IMS ROUNDBALL: Ponies defeat Osawatomie.
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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Overpass signage sought By BOB JOHNSON The Iola Register
LIGHT SHOW A DELIGHT Volunteers have worked to create a wonderland of Christmas lights this year on the Allen County Courthouse lawn. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Volunteers turn Iola square into colorful holiday display By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
The calendar has yet to reach December, and it’s already looking a lot like Christmas in downtown Iola. A group of volunteers, spearheaded by Iolan Tracy Keagle, spent the better part of a weekend recently creating a spectacle of light on the Allen County Courthouse lawn. Not content with decorating the trees already on the property, the volunteers embarked on an “adopt-a-tree” effort to align the south sidewalk with artificial light dis-
Supremacy concerns persist for Trump
plays. The effort has paid off beautifully, with a holiday light showpiece certain the catch the eye of passersby young and old. “When you’re old like me, you remember what the square looked like when we
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USD 257
School board leery of future bond issues By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
ATLANTA (AP) — Donald Trump’s disavowal this past week of white supremacists who have cheered his election as president h a s n ’ t quieted c o n c e r n s Donald Trump about the movement’s impact on his White House or whether more acts of hate will be carried out in his name. Members of the selfdeclared “alt-right” have exulted over the Nov. 8 results with public cries of “Hail Trump!” and reprises of the Nazi salute. The Ku Klux Klan plans to mark Trump’s victory with a parade next month in North Carolina. Civil rights advocates have re-
Still smarting from the failed school bond issue of 2014, local school board members were hesitant Monday night to dip their toes into the waters of any substantial upgrades to existing structures. Any such effort “must be community-driven,” said Tony Leavitt, president of the USD 257 Board of Education, citing what he felt was widespread mistrust from voters about reports of district buildings being on life-support. “I’m not sure I’m ready to hear,” any professional recommendations, Leavitt said, “until we get a communitybased group that is on board. We sorely need community buy-in before we go ahead with any planning.” If it’s evidence the public needs, engineers with a firm called 360 Energy Engineers will be all too happy to assist. Two representatives of the Lawrence-based firm were in Iola Monday to do a walkthrough with Scott Stanley, direction of operations, of district buildings. At Monday’s meeting Jacob
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By BILL BARROW and JONATHAN LEMIRE The Associated Press
were kids,” Keagle said, recalling the strings of lights and garland stretching from light pole to light pole. “I wanted to recreate something like that for kids today.” A number of other volunteers lent a hand as well. Iola Area Chamber of
Commerce Executive Director Carol Sager and husband John, Iolans John and Georgia Masterson, Gary and Leah Stout, Ryan Sparks and Aaron and Allegra Franklin were instrumental in getting the light display put together in short order. And just in the St. Nick of time. Santa arrives at his temporary quarters on the southeast corner of the square Thursday evening, from 5 to 7. A candy cane hunt is scheduled as well. Once again, free trolley
Sean McReynolds, chief of Humboldt’s volunteer firefighters, thinks adding streetidentification signs to overpasses on U.S. 169 would help make emergency response more efficient. “We get a lot of accident and grass fire calls that just say they’re north or south of the Humboldt exit,” he told Allen County commissioners Tuesday. The concern: “There are three Humboldt exits.” When a semi-transport slammed into a structure this summer at the intersection of Georgia Road and the highway, McReynolds said he was unsure which exit was closest to the site so he dispatched trucks and volunteers to all three. People reporting incidents in many cases aren’t sure of location, other than it is north or south of a Humboldt exit. “The three are about six miles apart,” McReynolds said. Commissioners were receptive to his argument, and mentioned the proposal to Wayne Gudmunson, Kansas Department of Transportation district engineer, who dropped by later for a chat. “We’ll have to check” with KDOT officials in Topeka, he said. “There are regulations
Quote of the day Vol. 119, No. 25
Tech ed center gets grant By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
Jacob Hurla, right, a manager with 360 Energy Engineers, Lawrence, describes some of the challenges he detected in a walk-through of USD 257 buildings at a meeting Monday night of school board members. To Hurla’s right is Doug Riat, a vice president with the engineering company. REGISTER/SUSAN LYNN
Transportation software OK’d With a recent accident involving a school bus fresh on their minds, USD 257 board of education members approved the purchase of a software program that will help deal with such tragedies, among other things, at their meeting Monday night. The Zonar program includes a communications system, navigation services, and an inspection process to
ensure vehicle safety. Had Iola school buses been equipped with such a service before the Nov. 18 accident involving a school bus, school administrators would have immediately known which students were aboard the affected bus in addition to its exact location. “When I got the first call See SOFTWARE | Page A4
“The lack of money is the root of all evil.” — Mark Twain 75 Cents
A $122,000 grant from the Goppert Foundation will go toward the purchase of equipment needed for a construction welding class at the Regional Rural Technology Center in LaHarpe. “Hats off to the Allen County Community Foundation for making this happen,” said Jack Koehn, superintendent of USD 257 schools. The welding class will begin next fall. “Unfortunately, buying the equipment isn’t like Cyber Monday,” Koehn said. “We can’t get it delivered in two days’ time.” It had been hoped the welding class would be available to area high school students by next semester. The Goppert Foundation is an offshoot of Goppert State Service Banks, one of which is located in Colony.
Hi: 48 Lo: 33 Iola, KS