Sports: IHS tennis team competes in Independence See B1
THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Monday, March 30, 2015
Budget picture puzzle still missing pieces TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republican Gov. Sam Brownback hopes the GOP-controlled Kansas Legislature wraps up several key budget issues this week, though he’s not pushing lawmakers to finish a spending blueprint for state government that also erases a projected shortfall of nearly $600 million. The Senate has approved a $15.5 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1
John Hanna An AP news analysis
that won’t balance without tax increases. The House’s Republican leaders aren’t sure whether the chamber will vote on a spending plan before the
Legislature begins its annual spring break Saturday. State officials and university economists plan to meet April 20 to issue a new forecast for state revenues through June 2016. Republican leaders plan to have lawmakers consider proposed tax increases after they return from their break April 29 to wrap up business for the year. See BUDGET | Page A4
Thompson: Nothing definite By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
To date discussion about means of supporting the fiscal year 2016 Kansas budget through tax increases all have been tutorial, Rep. Kent Thompson told the Register Friday. Thompson represents
the 9th District, which contains parts of Allen and Neosho counties, including Iola and Chanute. “Nothing has been voted out of committee,” he said, which would permit debate on the House floor. See THOMPSON | Page A4
Walter Johnson
Baseball exhibit coming to Humboldt By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
HUMBOLDT — October has been a red-letter month for Humboldt since the first Biblesta occurred in 1957, and it’s about to get a shot of adrenaline. Beginning on Oct. 3 — also Biblesta day — Humboldt will host the Smithsonian Institute’s traveling Hometown Teams exhibit in City Hall. The exhibit is designed to show how sports shaped America. Panels telling the story of sports, supplemented in great measure by local contributions, will be on display through Nov. 15. For several months a committee of Humboldt folks has met to plan how to localize and take advantage of the Smithsonian’s offering. Saturday morning committee members, led by Jan Coykendall, met at the public library. Plans are to feature Humboldt athletes who made a name for themselves —including some who still are — on fields of competition as well as peripherally through coaching, as fans and in other ways. Humboldt landmarks, such as Walter Johnson Athletic Field at the southwest corner of town, will be featured in real life. The complex, with a hand-laid stone stadium and surrounding wall, was built in the 1930s, an adjunct of federal works programs to employ those idled by the Great Depression. See EXHIBIT | Page A4
Upward Bound students spent much of Saturday helping other volunteers clear trees and brush away from what will be part of the Lehigh Portland Trails system south of Iola. Below, Randy Rasa, left, stands ready to push over a tree while David Fontaine attacks the tree with a chainsaw. REGISTER/RICK DANLEY
Upward Bound volunteers make happy trails By RICK DANLEY The Iola Register
S
oon Iola will be as known for the trails that encircle the town as it is for the courthouse square at its center. And an aerial view of the county — showing the Prairie Spirit Trail dropping in from the north, the Southwind coming up from Humboldt and the Lehigh Trail hugging the quarry lake to the southwest — will be visible proof, in a time when all the talk is of small towns dying, of the local residents who poured their energy and effort into a project in their own backyard. The latest efforts are on the Lehigh Portland Trails, which journey through the woods along Elm Creek near the old cement plant and include a branching system of single-track mountain bike trails. A core group of volunteers has cut trees, sectioned limbs, burned brush and smoothed paths during the inclement months so that locals and tourists will have use of the trails’ features sometime this summer. Last Saturday, though, Lehigh volunteers received a boost to their efforts in the form of 35 high school students, participants in the Upward Bound program. Upward Bound, a federally funded college-prep program whose local office is on the campus of Neosho County Community College, serves needs-based students in Iola, Humboldt, Erie and Chanute. “It’s mainly for low-income, first-generation students,” said Kaley Eastman, the group’s academic coordinator. “Our goal is to get them to college when they originally may not have been able to.” The program organizes community service outings, life skills classes, ACT prep, and much more; it accommodates 55 students, selected through an application process, from the four target high schools; and benefits each year from a Department of Education grant worth
Quote of the day Vol. 117, No. 103
I really, really like it (the trail). It gives us something to do, because Iola’s just a tad bit boring. — John Muhl, Upward Bound volunteer, on working on the Lehigh Portland Trails
$250,000. TWO OF THE Upward Bound students pitching in Saturday morning, both 16 years old, already had experience on the county’s trails. “My name’s John Muhl, M-U-H-L.” Muhl is a junior at Iola High School. “And mine’s like his; mine is John Hole. I’m J-O-H-N H-O-L-E, like hole in the ground. I’m 16, but I’m a sophomore. And I’m over in Humboldt.” Eastman pointed Muhl out as a bright kid and hard worker, a Boy Scout accustomed to the kind of brush-clearing
“Illusion is the first of all pleasures.”
— Oscar Wilde, Irish dramatist 75 Cents
work required of him at the Lehigh Trails. After Upward Bound helps him to get his college degree, Muhl said, he wants to be a “stealth engineer.” Hole, when he’s older, wants to be diesel mechanic. He’ll have no problem attracting business. He’s smart and charming; he speaks with a melodious twang, and gives off an air of instant trustworthiness. They both credit Upward Bound with preparing them for college. “Some of my friends told me I should join Upward Bound,” recalled Hole. “I checked into it, liked it, so I joined up.” Muhl already has his collegiate career mapped out. “My community college I’m not totally sure about. I’m thinking about going to Fort Scott.” “Hey, that’s where I’m thinking about,” said Hole. “Awesome,” Muhl said, flashing his friend a thumbs up. “Hopefully we’ll be roommates,” Hole said. “That’d work out about perfect.” “Yeah,” said Muhl. “And then I’m going to Pitt State and then to —” “Oh, man, except I’m going to graduate a year after you,” remembered Hole. “And then I plan to go on to Wichita State,” said Muhl.” Both Muhl and Hole are trail lovers. “I’m a Boy Scout,” explained Muhl, “I actually helped set up the rail-trail…. We helped plan it out, over in Iola. We helped cut vegetation off. And we See TRAILS | Page B4
Hi: 73 Lo: 46 Iola, KS