A look back in time

55 Years Ago

March 1964

The city commission’s plans in regard to Memorial Hall and Urban Renewal were discussed at yesterday afternoon’s commission meeting. Architect John Bills appeared before the commission with his plans for conversion of the hall into a civic center which would include the police and fire departments, city offices and the municipal library. Bills was commissioned to make the proposal by the commissioners. Commissioners expressed their opinion that the plan would be unfeasible since the cost would be considerable and the library board is expected to seek a bond election to build a new library. The commissioners also noted they were negotiating with Southwestern Bell for the old telephone company building on Madison at Sycamore which the library might use while tearing down the present building and building new. Longterm plans for the building is to tear it down to create a city parking lot for patrons of the Bowlus Fine Arts Center and the library to use. Regarding the status of the Urban Renewal proposal for Iola, the commissioners said they are considering a reduced project under this program. The commissioners in January informed the planning commission that after investigating the Urban Renewal proposal they felt the Urban Renewal agency had not given sufficient commitments and the project should be dropped.

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J.V. Roberts Music Store, one of Iola’s oldest retail business places, plans to cease operations. Since the death of its founder, John Roberts, in 1955, the store has been the property of his widow, Mrs. Grace Roberts. Their daughter, Margaret Roberts, has been in the business with them continuously since the mid-1920s and has supervised the store in more recent years. Roberts opened the store in 1902 after spending several years touring the country as a musician with entertainment companies. He became well-known in this area as a cornet player and then as a businessman. He directed the Iola Municipal Band for many years and in the 1920s he also organized and conducted a Rotary boys band, taught orchestra and band in the high school and was director of the First Methodist Church choir. Margaret Roberts has given private piano lessons for some time and said she intends to continue at her home after the store is closed.

Letter to the editor — March 20, 2019

Dear editor,

We encourage you to vote yes on the school bond issue on April 2. We both attended junior and senior high in Iola and were pleased with the education we received. However, we graduated in the late 1960s and early ’70s and education had not changed much from what it was when the Iola schools were built.

As education made changes to be effective for more students to be able to learn, school buildings needed to change. Iola has not done that.

Other than adding some space to the elementary buildings nearly 40 years ago, adding gym and commons space to the high school 30 years ago, and the same type of space to the middle school 27 years ago, no changes have been made to the space where lessons are taught. Education itself has changed quite a bit in that time, from the addition of special education classes for needs of students that simply went largely unmet when we were in school, to the addition of safety rules to which schools must now adhere, our buildings no longer serve our students in the manner that would be most beneficial.

We would like to offer a comparison.

Our car is nearly old enough to vote. We still enjoy that car and it gets us where we need to go. However, the car no longer truly meets our needs. Our family size has changed and not everyone fits in it anymore. The available technology that can make travel safer has improved greatly since it was new. This car is still a good car, especially for someone that has a smaller family than us.

Like our car, our schools still have a lot of life in them, even though they are old. However they do not truly meet the needs of our students, as students are having to learn in old locker rooms, maintenance closets, and tiny spots under stairwells. 

Using technology and other advances in education, especially that have occurred in the last 20 years is difficult to do. We are paying extra money to have the same program available in three or more separate locations instead of all being housed together and we need staff to cover different buildings which requires more staff or staff that travel and split time.

Large-ticket maintenance issues for major items such as HVAC, roofs, mold problems and the wear and tear that 80 or more years of heavy use cause, are tying school funds that could be used to improve the educational experience, pay more competitive salaries to our staff and/or reduce the taxpayer share. The buildings are still great for some purpose, but they are not great for providing 21st century education.

We ask you to consider voting yes for the school bond. Yes, for an elementary that will serve all our students. Yes, for improving the science and cafeteria building at the high school. Yes, for new HVAC at the middle school. Yes, for the opportunity to repurpose some wonderful old buildings for a positive new life that might bring more life back to Iola.

Sincerely,

Walt and Mary Ann Regehr,

Iola, Kan.

Jury decides Roundup weed killer factors in man’s cancer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Roundup weed killer was a substantial factor in a California man’s cancer, a jury determined Tuesday in the first phase of a trial that attorneys said could help determine the fate of hundreds of similar lawsuits.

