Irn290615a01 by Iola Register

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Monday, June 29, 2015

Forces at play with Iola’s housing market By RICHARD LUKEN and RICK DANLEY The Iola Register

Walk through most any Iola neighborhood and you’ll invariably find a “for sale” sign, perhaps a vacant house or two. As of Friday, a master list of homes for sale in Iola listed 51. So, is there a housing shortage in Iola? “There are some empty houses in Iola,” agreed John Brocker of Allen County Realty. “I would not classify that as being totally inaccurate.” Except, “of those houses that are vacant, most would not suit your average worker; the empty houses tend to be on the lower-end scale,” Brocker

Homes in the $50,000-$60,000 price range, such as this home in the 600 block of North Walnut Street, are in the biggest demand in Iola. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN said. “They need a lot of TLC. So, to say we have enough housing, I don’t think that’s accurate, either. “There’s not a lot of choices when people come to town,” Brocker continued. “That 51

houses is for all price ranges. You have $400,000 homes, and some down to $15,000 or less.” For Jim Gilpin, a local banker and secretary of Iola Industries, an organization whose concern for 60 years

has been maintaining a strong workforce in the area, the lack of affordable housing is a definite problem. “I can say that we have been told by employers in the county that housing is a hurdle they’re struggling to get over right now. Many workers drive into the county to work, and they cannot find affordable housing to permit them to relocate to Allen County.” Gilpin is unpersuaded by those who claim that Iola, with its store of vacant homes, doesn’t require new housing — that the town can fulfill its obligations to new residents simply by repairing the existing stock. Both spoke on a wide range of issues affecting the local housing market, which has

come once again into focus as developers consider plans for one or more apartment complexes — along with a new grocery store — at the old Allen County Hospital site. REAL ESTATE has been Brocker’s livelihood for the past 40 years, 35 of which has been at Allen County Realty. Brocker, a licensed Realtor, also has served on both the state and national Board of Realtors. As such, he’s seen his share of booms and busts, here and nationwide. Iola, and much of southeast Kansas, for that matter, continues to lag behind the state in home sales. See HOUSING | Page A4

Judge’s ruling could have sweeping effect on abortion laws

Water rescue

Iola firefighters, Allen County sheriff’s deputies and others assist in retrieving Iolan Ron Furman from the swollen Neosho River waters west of Iola Friday afternoon, after his boat capsized. Robin Shelton, who was fishing off the banks with her son, T.J., saw Furman’s boat experience engine troubles. The current pulled his boat over the river dam, Shelton said. Furman, 62, clung to a large log until rescue personnel arrived. A winch truck was used to retrieve Furman’s boat. Furman was uninjured. PHOTO COURTESY OF ROBIN SHELTON

SEE, HEAR IOLA

Maloney shares tales of business success Ray Maloney narrated the tale of how he successfully took an idea and turned it into a thriving business Friday morning at See, Hear Iola. Maloney owns Ray’s Metal Depot in LaHarpe. While attending Iola High School Maloney worked with his father and learned a lot about carpentry. After graduating in 1980, he took on at the former Diebolt Lumber in LaHarpe. Six months later he made the career move to Klein Tools north of Moran and worked his way up to night shift foreman. In 1990, things weren’t going too well for the business and he came up with the idea to create a recycling center. “We didn’t have one at the time and I liked taking stuff that no one else could sell and make something of it,” Maloney said. After three months of discussions with LaHarpe City Council Maloney got the approved to purchase the site at 320 U.S. 54 in LaHarpe in June 1991. All this time he kept his job at Klein Tools, working until 3 a.m. only to turn around and

Ray Maloney talks about his business during See, Hear Iola on Friday. REGISTER/KAYLA BANZET wake up at 8 a.m. to work on items for the recycling center. “At first I was kinda scared to take the leap to full-time,” Maloney said. But when he was laid off at

Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 164

Klein Tools later that year, the decision was made for him. Maloney worked long hours to support his wife and two See RAY’S | Page A4

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A judge’s decision to block Kansas from banning a common second-trimester abortion procedure eventually could reshape the state’s legal climate and intensify conservative Republicans’ push to change how the highest court is selected. The law prohibiting a procedure that critics describe as dismembering a fetus likely creates too big an obstacle for women seeking abortions, Shawnee County District Court Judge Larry Hendricks ruled last week, an order that’ll remain in effect until he reviews a lawsuit filed by an abortion rights group. He also declared that the Kansas Constitution creates a right to an abortion that is at least as strong as what the U.S. Constitution provides — a specific finding that the state’s highest court has not made previously. Attorneys say that if his finding is upheld, Kansas courts eventually could join a handful of other states in protecting abortion rights more than the U.S. Supreme Court, which could jeopardize restrictions in Kansas that the nation’s highest court has upheld in other states in the past such as special rules for providers or limits on late-term procedures. That has the most influential anti-abortion group at the Statehouse, Kansans for Life, redoubling efforts to overhaul how vacancies on the Kansas Supreme Court are filled. Already, Gov. Sam Brownback and other GOP conservatives have pushed to overhaul the selection process. Kansans for Life Executive Director Mary Kay Culp said its interest in the issue “went off the charts” with Hendricks’ decision. “This is going to have a

“Education is learning what you didn’t even know you didn’t know.” — Daniel J. Boorstin, American historian 75 Cents

John Hanna An AP news analysis lot of impact on Kansas law, so I hope people recognized what just happened in that courtroom,” Jessie Basgall, an attorney for the group, said of Hendricks’ ruling. The new law was supposed to take effect July 1 and would have prohibited doctors from using forceps, clamps, scissors or other medical implements on a fetus so to remove it from the womb in pieces. The law calls the procedure “dismemberment abortion.” Such instruments are commonly used in dilation and evacuation procedures, which the Center for Reproductive Rights says accounts for 95 percent of all second-trimester abortions nationally. The center filed the lawsuit on behalf of two Kansas abortion providers and argued that U.S. Supreme Court decisions allowing state restrictions still don’t permit a ban on the dilation and evacuation procedure. The lawsuit said the ban violates provisions of the Kansas Constitution’s Bill of Rights promising equal protection of the law and protecting “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” The center argued that the state constitution protects abortion rights, even without mentioning abortion or a right to privacy. The Kansas Supreme Court declared in a 2006 abortion records case that it “customarily” interprets the state constitution to “echo federal standards,” but specifically declined to declare that a specific right See ABORTION | Page A4

Hi: 89 Lo: 65 Iola, KS