[Engagement] Levi West and Markie Seely

Mark and Sue Seely of Louisburg announce the engagement and pending marriage of their daughter, Markie Jo Seely, to Levi Dean West, son of Gary and Debbie West of Kincaid.

The bride-elect graduated from Louisburg High School in 2005. She attended Fort Scott Community College and graduated in 2008 with an associates of applied science degree in nursing. She is employed as a registered nurse at Neosho Memorial Regional Medical Center in Chanute.

The groom-to-be graduated from Crest High School in 2005. He also attended Fort Scott Community College and is employed as a sales manager at AutoZone in Iola.

The wedding will take place today, Oct. 15, 2011, at Colony Community Church in Colony.

Letter to the editor — October 15, 2011

Dear Editor:  

The trustees of the soon to be built Allen County Hospital, representing current as well as future generations of Allen County residents, thank the elected officials of the City of Iola for their vote to re-zone an area at the north end of Kentucky Street (known as the Hopper property) so a new hospital can be built there. 

The hospital is a vital part of our community and your support allows us to move forward again. 

We also express our appreciation for your recognition of the significant economic benefits the hospital will bring to the area by a unanimous vote to bring the electrical, gas and water utilities to the property at no cost to the hospital. 

This (savings) will allow us, as an example, to add over 400 additional square feet of badly needed space to the facility. We also want to recognize you for honoring the commitment of the past city commission to contribute one-quarter percent of the sales tax, through 2019, collected by the City of Iola for capital improvements purposes for the use in building this hospital. 

As we move forward there will be other challenges we will face as we work together on this project, and we are encouraged by your actions. As representatives of the entire county we, once again, thank you!      

Patti Boyd

Karen Gilpin

Jay Kretzmeier

Harry Lee

Sean McReynolds

Tom Miller

Debbie Roe     

Cain’s red herring has a fishy smell. Quick, toss it out

Herman Cain shot to the top of the polls over the past couple of weeks, powered by his 9-9-9 cure-all.

The former pizza executive would repeal all of the nation’s tax laws and replace them with one law imposing a 9 percent income tax on all earned income; a 9 percent levy on business profits and a 9 percent national sales tax.

He said his package would raise as much revenue as the current tangle of federal taxes — and would be oh-so-much simpler.

In debates with fellow Republican candidates for the presidential nomination he didn’t go into the impacts his plan would have on various sectors of the economy. He just kept chanting 9-9-9 and studio audiences loved it.

Like most simple solutions to complex problems, this one is as full of holes as Swiss cheese.

Cain said he had some unnamed outfit score 9-9-9 “dynamically,” which is where he got his revenue estimate. Dynamic scoring means that the scorers do the actual math and then add additional revenue that would be created by lowering taxes on the wealthy and on businesses. In other words, they guess what would happen and then assume it will.

Bloomberg News did an undynamic scoring and discovered that Cain’s plan would have come up about $200 billion short of 2010 revenues — and those revenues produced a huge deficit.

But that’s just problem number one with 9-9-9.

The formula would slash taxes on the rich from 35 percent to 9 percent. Quite a savings for Herman Cain and the rest of the top 1 percent. Taxing all earned revenue at 9 percent would mean that minimum wage workers would pay 67.5 cents of each $7.50 they earned as an income tax. Under today’s code, low-income workers pay a payroll tax for Social Security and Medicare but earn too little to owe income tax. Under Cain’s plan there would be no deduction for food, health care, lodging, clothes or any other necessary living expense. No deduction for dependent children.

Mow a yard. Get $10 for it. Send Uncle Sam 90 cents. Simple as that.

In addition to paying 9 percent of their wages to Washington, the nation’s workers would also be hit with a 9 percent national sales tax in addition to the sales taxes they now pay to their local and state governments, which would increase sales taxes by another hefty chunk for every American.

Conservatives are fond of saying, if you want less of something, tax it more. Tax consumer spending more, you will get less of it. Is less consumer spending in an economy based on consumer spending what the country needs?

It shoudn’t be necessary to point out that sales taxes fall heaviest on low-income young families; the families which spend the largest part of their incomes on food, clothing and other necessities. 

Businesses would also see the federal tax on their profits fall from 35 percent to 9 percent. America’s businesses are largely owned by the rich. Mr. Cain knows that very well. 

Nine-nine-nine would swiftly shift the burden of paying for government onto the pocketbooks of the poor.

