Sports: Fillies earn split with Parsons See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Senior meals soon may be homemade By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Local officials may turn lemons into lemonade. The bad news: Senior Services of Southeast Kansas, Inc., has lost its building lease in Coffeyville, said Director Rosalind Scarbrough, resulting in organizational changes. Among them, hot
Day of Giving returns
meals delivered to Iola each week day for congregate meals and Meals on Wheels will be replaced with a fiveday menu of frozen meals brought once a week. The good news: Meals may be prepared daily at the Allen County Jail. Sheriff Bryan Murphy, County See MEALS | Page A6
Let there be streetlights By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
Allen County commissioners took to heart an offer from Iola to erect lights along a dark stretch of South State Street that is in the county, from Iola’s south limit to the Elm Creek bridge. The cooperative effort
will have the county purchase materials, $6,500. Iola crew will do construction, $3,000. Larry Crawford, Bassett mayor, sat in on Tuesday’s meeting and applauded the decision. He had asked for an increase in lighting in the past. See LIGHTS | Page A6
It’s a drag
Yates Center Elementary School’s A.J. Belcher drags a weighted sled during one of the many stations set up at Allen Community College Tuesday as part of Kansas Kids Fitness Day. Students from Iola, Yates Center and Marmaton Valley school districts participated. REGISTER/KAYLA BANZET
The Allen County Community Foundation is looking for local heroes S a t u r d a y. The foundation will host “Allen County Gives,” on Saturday to help link local non-profits to donors. Allen County Gives is a countywide fund drive with 100 percent of gifts going directly to the participating non-profits. Currently 38 non-profits are registered for the event which will be from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the old Classy Attic Building, 15 E. Madison Ave., on the Iola square. Some partners include ACARF, ANW Co-op, Special Olympics, Hope Unlimited, See GIVING | Page A6
Crowded agenda greets lawmakers as they get back to work By JOHN HANNA The Associated Press
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators are returning today from spring break to tackle a crowded agenda topped by a mandate to balance the next state budget and questions about which taxes they will increase to achieve that.
Top Republicans in the GOP-dominated Legislature believed they are close to set-
tling the details of a proposed $15.5 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The state constitution prohibits a deficit, and legislative researchers have said lawmakers’ spending proposals would leave a $422 million shortfall. Legislators also could debate plenty of other issues before the scheduled end of their 90-day session in mid-
May. Many Republicans want to pass a religious objections bill to protect faith-based groups on state college campuses seeking to limit their membership. “The temptation is, for many of our members, to find leverage for something they care about,” said House Majority Leader Jene Vickrey, a Louisburg Republican.
Here’s a look at significant issues facing lawmakers: TAXES IN SPOTLIGHT
The state’s budget problems arose after lawmakers slashed personal income taxes in 2012 and 2013 at Republican Gov. Sam Brownback’s urging, in an effort to stimulate the See STATE | Page A6
Saplings for sale Saturday
Iola High School jazz band student Aaron Terhune performs at the school’s Christmas concert last December. Terhune and his bandmates have garnered plenty of acclaim recently during a series of clinics, festivals and other events. REGISTER FILE PHOTO
Iola musicians rake in more honors By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
The musicians who roam the halls at Iola High School and Iola Middle School put another bevy of feathers in their collective caps with their work at a pair of recent events. The IHS concert band and orchestra earned a I, or “superior” rating at the State Large Ensemble event April
15 at Osage City. Coupled with an identical score in 2014, this marks the first time IHS band students have gone back-to-back since Dale Creitz was the group’s instructor more than 50 years ago. In fact, last year’s superior rating was the band’s first since 1993, instructor Matt Kleopfer said. Students are judged on nine different criteria, from sound quality, technical ac-
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curacy, rhythm and stage appearance. The Mustang musicians averaged a score of 76 out of 80. One judge gave the students a 79 — essentially perfect — rating. “They’re an amazing group,” Kleopfer said. “Every day they come to practice, they just want to be awesome. “One of my favorite things about this group is when you realize that between last year See IHS | Page A6
The annual tree sale will be hosted by Community Involvement Task Force this year from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday in the Iola Plaza parking lot on North State Street. One gallon pots will be $10 and two gallon pots will be $20. There are 83 trees for sale. Tree species include, native pecans, red oak, hybrid red maple, bur oak and eastern redbud. This annual sale was brought to Iola in the 1970s to help replace trees that were effected by Dutch Elm disease. Dutch Elm disease and phloem necrosis, spread to Iola in 1958, killing hundreds of trees in the commu-
nity. By 1961 Dutch elm disease was found in 23 eastern Kansas counties. To get the disease under control Iola citizens were encouraged to remove dead trees and weakened limbs where the beetles breed. Healthy trees were sprayed with a DDT mixture. In 1971, 75 percent of the elm trees in Iola were removed, ridding the community of its canopied streets. By 1970, a long-awaited shipment of trees arrived in Iola to go on sale by the Chamber of Commerce and sold for $1.50 each. This year’s sale is a fundraiser for CITF. There will be no early sales.
Democratic party takes shape By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
The long-dormant Allen County Democratic Party wiped the sleep from its eyes Wednesday night when it elected — from among the 14 local residents who attended an hour long meeting — a central committee charged with representing the party branch going forward. Mike Bruner (Humboldt),
“Science is nothing but perception.”
— Plato
75 Cents
a longstanding high school teacher in Chanute, was named county party chair. Georgia Masterson (Iola), director of Circles of Allen County and a health care Navigator at Thrive Allen County, accepted the position of vice chair. Glenda Helton (Iola) will be the group’s secretary. And Lisse Regehr (Iola), also a Navigator at Thrive, will be its See DEMS | Page A6
Hi: 75 Lo: 45 Iola, KS