The unanimous verdict by the six-person jury in federal court in San Francisco came in a lawsuit filed against Roundup’s manufacturer, agribusiness giant Monsanto. Edwin Hardeman, 70, was the second plaintiff to go to trial out of thousands around the country who claim the weed killer causes cancer.

Monsanto says studies have established that Roundup’s active ingredient, glyphosate, is safe.

A San Francisco jury in August awarded another man $289 million after determining Roundup caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. A judge later slashed the award to $78 million, and Monsanto has appealed.

Hardeman’s trial is before a different judge and may be more significant. U.S. Judge Vince Chhabria is overseeing hundreds of Roundup lawsuits and has deemed Hardeman’s case and two others “bellwether trials.”

The outcome of such cases can help attorneys decide whether to keep fighting similar lawsuits or settle them. Legal experts said a jury verdict in favor of Hardeman and the other test plaintiffs would give their attorneys a strong bargaining position in any settlement talks for the remaining cases before Chhabria.

The judge had split Hardeman’s trial into two phases. Hardeman’s attorneys first had to convince jurors that using Roundup was a significant factor in his cancer before they could make arguments for damages.

The trial will now proceed to the second phase to determine whether the company is liable and if so, for how much.

Hardeman declined to comment outside court.

“This has been a long time coming for Mr. Hardeman,” said one of his attorneys, Jennifer Moore. “He’s very pleased he had his day in court, and we’re looking forward to phase two.”

Many government regulators have rejected a link between cancer and glyphosate. Monsanto has vehemently denied such a connection, saying hundreds of studies have established that the chemical is safe.

Bayer, which acquired Monsanto last year, said in a statement after the verdict that it continues to “believe firmly that the science confirms glyphosate-based herbicides do not cause cancer.”

“We are confident the evidence in phase two will show that Monsanto’s conduct has been appropriate and the company should not be liable for Mr. Hardeman’s cancer,” it said.

Monsanto developed glyphosate in the 1970s, and the weed killer is now sold in more than 160 countries and widely used in the U.S.

The herbicide came under increasing scrutiny after the France-based International Agency for Research on Cancer, which is part of the World Health Organization, classified it as a “probable human carcinogen” in 2015.

Lawsuits against Monsanto followed. The company has attacked the international research agency’s opinion as an outlier.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says glyphosate is safe for people when used in accordance with label directions.

Hardeman started using Roundup products to treat poison oak, overgrowth and weeds on his Sonoma County property in the 1980s and continued using them through 2012, according to his attorneys. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2015.

Credit union official admits embezzlement

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a former president of a credit union in Topeka has pleaded guilty to embezzlement.

The U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release that 52-year-old Connie Marie Kent of Topeka pleaded guilty Tuesday to one count of theft from a credit union and has agreed to repay nearly $40,000.

She admitted in her plea agreement that she was an officer and employee of 1st Kansas Credit Union, formerly known as Post Office Credit Union. Its membership is limited to government employees.

She faces up to 30 years in prison.

Sentencing is set for June 25.

Lawyer steals from estate

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A former lawyer has admitted stealing from a bankruptcy estate of a couple he once represented.

The U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release that 69-year-old Christopher O’Brien of Wichita pleaded guilty Monday to one count of embezzlement from an estate. In his plea, O’Brien admitted he embezzled $132,000 from the estate of Roger and Maria Altis.

He also agreed as part of his plea agreement to an order of restitution for more than $780,000 that includes the Altis case and two others.

O’Brien has voluntarily surrendered his license to practice law in Kansas.

Prosecutors say he faces up to five years in prison at his June 3 sentencing.

 

Trump blasts GM

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump stepped up his pressure on General Motors to reopen an Ohio manufacturing plant that recently closed and put 1,700 people out of work.

Trump’s arm-twisting came in a series of separate tweets on Saturday and Sunday . He capped his weekend rant against the GM with a tweet disclosing that he had vented his frustrations during a conversation with the company’s CEO, Mary Barra.

