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
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NW Education Cooperative is trying its best to save money in multiple areas. ANW Co-op director Bob Coleman told USD 257 Board of Education members Monday evening that money is very tight for special education. ANW is a special education cooperative serving Anderson, Allen, Neosho, Woodson and Wilson counties. Recently, the co-op was informed it is not required to offer health insurance through the Affordable Care Act to certain employees. Paraprofessionals who work fewer than 1,300 hours in a school year do not qualify for the insurance. A majority of the cooperative’s estimated 225 paras work fewer than 1,300 hours, Coleman said. Currently the co-op is paying rent and utilities for the ANW pre-school in Iola, though its contract states that should be the responsibility of the school district. Another savings option is busing. The board must weigh the pros and cons of using district buses for co-op
ack Koehn has a balancing act before him. How to make $468,000 in budget cuts without teachers or students feeling it. “I’m not sure it can be done this time,” Koehn, USD 257 superintendent of schools, said Wednesday afternoon. “All the cuts we’ve made to date, we’ve tried not to affect students. But now we’re down to the bone.” The cuts come from Gov. Sam Brownback’s request in January to fund schools through “block grants” while legislators write a new school funding formula. “Legislators will say they are are holding schools ‘harmless.’ The reality is it’s a 4 percent cut,” Koehn said. The cuts are for fiscal year 2016, beginning July 1. Also looming is Senate Bill 71, which calls for an immediate reduction in state funding for schools, amounting to about $82,663 for USD 257. And the promise to hold education funding level? “All campaign rhetoric,” said Koehn glumly. See IOLA | Page A5
See ANW | Page A2
Balloon crew nears N. America
Iolan Larry Walden has built an assortment of wooden contraptions in his woodshop/garage. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Master tinkerer creates works of art By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
In Larry Walden’s estimation he’s neither an artist nor a master woodworker. Perhaps he’d accept master tinkerer, which in Walden’s vocabulary is “a hacker.” Walden’s latest creation is perched high above the lobby of the Allen County Regional Hospital. He calls the intricate sculpture the “twister.” It’s the latest in a series of woodworking projects to emerge from Walden’s garage. “This is usually where
anybody can find me,” he said. “I’ll be out here until 11 most nights.” The twister evolved from a small woodwind spinner Walden bought, simply because it was made of teak. “I don’t think many people knew the value,” he said. “With teak, you can leave it outside forever.” He decided to build one for his grandkids, nieces and nephews to enjoy. Then another. Problem was, building something that small was difficult, Walden said. He figured it’d be easier to make a larger model.
Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 64
He then began tinkering with the individual wooden pieces, extending some farther than others. Even after Walden decided to find a suitable home for his biggest one — he offered it to the hospital, free of charge — he kept changing the design. “It probably took five months of tinkering,” he said. He made another largescale twister to give to a friend who works at a hospital in New Mexico, where Walden went to college. But the decoration’s size made it impractical to ship to New Mexico in one piece.
So he assembled it, took plenty of photographs and wrote down detailed instructions so it can be reassembled at its destination. “We’ll see how it turns out,” he said. “I like ’em for the effect.” WOODWORKING is more than a hobby, Walden admits. For one, it keeps him out of wife Beverly’s hair during the day. “She finally let me keep my stuff in the garage all day,” he said. “Since she’s retired, she doesn’t need to leave for See WALDEN | Page A6
Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.” — Walt Whitman 75 Cents
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The pilots of a helium-filled balloon on a daring flight across the Pacific Ocean drew closer to North America as they attempt to break two world records. Accomplished balloon pilots Troy Bradley of Albuquerque and Leonid Tiukhtyaev of Russia are expected to cross into North America sometime tonight and are on course to break a distance record that has stood for more than three decades. They’re also looking to break the flight-duration record set in 1978. They still have a ways to go before completing the journey, however. They are planning to cross over the Canadian Rockies and land somewhere in the northern U.S., possibly Montana or North Dakota, on Saturday morning. No one has crossed the Pacific Ocean in a gas balloon since 1981. But to break the distance record, the balloonists need exceed the current records by 1 percent to claim a new world record. That means they need to travel 5,260 miles to break the mark. Another important record is the duration of the flight, set in 1978 when Ben Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson and Larry Newman made the first trans-Atlantic balloon flight. That record of 137 hours in the air in a traditional gas balloon is considered the “holy grail” of ballooning achievements. The pilots on the current flight are at about 100 hours.
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