Charlie Peterson

Charles Manley “Charlie” Peterson, 83, Iola, passed away Wednesday, July 19, 2017, at Windsor Place in Iola.

He was born Sept. 2, 1933, in Savonburg, to Hans and Faye Peterson. He grew up on the family farm in Savonburg. He married Paula Keele on July 25, 1965, in Humboldt. He worked at Thompson’s Poultry Plant in Iola before he transferred to Rogers, Ark., where he worked for Tyson. He returned to Kansas in 1996. He enjoyed mowing and picking up cans for recycling. He will always be remembered as a hard worker who loved his grandkids and great-grandkids.

He is survived by his wife, Paula, of the home; four children, Cindy Anthony, Iola, Paul Peterson, Arkansas, Danny Peterson and wife Thelma, Iola, and Dorothy Faye Slater and husband Dennis, Valley Center; 15 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren; four siblings, Junior Peterson, Katherine Barnes, Karen Hulett and Ann Cox; and numerous nieces and nephews.

Charlie was preceded in death by his parents.

A visitation will be from noon to 2 p.m. Tuesday at Feuerborn Family Funeral Service in Iola. Condolences for the family can be left at www.feuerbornfuneral.com.

State bound

The Iola Post 15 American Legion Indians earned a berth in the upcoming state tournament, courtesy of their 10-4 victory over Frontenac in the final round of the zone tournament. Iola will travel to Marysville Wednesday for the state tournament. The Indians will take on Russell in the opener. 

Arnold Ayers

Arnold L. Ayers, 52, Blue Mound, passed away at his home on Saturday, July 15, 2017. Arnold was born Nov. 6, 1964, in Garnett, the son of Jerilyn (Ginther) and Roger Ayers.  He is survived by father Roger Ayers of Blue Mound, mother and stepfather, Jerilyn and Tom Cannon of Iola, a brother, Terry, of Blue Mound and sister Melissa Cannon-Smith and husband Kent of Prairie Village. Nieces include Diana Throckmorton and husband Tyler of Lee’s Summit, Mo., Julia Ayers of LaHarpe, and Stella Cannon-Smith of Prairie Village, and many aunts and uncles. Arnold attended elementary schools in Blue Mound and Iola. He graduated from Sylvan-Grove High School in 1983, where he played football. Arnold was self-employed.  He enjoyed fishing and hunting. He also enjoyed his cats.
A graveside service will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Curry Cemetery in Mound City.  Arrangements: Schneider Funeral Home and Crematory, Mound City Chapel. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.schneiderfunerals.com

Hope Burns

Hope DeLayne Burns, 71, Kincaid, died Saturday, July 15, 2017, at her home.
Funeral arrangements are pending. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Allen County Hospice of Kansas.
Condolences may be sent to www.feuerbornfuneral.com

Drivers unscathed in Tank Farm Rd wreck

HUMBOLDT — The drivers of a sport utility vehicle and a semitractor-trailer unit escaped serious injury Wednesday afternoon after they collided along Tank Farm Road just south of Humboldt.
Gerry G. Waltz, 72, Overland Park, was entering Tank Farm Road from the U.S. 169 southbound off-ramp, when his sport utility vehicle collided with an eastbound truck driven by Wesley G. Gahman, 60, Erie.
Gahman’s truck then slammed into the Tank Farm Road overpass guardrail over U.S. 169 and jackknifed.
The impact of the truck caused extensive damage to the guardrail, but it largely remained in place.
“It worked exactly as it was designed to,” Sheriff’s Deputy Daren Kellerman noted.
Kellerman also praised the truck driver for maneuvering enough to prevent a head-on collision.
“Somebody could have died out there,” he said.
Rescue crews from the Humboldt Volunteer Fire Department and Iola Fire Department assisted sheriff’s deputies and Kansas Department of Transportation workers.
The overpass was closed through the afternoon until the wreckage was cleared, but has since been reopened.