“I am not happy that it is closed when everything else in our Country is BOOMING,” Trump wrote. “I asked her to sell it or do something quickly. She blamed the UAW Union — I don’t care, I just want it open!”

The union is the United Automobile Workers, which represents the employees who lost their jobs in the Lordstown closure. Trump had previously told a UAW leader, David Green, to “get his act together and produce” for the Lordstown workers. Green didn’t respond to a request for comment Sunday.

General Motors said in a statement released Sunday evening that the future of plants scheduled to be closed “will be resolved between GM and the UAW.” The automaker also said that it has “opportunities available for virtually all impacted employees” at plants that are to be shuttered.

“We remain open to talking with all the affected stakeholders, but our main focus remains on our employees and offering them jobs in our plants where we have growth opportunities,” the company said.

Even as Trump said he talked to Barra, he was calling on GM to reopen its Lordstown plant or find another owner, while insisting that the Detroit automaker “must act quickly.”

He also blasted GM for letting down the U.S. and asserted “much better” automakers are coming to the country.

Trump praised Toyota for its investments in the U.S. in an apparent attempt to depict GM as being less committed to its home country than the Japan automaker.

The Lordstown closure has become a hot-button issue in an area of Ohio that is expected to be critical for Trump if he seeks re-election as promised in 2020.

Trump prevailed in Ohio in the 2016 election, a win that helped him win enough electoral votes to become president despite losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton.

That may be one reason why Trump joined a coalition of Ohio lawmakers in efforts to get the Lordstown plant running again. The tweets marked some of his most pointed criticism of GM so far.

Trump has skewered several other U.S. companies for not doing more to help their country’s economy, but his remarks so far have been more bark than bite.

For instance, he has publicly called upon Apple to shift most of its manufacturing from China to the U.S., but the Silicon Valley company continues to make its iPhones and most other products overseas.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, last week expressed doubts GM will reopen its Lordstown plant, but he said the automaker indicated it’s in talks with another company about using the site.

More than 16 million vehicles were made at the Lordstown plant during its 53-year history until GM closed it earlier this month as part of a massive reorganization. The company also intends to close four other North American plants by early next year.

Homes flood, lives lost as river breaches levees

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ? Hundreds of homes flooded in several Midwestern states after rivers breached at least a dozen levees following heavy rain and snowmelt in the region, authorities said Monday while warning that the flooding was expected to linger.

About 200 miles of levees were compromised ? either breached or overtopped ? in four states, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said. Even in places where the water level peaked in those states ? Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas ? the current was fast and the water so high that damage continued to pile up. The flooding was blamed for at least three deaths.

?The levees are busted and we aren?t even into the wet season when the rivers run high,? said Tom Bullock, the emergency management director for Missouri?s Holt County.

He said many homes in a mostly rural area of Holt County were inundated with 6 to 7 feet of water from the swollen Missouri River. He noted that local farmers are only a month away from planting corn and soybeans.

?The water isn?t going to be gone, and the levees aren?t going to be fixed this year,? said Bullock, whose own home was now on an island surrounded by floodwater.

One couple was rescued by helicopter after water from three breached levees swept across 40,000 acres, he said. Another nine breaches were confirmed in Nebraska and Iowa counties south of the Platte River, the Corps said.

In Atchison County, Missouri, about 130 people were urged to leave their homes as water levels rose and strained levees, three of which had already been overtopped by water. Missouri State Highway Patrol crews were on standby to rescue anyone who insisted on staying despite the danger.

?The next four to five days are going to be pretty rough,? said Rhonda Wiley, Atchison County?s emergency management and 911 director.

The Missouri River already crested upstream of Omaha, Nebraska, though hundreds of people remained out of their homes and water continued to pour through busted levees. Flooding was so bad around Fremont, Nebraska, that just one lane of U.S. 30 was uncovered outside the city of 26,000. State law enforcement limited traffic on that road to pre-approved trucks carrying gas, food, water and other essential supplies.

?There are no easy fixes to any of this,? said Fremont City Administrator Brian Newton. ?We need Mother Nature to decrease the height of the river.?

