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Sports: Wilhite tosses no-hitter
2017 1867
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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Thursday, March 30, 2017
Hospital earns ‘High 5’ award By SHELLIE SMITLEY The Iola Register
Allen County Regional Hospital is recognized as a High 5 for Mom & Baby Hospital. HIgh 5 Program Coordinator, Gwenn Whittit, said she works with 60 of the 67 hospitals where newborns are delivered throughout the state. Allen County is the 29th hospital to be recognized, but has worked its way to the top faster than most hospitals, she said. The hospital staff began training in August 2016 and is implementing best maternal practices at 80 percent or better. That’s a feat that typically is achieved after two years, according to Whittit. “This was something we were already passionate about so that’s why it was easy,” Nursing Director Tina Poe said.
Over 60 percent of (all) moms who deliver at Allen County are breastfeeding their newborns, according to Poe. Most are still breastfeeding six weeks after delivery, said Dr. Becky Lohman. “Moms that deliver here (at Allen County) are getting the best quality care,” Whittit said. In order to be recognized as a High 5 for Mom & Baby hospital, staff must be working with a fraction of 80 percent or greater of new moms in five different areas, including skin to skin contact, feeding only breastmilk, keeping the infant and mother in the See ACRH | Page A3
Church adds weekly service Harvest Baptist Church continues to burst at the seams. With its weekly services numbering as many as 180, and a sanctuary that seats only 100, organizers have decided to add a second weekly service. The two services will be identical, at 9 and 10:45 a.m., senior pastor Tony Godfrey said.
A large membership “is a good problem to have,” Godfrey said. “But it’s still a problem.” M e m b e r - Tony Godfrey ship has grown steadily after Harvest See CHURCH | Page A5
Karla Boots, Welda, has been driving her own 1998 Peterbilt Day Cab for three years. REGISTER/
SHELLIE SMITLEY
On the road to breaking barriers By SHELLIE SMITLEY The Iola Register
March is National Women’s History Month. The 2017 theme honors women who have successf u l l y challenged the traditional role of women in the workplace. Karla Boots,43, Welda, is a local woman who has not only challenged the role of women in the paid labor force but also challenged herself to go outside her comfort level. Boots, the daughter of Gene Laver, Moran, and retired Gas Postmaster General, Pat Spencer, was born and raised in Gas and graduated from Iola High School in
1992. For 16 years she delivered mail in Garnett. “I was hurting,” she said. “My feet were killing me and I’d had two surgeries on my feet. It was a point in time in my life that I didn’t think I could do another 16 years of that job and I wanted a change, so I took a chance.” Boots bought a dump truck and at 40 years old, after driving lessons from her brother Brian Laver, obtained a Class A CDL. U.S. Pipeline was replacing oil pipelines from Cushing, Okla., all the way to the east coast, she said. Boots jumped in on the action hauling rock and overburden and following the pipeline company from Mound City to Independence. Although she
had casually driven trucks around her dad’s farm as a youngster, driving a dump truck for a living was a whole new experience. “There was some steep grades they would have us back down into and you had to make sure you were level so your beds did not tip,” she said. “It was challenging for a brand new driver,” she said laughing. Boot attributes common sense, acquired through both her parents, with keeping her out of treacherous predicaments. “I don’t ever remember getting myself in situations that were scary,” she said. “I was careful.” When that job ended in See ROAD | Page A2
Local groups strive to make connections By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
Iola is filled with good Samaritans, willing to lend a hand, or a buck, to whatever or whoever needs it, Mike Ford notes. The key to making such efforts even more beneficial is through collaboration, suggested Mike Ford. “What we’d like to do is create a conversation between groups,” Ford said at Tuesday’s inaugural Iola Community Organizational Network (ICON) meeting. “Maybe your group is good at construction, but not at fundraising,” Ford said. “Or maybe you’re good at talking to people, but not good at finding volunteers. “We hope by partnering with other groups, we can get more done with the community,” Ford said. Representatives from a dozen or so groups spoke briefly about their missions, past projects and plans for the future. FORD, who is involved with several groups himself, spoke primarily about Iola’s Community Involvement Task Force/PRIDE Committee, which started around 2005 by a group of citizens
“looking to have a little more say.” Since then CITF/PRIDE has taken on several projects, including remodeling the football stadium at Riverside Park, overseeing construction of a nine-hole disc golf course, providing paint for buildings at Riverside Park, painting several downtown storefronts, adding plaques and information signs about those historic downtown buildings; and hosting a “Support The Blue” picnic to support local law enforcement. The group’s major project now is to place large flower pots around the courthouse square and along Madison Avenue in downtown Iola. Ford said CITF/PRIDE has about $5,000 in the bank to purchase 26 34-inch by 34inch pots, and an additional five-foot-tall “flower towers.” He estimates another $3,000 is needed, not counting the costs for the dirt and flowers themselves.
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she said. “ L a s t y e a r , we put a brand new roof on a worn-out building.” She’s hoping to enlist a team of skilled carpenters, men or women, who c o u l d help with the press box. “If you’ve ever driven through El Dorado, you’ve seen the huge, beautiful flower pots,” Ford said. “We’d like to create that in Iola.” Ford estimates the pots, designed so that they need to be watered every 2½ to three weeks, will not need to be drained over the winter, either, he said. Donna Houser, one of CITF/PRIDE’s mainstays, talked more extensively about the stadium upgrades. “We’re looking for volunteers for pressbox repairs,”
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representing Iola Elks, spoke primarily about the group’s activities, from the July 4 fishing derby and fireworks displays; a plethora of youth activities, such as the annual Hoop Shoot contest; free bean feed for Iola’s annual Veterans Day celebration; and donations to other groups, such as Hope Unlimited. “We’re involved in the community, and the community’s involved with us,” Thompson said.
THOMPSON,
“Never complain, and never explain.”
— Benjamin Disraeli, British statesman (1804-1881) 75 Cents
Thompson touched on grant opportunities through the Elks National Foundation, and working with other groups to apply for additional grants. HOUSER represented three other organizations. The Molly Trolley, which serves as a money-maker for the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce, is in dire need of being replaced. “It’s worn out,” she said. “It was almost worn out when we bought it.” The problem, Houser continued, is money, or lack thereof, even though the trolley brings in revenue because of sponsored trips or private rentals, such as weddings. “”It’s good for business,” she said. The Allen County Historical Society needs volunteers, of any capacity, Houser added. “We really need docents,” she said. “You can be able to do something, or you don’t have to be able to do anything.” “We do not make you come in every day,” she said. “It’s all volunteer. If you come in once a month, that’s great. If See ICON | Page A5
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