Tempting trinkets

A group of young entrepreneurs has set up shop this week in the 300 block of South Washington Avenue, selling homemade bracelets and keychains. From left, Bryce Franklin, 10, Morgan Pebley, 11, Haily Wilson, 12, and Emily Pebley, 9, said they planned to donate any proceeds to either ACARF or other organizations. The youngsters opened the stand Monday.

Thanks, Sen. Moran: Kansan bucks party line to derail passage of healthcare bill

Of the thousands of tweets Sen. Jerry Moran received upon announcing he would vote no against the Senate’s healthcare bill, our favorite was “To quote my math teacher: ‘I don’t know how you did it, but you used the wrong formula and got the correct answer.’”
Moran made the right decision to say he is against the BCRA, the Better Care Reconciliation Act, although his logic to do so is not a little disconcerting.
In his statement Moran said: “… if we leave the federal government in control of everyday healthcare decisions, it is more likely that our healthcare system will devolve into a single-payer system, which would require a massive federal spending increase.”
Medicare is our country’s best example of how a public insurance system works — and to our knowledge there’s been no public outcry to abolish it.
Lift the age restriction of 65 and people wouldn’t have to decide whether to pay their rent or buy their prescriptions, get that needed surgery or put food on the table. For many Americans these are either/or decisions. Healthcare expenses remain the No. 1 reason Americans file for bankruptcy.
Despite our wealth, Americans pay far more for medical care than those in other rich Western nations but have little to show for it.
Why? Because healthcare costs — determined by the private market — are too expensive for middle- and low-income Americans. Healthcare is the poster child for what makes us a country of haves and  have-nots.
Of the world’s 32 industrialized democracies, we are the only one that does not provide for the healthcare of all its citizens.
 
SO WHAT happened to the 2010 Affordable Care Act? Well, had it been fully implemented — as well as  been allowed to be tweaked — it would have covered almost everyone at reduced costs. Instead, partisan politics prevented putting the American people first and the plan was weakened.
States that refused to expand Medicaid allowed many citizens to fall through the cracks. In Kansas, for example, an estimated 170,000 eligible residents have been denied health insurance while hospitals and nursing homes have had to accept lower reimbursements.
Even so, an estimated 20 million more Americans now have health insurance because of Obamacare, bringing the rate of the uninsured down from 15 percent to 9 percent.
 
MAKING healthcare affordable and universal is not mutually exclusive, but requires a stiff backbone to stand up to the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries. During the 2009 debate to construct the ACA, the health insurance industry spent more than $100 million in lobbying efforts to keep private insurers, as opposed to the government, as the key cog in American health care.
Currently, President Donald Trump is urging legislators to repeal the ACA with no replacement plan. Leaving the healthcare industry in limbo is not the answer.
Unfortunately, on Tuesday afternoon Sen. Moran jumped aboard that bandwagon.
Instead, vigorous and open debate is needed on the myriad ways the existing healthcare plan can be improved, including ideas such as:
• Lowering prescription drug costs. Just as with Medicare, the government should step in and negotiate lower prices with drug companies.
• Lowering insurance premiums, again, by putting the federal government at the bargaining table.
• Allowing Medicare, or some similar federal plan, as an option for not only individuals of any age, but also to companies.
• Raising taxes on the wealthy.
• Expanding benefits to low-income individuals and families so that health care more than exists, but is affordable.
Sen. Moran is saying we must “start fresh with an open legislative process to develop innovative solutions that provide greater personal choice, protection for pre-existing conditions, increased access and lower overall costs for Kansans.”
In other words, doing what they should have been doing all along.