CAIN’S 9-9-9 STRIKES a cord because the current tangle of taxes and tax exemptions begs for reform. A posse of experts could attack the mess and come up with a fairer, much less complex tax structure that would raise enough money from those most able to pay to cover the cost of government. That should happen. If they work hard enough, smart enough, the deficit reduction committee now at the task will start us on the path to that goal.

As a map, 9-9-9 would only land them in a ditch.

— Emerson Lynn, jr.

N.B. The fact that Mr. Cain leaped to the head of the pack by offering this specious nostrum says as much about his opponents as it does about his own qualifications for the most important job in the world. E.L.

MVJH volleyball teams defeat Crest

COLONY — Finishing the season with a sweep of volleyball matches was Marmaton Valley Junior High’s Wildcats.

The Wildcats’ A-team beat host Crest Middle School 25-11, 25-8 Thursday evening. Ashylynn Pinkerton served for 18 points.

Also for Marmaton Valley, Tanna Lutz served for five points and Makenzie Tynon had four points. Serving up three points each were Lindsey McNeil, Ruby Mann and Kyla Drake.

“The girls stepped on the court with the intention of finishing strong,” said Jamie Stodgell, MVJH head coach. “A solid game of setting up the ball, strong hitting and serving 48 out of 49 attempts made up the momentum of the game.”

Stodgell said the MVJH A-Team went 14-1. She said the eighth-graders will be missed.

Marmaton Valley’s B-team defeated Crest 25-9, 25-7 to go 11-2 on the season.

Trinitee Gutierrez served for 16 points for the Wildcats. Clara Boyd had six points and Aubrey Ard served for four.

Magie Stevenson and Megan Ensminger each served for three points. Misty Storrer had two points served while Emily Plaschka and Nalea Alexander each had one point.

“These eight girls continued to improve each game, working very well passing, setting and hitting,” said Brenda Mills, MVJH assistant coach. “Serving was an important part of our wins.”

Mills said she was proud how the sixth-graders were able to play so well with the seventh-graders to make up an impressive young team. The MVJH C-team was 2-0.

CMS beats Wildcats

COLONY  — Crest Middle School’s Lancers outlasted Marmaton Valley Junior High’s Wildcats 40-30 Thursday on the Lancers’ football field.

Hunter Frazell scored four touchdowns for Crest (4-3). Frazell rushed for 63 yards and had 15 yards receiving. 

Evan Godderz was five of seven passing for 122 yards, scored a touchdown and rushed for 62 yards. Jake Pinney scored a touchdown  and Kellen Ramsey had a two-point conversion run.

Marmaton Valley got touchdown runs of one and 10 yards from Keagan Boyd in the first half.

Mike Beggs scored touchdowns on 28-yard and two-yard runs in the second half.

Chad Starliper caught a 25-yard touchdown pass from Boyd in the fourth quarter. Boyd had 110 yards passing. Starliper caught passes for 135 yards.

Boyd rushed for 94 yards on 16 carries for the Wildcats. Beggs had 66 yards on 12 carries and Starliper had 39 yards on 12 carries.

Crest’s defense was led by Ramsey with 10 tackles, followed by Garrett Sipe with eight tackles. Brandon Brallier and Pinney each had seven tackles while Godderz and Frazell had six tackles each.

Boyd led the Wildcat defense with eight tackles. Beggs made six tackles.

Thompson to go into coaches Hall of Fame

Kurt Thompson, a 1984 graduate of Iola High School, will be inducted into the Missouri Football Coaches Hall of Fame in December.

“I was fortune enough to be named head coach at Webb City (Mo.) at the age of 23,” Thompson told the Republic, Mo., Monitor, “so I’ve been a head coach for a lot of years. I was blessed to coach a lot of good players and assistant coaches.”

Thompson was head coach at Webb City for seven years, followed by a nine-year run at Kickapoo (Springfield, Mo.) High School and is in his fourth year leading the Republican Tigers.

“Coach Thompson has only been at three schools during his career,” and Republic athletic director Greg Garton. “In a time where coaches jump around from school to school, it shows that he is dedicated to trying to build a true program.”

Garton said what impressed him most about Thompson was his dedication to finding ways to improve.

“Almost every time I talk with Kurt he is working on ways to improve his program,” Garton said. “He has a great work ethic and is very driven. He sets high expectations for his players and this staff.”

Thompson is the son of Iolan Leon Thompson. After being graduated from Iola High School, he and brother Kent, who has a real estate agency and commercial interests in Iola, played football for Pittsburg State University.

