High school hoops: Jayhawk-Linn squads upend Yates Center.
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THE IOLA REGISTER Locally owned since 1867
www.iolaregister.com
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
How we got our Bill of Rights Speakers examine what they mean, how they shaped U.S. Constitution
By MICHAEL A. MEMOLI Tribune News Service
By RICHARD LUKEN The Iola Register
H
UMBOLDT — Residents were given an interactive, and eventually tasty, look at the Bill of Rights and how they impact lives today. Monday’s program, sponsored by the Humboldt Historical Preservation Alliance, was part of the Bill of Rights display set up at Humboldt City Hall. Eric Carlson, government, history and economics instructor at Humboldt High School, and Heather Bosler, a reporter and photographer for the Humboldt Union, provided the lesson plans. Carlson’s presentation focused on the history of the Bill of Rights, and the U.S. Constitution as a whole. Bosler used an exercise that focused on the First Amendment. CARLSON spoke briefly about the Constitution’s predecessors, the Declaration of Independence and Articles of Confederation.
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Eric Carlson, social sciences instructor at Humboldt High School, speaks Monday on the history of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights during a program at Humboldt City Hall. REGISTER/RICHARD LUKEN
Through the Declaration of Independence, the 13 British colonies announced their secession from Great Britain, while also asserting that all men were created equal, and all were endowed with certain inalienable rights — life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That was fine and dandy, Carlson said, but the newly formed United States of America still needed a set of instructions in order to get its new government off the ground. The Founding Fathers hammered out the Articles
of Confederation, which served as the country’s first constitution and allowed the U.S. to do such things as conduct diplomacy and establish the 13 sovereign states. But the Articles had a number of weaknesses, Carlson noted, because they gave little sway to the federal government, and made such tasks such as taxation difficult. “The Articles of Confederation was a good start, but it didn’t serve the purposes it needed to,” Carlson said. “The federal government could ask for troops, and it
could ask for money, but the states didn’t have to do either one.” Not much later, alarmed nationalists gathered in 1787 and spent several months drafting what became the Constitution. “By the time they finished cussing and discussing everything … we have a new form of government,” Carlson said. “But it’s not perfect.” The Constitution had three articles, setting up the legislative, executive and juSee RIGHTS | Page A3
WASHINGTON — Whenever President Donald Trump sensed that he was losing Republican support during the 2016 campaign, he of- Donald Trump ten responded with just two words: Supreme Court. Perhaps no other cause motivates the Republican coalition as does preserving the balance of the high court. Trump has promised to announce tonight his choice to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last February, aiming for another highprofile opportunity to try to deliver on his campaign promises. Because Scalia was a stalwart conservative, Trump’s choice is not likely to change the balance of the court. But it does set the stage for a bruising partisan fight over a nominee who could help determine law on gun rights, See TRUMP | Page A2
Battle to beat back concealed carry on college campuses is on By SAM ZEFF Kansas News Service
Mothers, college professors, pastors, teachers and students packed a Capitol hearing room Thursday morning to make this plea to lawmakers: Roll back a law that in July will make it legal for almost anyone to carry a concealed gun on Kansas college campuses and in other public buildings. So big was the roll-back contingent that many there to testify had to be hailed to the room from down the hallway. But nobody who testified received a bigger reaction than Kansas State University student Regan Tokos from Omaha, who told legislators: “If I knew this law was going to take effect, I would have stayed in Nebraska.” Jo Ella Hoye, a mother from Lenexa, testified wearing a Moms Demand Action T-shirt. “It disappoints me to think my son won’t be able to attend my graduate alma mater in the future because the risk of having guns on campus is too grave,” she said. She’s not worried so much about crime but has concerns See GUNS | Page A3
Shannon Roloff, owner of WaveFire Games, left, and Chase Regehr, representing the Iola High School FFA chapter, speak during Friday’s See, Hear Iola session. REGISTER/SUSAN LYNN
WaveFire finds new home in downtown Iola By SUSAN LYNN The Iola Register
WaveFire Games, 101 E. Madison Ave., is not your ordinary game parlor, explained Shannon Roloff, who, with his wife, Anita, runs the business. “We offer imagination,” he told the audience gathered for Friday’s See, Hear Iola. Roloff said their new venue, the former McGintyWhitworth on the southeast
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corner of the square, is several times larger than their former location on South Washington and provides the room necessary to accommodate large game tables. “It’s great for tournaments,” Roloff said, which typically begin at 5:30 on Friday evenings and are referred to as “Friday Night Magic.” WaveFire Games, now in its eighth month, includes role-playing board games
that can use a combination of figurines, dice and cards. Roloff lauded the Iola community as “an amazing outlet” for Star Wars games in particular. Other games include Pokémon, Dungeons and Dragons and Magic Monopoly. Instruction on how to play the games is provided, Roloff said. “We have teaching sessions,” he said. Some of the games are complicated and
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require the ability to strategize, he said. Roloff has no shortage of dreams for the venue. Down the road the Roloffs envision opening “The Chaotic Wyvern,” a Nordicthemed diner that serves hearty fare such as steaks and stews. CHASE REGEHR, a senior at Iola High School and presiSee REGEHR | Page A3
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