In southwest Iowa, the Missouri River reached a level in Fremont County that was 2 feet above a record set in 2011. The county?s emergency management director, Mike Crecelius, said Monday that more water was flooding into low-lying parts of Hamburg, where a wall of sand-filled barriers was breached when one failed.

Reynolds, touring flood-ravaged areas of the state for the second straight day, warned that flooding will worsen along the Mississippi River as snow melts to the north.

The National Weather Service said the river was expected to crest Thursday in St. Joseph, Mo., at its third-highest level on record. Military C-130 planes were evacuated last week from nearby Rosecrans Air National Guard base.

In North Dakota, Fargo was preparing for potentially major flooding along the Red River ? the same river that ravaged the city a decade ago. Mayor Tim Mahoney declared an emergency and asked residents to help fill 1 million sandbags in response to a weather service warning that snowmelt poses a big risk in Fargo. Sandbag-filling operations start March 26.

In Illinois, weather service readings showed major flooding along the Pecatonica River at Shirland and Freeport, and the Rock River in the Rockford area and Moline. Freeport City Manager Lowell Crow said officials there expected the Pecatonica River ?to possibly rise to a record level or at least to a level we haven?t seen in 50 years.?

The flooding started after a massive late-winter storm hit the Midwest last week.

The high water was blamed in the deaths of three people from Nebraska. Betty Hamernik, 80, of rural Columbus, was trapped in her home by the fast-rising Loup River. Her body was recovered Saturday.

Aleido Rojas Galan of Norfolk was swept away Friday night in southwestern Iowa, when the vehicle he was in went around a barricade. On Thursday, Columbus farmer James Wilke, 50, died when a bridge collapsed as he used a tractor to try and reach stranded motorists.

Two men in Nebraska have been missing since Thursday. One was last seen on top of his flooded car; the other was swept away after a dam collapsed.

Fish in river that caught fire now OK’d for dinner

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Fish in an Ohio river that became synonymous with pollution when it caught fire in 1969 are now safe to eat, federal environmental regulators say.

The easing of fish consumption restrictions on the Cuyahoga River in northeast Ohio was lauded Monday by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine as an important step toward ultimately delisting the river altogether as an area of concern. Seven impairments remain to be addressed before that can happen.

“This is an example of the progress that can be achieved when you collaborate and dedicate resources to improving the quality of water in our state,” DeWine said in a statement. “We need to continue to invest in our water resources so that we can see additional improvements.”

The announcement came as DeWine is pushing a state budget that includes nearly $1 billion for water quality projects aimed at cleaning up toxic algae in Lake Erie and protecting other lakes and rivers throughout the state.

The Cuyahoga River was already one of the most polluted rivers in the country at the time of the fire on June 22, 1969, according to the Ohio History Connection. The fire was neither the first nor the worst the river had experienced.

But the 1969 fire on the river, where industrial waste and sewage were regularly dumped, drew national media attention that made it an instant poster child for water pollution at a time when the country was becoming more environmentally aware.

“As we approach the 50th anniversary of the most infamous Cuyahoga River fire, we reflect on the progress that has been made,” said Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, CEO of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, whose creation was inspired by the Cuyahoga River fire, gave the thumbs-up to easing the fish consumption restrictions.

Regional administrator Cathy Stepp called it “a huge step” in the agency’s work to improve water quality.

The U.S. EPA agreed with Ohio EPA’s recommendation that restrictions on fish consumption be eased from Gorge Dam near Akron to Lake Erie in Cleveland. State regulators proposed the change last year judging by improvements observed through fish tissue sampling.

Ohio EPA Director Laurie Stevenson said in a statement, “If you safely can eat the fish, we know that’s a great indication that water quality is improving.”

Carolyn Murphey

Carolyn J. Murphey, age 71, of Iola, died Friday, March 15, 2019, at Menorah Medical Center, Overland Park, Kansas. Carolyn was born July 27, 1947 in Moran, to Harry B. Mefford and Louise M. (Cox).

She married Gary Murphey in 2001 in Humboldt. He survives.

Survivors also include a son, Troy Spencer, Gas; a daughter, Belinda Hamilton, of Iola; and other relatives.

Memorial services will be held at a later date.