Wellsville’s ground game too much for Uniontown

UNIONTOWN — Going into Friday night’s Kansas Class 3A, District 4 football game, Uniontown High’s Eagles had the second-best record among the four teams.

The problem was the Eagles hosted the team with the best record — Wellsville Highs Eagles. The battle of the Eagles went Wellsville’s way 44-14.

Wellsville, now 7-0, led just 14-7 at halftime but dominated the second half. Uniontown scored again in the fourth quarter.

Jordan Woods had both of Uniontown’s touchdowns. Garrett Murrow had 82 yards rushing. Unionotwn had 154 yards on the ground and 24 passing years.

Wellsville rolled up 379 yards rushing and had 38 yards passing.

Max Labbe led the Uniontown defense with 11 tackles while Domonic Robinson recorded eight tackles and a fumble recovery. Zach Travis had eight tackles.

Uniontown is 4-3 on the season and travels to Pomona next Friday to play West Franklin.

Panthers blank Cubs

PITTSBURG — Humboldt High’s Cubs had a tall order in Kansas Class 2-1A district play Friday night. The Cubs had to find away to stop powerhouse Pittsburg-St. Mary’s-Colgan High’s Panthers.

It didn’t happen. Colgan scored 34 points in the first quarter on its way to a 43-0 win.

“Colgan is a tough team and one of the best in the state. We were overmatched tonight,” said Mike Miller, Cub head coach.

“We just hope our kids keep learning from the losses. They need to come to practices to work to get better.”

Miller said the Panthers scored five touchdowns in the first quarter but only had three offensively plays.

“That’s how our night went.”

Humboldt got 21 yards on two carries from Caleb Vanatta. Tanner McNutt had two catches for 11 yards.

Ryna Gean made 12 tackles for the Cub defense. Jacob Carpenter had 10 tackles.

Humboldt 0-0-0-0—0

Colgan 34-3-6-0—43

Humboldt Colgan

First downs 3 12

Rushes-yds 25-38 23-297

Passing yds 14 27

Total offense 52 324

Passing 3-11-3 1-2-0

Fumbles-lost 2/1 0/1

Punts-avg. 4-31 0-0

Penalties-yds 2-20 6-35

Drug search goes cold

A search of two residence halls on the Allen County Community College campus came up empty Thursday as law enforcement officers looked for illegal drugs. 

The search — utilizing dogs trained to search for illegal drugs — covered both Horton and Winter halls, Vice President for Student Affairs Randy Weber reported to college trustees Thursday night.

The search was coordinated by the Iola Police Department with the cooperation of Weber and ACCC John Masterson.

The search began about 9:30 a.m. — when most of the students would have been exiting their first class of the day, Weber said.

The process began with a fire drill, forcing students out of the dorms and into the college parking lot, enabling police quicker access to the dorm floors.

Two dogs were deployed in each dorm, one for the top floor, one for the bottom. 

The dogs “hit” on four suites — eight rooms in all. Those hits were then confirmed by the second dog in the dorm before officers sought and received warrants for more thorough searches.

That no drugs were found was a relief for college administrators and Iola Police Chief Jared Warner.

“That’s what you want to have happen,” Masterson said.

Warner told the Register such searches serve multiple purposes, all of which are geared to ensuring the overall health of ACCC’s students.

First, it ensured no illegal drugs were in the dorms. It also served as a deterrent, prompting students to think twice if tempted to partake in drug activity.

“The dogs are definitely a visible presence,” Warner said.

Weber told the trustees that the dogs were brought in from Neodesha and Montgomery County.

Law enforcement officers were unable to secure more dogs, which is why Masterson Hall and the college duplexes were not searched, Weber said.

“It was a good use of our drill system as well,” Weber said.

The searches did uncover some alcohol, Weber said. Punishment for those violations will be handled in-house, he said.

“It showed the students we take drugs seriously,” Weber said.

TRUSTEES approved a swap of two lifelike mannequins formerly used by paramedic students to Coffeyville Community College and Neosho County Community College. Both are considered excess equipment because the college no longer teaches those classes.

The college will sell the “SimBaby” to Coffeyville for $7,000. The “SimMan” will be traded to Neosho County for about 30 used musical instruments.

THE TRUSTEES also approved a reclassification of the college’s director of adult education position.

The new position consolidates many of the duties with what the now dissolved adult education coordinator position.

With the new position, trustees hired Julia Martin, the former adult education coordinator as the new adult educatio director.