— Susan Lynn

Roger Ranes

Roger Duane Ranes, 83, Moran, died Thursday, July 13, 2017, at the Franklin House in Fort Scott. Roger was born Aug. 23, 1933, in Coffeyville, the son of Homer L. Ranes and Alma C. Cushman Ranes. He graduated from Le Roy High School. He married Ruth Meats. She preceded him in death on Oct. 11, 2011. He served in the United States Navy on the U.S.S. Hancock. While in the Navy, he was stationed in many foreign countries. He loved to hunt and fish, especially catfish. In 1957 he and a friend drove to Alaska in a 1939 Plymouth. He was an avid gardener and loved to coach Little League Baseball.
Survivors include his two sons, David Ranes and wife Verna and Scott Ranes and wife Randi, all of Mapleton; five grandchildren, Chad Ranes, Dereck Ranes, Tyler Ranes, Ethan Ranes and Beckett Ranes; three great-grandchildren, Jaxon Ranes, Talia Ranes and Tryke Ranes; and a brother, Jerry Ranes and wife Betty, Le Roy. In addition to his wife Ruth, he was preceded in death by a daughter, Denise Ranes, and his parents.
Rev. Chuck Russell will conduct graveside services at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at the Altamont Cemetery in Aliceville. Memorials are suggested to the Allen County Animal Rescue Facility of LaHarpe and may be left in care of the Cheney Witt Chapel, 201 S. Main, P.O. Box 347, Fort Scott, KS 66701. Words of remembrance may be submitted to the online guestbook at cheneywitt.com.

Mary Ann Cook

It is with great sadness the family of Mary Ann Cook announces her passing on Wednesday, June 21, 2017, at the age of 76. Mary Ann will be lovingly membered by her husband of 28 years, Rex L. Cook, her brother Bud (Karin) Oelklaus, her children Jim Underwood, Mike Underwood and Debbie Underwood-Rogers and her stepchildren Wes (Donna), and Todd (Dawn) Cook. Mary Ann will also be greatly remembered by her four grandchildren, Justin and Maddie Underwood, Darian and Jakob Rogers, stepgrandchildren Emily Cook Mills, Dillon Cook and Kylie Cook and four stepgreat-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.
Mary Ann was born in Kansas City, Mo., to Louis and Carole Oelklaus, and is preceded in death by her parents, two sisters, Carolyn Sedlock and Bernita Johnston, and stepson Bradley Cook. Mary Ann was a lifelong resident of Shawnee, until the fall of 1989 when she married Rex Cook of Iola and moved to Fife, Wash. Soon after, they moved into the house of their dreams in Tacoma, Wash.
Mary Ann enjoyed many activities such as hunting, clam digging, shopping and spending time with her close friends and family. She loved growing fresh fruit and making homemade jam for everyone. She was also active in the Red Hatter’s Society.
In Tacoma, Mary Ann was very involved in the Eric G. Sandstrom Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 969. Mary Ann held many local and district positions within the VFW Auxiliary. Her most notable position held was the State Auxiliary President for the state of Washington. She made a 10-year commitment to the state of Washington and Auxiliary to help serve our veterans and their families. Her hard work and dedication to our veterans goes without notice and she will be truly missed by all. And she did all of this, because.
A Past Presidents memorial service was held in Tacoma at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 969 at 3510 McKinley Ave. on July 9. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you send a donation to Post 969 in Mary Ann’s memory to Veterans of Foreign War Post No. 969, Attn: Gary Grant, Quartermaster, 3510 McKinley Ave., Tacoma, WA 98404.

Beverly Hoddy

Beverly Vinetta Hoddy, 67, Humboldt, passed away July 3, 2017, at her home.
She was born March 24, 1950, in Kincaid, to Bert A. Trester and Maxine L. (Scheer) Trester. She married Gerald Hoddy on Aug. 9, 1969, in Iola. She proudly received her diploma from Humboldt High School in 2014. Her greatest love was spending time with her grandchildren. She enjoyed family history research, jigsaw puzzles, and taking trips with her family. She will always be remembered as a loving mother, grandmother, and friend.
She is survived by three children, James Hoddy, Topeka, Vinetta Young, Humboldt, and Julie Hoddy, Humboldt; grandchildren, Krista Kekewich-Hoddy, Richard Hoddy, Alex Young, Roxanne Young, Michael Young and Thomas Young; sisters Judy Burkholder and Sharon Trester and brothers Ivan Trester, Carl Trester, Larry Trester and Gary Wayne Trester.
Beverly was preceded in death by her husband in 2016, her parents and by a brother, Jerry Lee Trester.
A memorial service for Beverly will be at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 5, at Faith Assembly of God in Humboldt.