THE COLLEGE will host a 2+2 celebration with area community colleges and Kansas State University Oct. 31.

The celebration marks several articulation agreements between the community colleges and ACCC, providing a clear path students can follow locally before heading to K-State to earn four-year degrees.

Allen County has six such agreements with K-State in place today.

The college will honor its scholarship students, and the donors who helped fund those scholarships, with their annual luncheon on Nov. 1.

Frank Clubine

Frank Clubine

Frank P. Clubine, 74, Iola, died Monday, Oct. 10, 2011, at Overland Park Regional Medical Center.

Frank was born Nov. 14, 1936, in Independence, the son of Clyde Corwin and Edna “Viola” (Romig) Clubine. He grew up on the family farm in rural Havana. He was a charter member and first president of the Caney FFA in 1954. He graduated from Caney High School in 1955. He then served in the United States Army for six years.

On May 25, 1958, Frank married Carolyn Kirkpatrick in Havana. They made their home on a dairy farm for 28 years in Havana. He also auctioneered.

In 1989, they moved to Iola and Frank worked for Strickler Dairy and later farmed for Don Hammer. While recuperating from hip surgery, he continued his education and received his degree in accounting.

He was a member of Calvary United Methodist Church in Iola and Gideons. He belonged to the Allen County Farm Bureau and he and Carolyn received the “Farm Family of the Year” award in 2007. He was in 4-H growing up and later served as a leader. He enjoyed music and played the tub bass, electric bass, guitar and loved singing. He was a member of the Texas Fiddlers Association.

Carolyn, his wife of 53 years, survives, as do four children, Debbie Bearden and her husband, Duwayne, Iola, Donna Glanville and her husband, Brad, Wichita, Harry and his wife, Kathy, Iola, and Phil and his wife, Anita, Havana; eight grandchildren, Jill Penna and her husband, Jacob, Josh Glanville, Lesa Clubine, Ben Clubine and his wife, Kari, Wendie Clubine, Travis Bearden and his wife, Kayla, Levi Clubine and Tyler Clubine; two great-grandchildren, Gracie Penna and Thomas Bearden; a brother Lynell, Caney; and a sister, Betty Fuqua, Midlothian, Texas.

He was preceded in death by a grandson, Raudy Bearden, in 2002, a brother, Charles Clubine, and two sisters, Mary Owens McDaniel and Margaret Fuqua.

The family will receive friends this evening from 5:30 to 7:30 at Waugh-Yokum & Friskel Chapel in Iola. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Thursday at Calvary United Methodist Church in Iola. The Rev. Gene McIntosh will officiate. Graveside services will be at 2:30 p.m. at Crum Cemetery south of Longton.

Memorials to Gideons or Calvary United Methodist Church may be left with the funeral home.

Online condolences may be left at www.iolafuneral.com.

 

Nancy Loveall

Nancy Lorene Loveall, 69, died Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2011, at her residence in the Franklin House, Fort Scott. 

She was born June 15, 1942, in Uniontown, the daughter of Loran and Eva Wilson Ramsey. She graduated from Uniontown High School in the class of 1960. Later in life she found her soulmate in Guy Nuzum. He preceded her in death on Feb. 12, 1998. 

She worked in the shipping department for a packing company in Garden City. She worked as housekeeper for the Sisters of Mercy in Fort Scott. She later worked in the shipping department for Value Merchandisers of Fort Scott. She enjoyed traveling, playing cards with friends and crocheting. She was a member of the Red Hat Society and Curves. Autumn was her favorite time of year.

She is survived by two daughters, Lorraine Wohler, Oakgrove, Mo., and Lori Ann Dean, Kansas City, Kan.; five grandchildren, Michael Mingucci, Jenny Carlton, Nichole Shaver, Megan Mann and Nikko Reinero; five great-grandchildren; a sister, Julia Blythe, Uniontown; and a sister-in-law, Alice Ramsey, Fort Scott. 

She was preceded in death by a daughter, Katherine Lavon Waddell, one brother, Ed Ramsey, and one sister, Edna L. Miller.

The Rev. Chub Bolling will conduct funeral services at 1:30 p.m. Friday at Cheney Witt Chapel. Burial will follow in Uniontown Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 1 o’clock until service time at Cheney Witt Chapel. 

Memorials are suggested to the Sharing Bucket and may be left in care of Cheney Witt Chapel, P.O. Box 347, 201 S. Main, Fort Scott, KS 66701. 

Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.