Several years ago during one of our trips to Roswell, N.M., to visit daughter Brenda and family, I stopped north of Hereford, Texas, where a field of cotton recently had been harvested.
A handful of the white, fluffy produce contained several seeds, which I squirreled away.
This spring wife Beverly decided having fresh green beans and new potatoes was reason enough to rent one of the Elm Creek Garden spaces. Her success resonated and I joined in — assistance appreciated but probably not too helpful.
We dug about 10 gallons of potatoes and enough green beans to put several quarts in the freezer. Our tomatoes still are coming on.
Along about July 1 I remembered the cotton seeds, found them in a ditty bag I carry for toiletries, and pulled cotton residue from two. Planted about eight inches apart, they quickly sprouted.
It takes about 120 days for a cotton plant to set on bolls and mature, which puts my harvest time a couple of weeks from now. One plant has a dozen or more bolls a bit larger than golf balls. The second, a bit of a runt, is blooming, and may run out of favorable weather.
Mainly, I thought it would be fun to share up close with grandkids what once was the king of Southern crops.

BEVERLY AND I come from gardening backgrounds.
Our parents raised large gardens each year with a Depression Era mindset of preserving enough produce to last until the next spring.
We had goodness knows how many potatoes laid out on old window screens powdered with lime to aid preservation each fall. Our larder was filled with quarts of green beans, pickled beets and cucumbers (sweet as well as sharp) and even corn, cut from the cob and twice as tasty when opened as any coming off a commercial shelf today.
Our parents also liked to take a step beyond the norm.
Lacy Mintz, Beverly’s dad, raised peanuts — called them goobers — that he roasted in their kitchen oven.
My father, Ed, also dabbled with peanuts and some crazy vegetables, such as spaghetti squash.
While the urge to garden didn’t hit me until mid-stream this year, I plan to be on board from the start in 2015.

Dear editor,
As the school issue takes center stage, I would like to propose a few things to ponder.
Thomas Bowlus was a forward thinker over 50 years ago when he provided for funding our Fine Arts Center. He even stipulated the beautiful home he occupied be razed and the new building occupy the site. Many of this era would be horrified at the destruction of such a lovely home, but he was looking toward bettering education for Allen County students, and this was the route he chose.
When the present schools were built, and even well into the 1970s, children with special needs did not exist in our classes. I do not remember a single classmate that was physically or mentally challenged to the point they could not take part in class. This is not to say there were no people that met that criteria that were my age, but if they had handicaps of any kind they didn’t go to school here. We did have one teacher, Mr. Jon Horine, who was wheelchair-bound and he was carried up the stairs of IHS each day. This inaccessibility remains an issue to this day for students in the elementary schools.
At present, I am a fourth-grade teacher and only two students in my class walk to school. On the average there are fewer than 15 bikes ridden to school and one of those is a teacher’s. Several of my students would be closer to school at the proposed site. My class is typical of most of the classes at Jefferson.
Our schools were built when advanced technology was a typewriter and a telephone. Now we have fax machines, copy machines, laminators, iPads, computers, and SmartBoards trying to make do with the few electrical outlets planned for over 70 years ago, which is a concern in our inspections by the fire department each year.
Due to the differences in the delivery of education now versus 70 or more years ago, changes have had to occur in the location of classes. If you get sick nowadays at any of the elementary schools, you are given a plastic bag in a trash can and get to sit out where everyone walking by can see you, and/or catch what you have. I don’t know that it is much better at Iola Middle School or Iola High School.
Without a doubt, the issues in the schools will have to be addressed and soon. We are the oldest schools in the local area and we are losing families to the newer facilities. The choice is going to come down to voting to provide our children with the opportunity similar to what Mr. Bowlus did over 50 years ago, and do it with 51 percent state aid, or fix up our old buildings for approximately the same amount.
I will be voting Yes on both items on the ballot this November. For the sake of our future, I hope you, too, will consider what is best for our students and community.
Mary Ann Regehr,
Iola, Kan.

Dear editor,
This past weekend the Bowlus Fine Arts and Cultural Center celebrated 50 years of presenting cultural and educational programming for our community. It was wonderful to see the auditorium filled to the brim on Friday night when the Kansas City Symphony gave an outstanding performance. It was fun to see old friends reconnect on Saturday morning during the Bowlus open house. Finally, on Saturday evening our own Bowlus alumni did us proud as we showcased their talents in the variety show. Without the support of the Sleeper Family Trust, none of this would have been possible. So, THANK YOU to the Sleeper family and the Sleeper Trustees.
As you can imagine, a two-day event of this magnitude takes a huge commitment of time and energy from a large number of people.
First, thank you to the Bowlus Trustees, who are elected as the USD 257 Board of Education, and the Bowlus Commission for their support, with special thanks to BOE President Tony Leavitt, who spoke so eloquently at the rededication ceremony.
A special thank you to our two guest speakers, Attorney General Derek Schmidt, who has long been a supporter of the Bowlus; and our thanks to Burton Bowlus, 92, nephew of Thomas H. Bowlus, who spoke on behalf of the Bowlus family.
I also appreciate Mayor Joel Wicoff and Allen County Commissioner Dick Works, who represented the city and county in the rededication ceremony. Representative Kent Thompson helped secure the governor’s proclamation  making it Thomas H. Bowlus Fine Arts and Cultural Center Day in Kansas.
Neil Magnuson, Class of 1995, flew in from New York City to be our master of ceremonies Saturday. He did a terrific job as did each and every one of our performers that night.
As an audience member we often take a very special group of people for granted — the stage crew! Besides our wonderful Bowlus tech director and assistant tech director, we had an amazingly talented crew made up of past alumni, Erica Gilmore Richie, Class of 2002, as stage manager and her husband Kevin programming and running lights, spot operators Richard Spencer, Class of 1968,  and Jasmine Walker, Matthew Hoisington and Russell Head on sound, John Collins, assistant sound operator, and running crew member Ben Olson, Class of 2007. They each did their job so well that the Alumni Variety Show came off without a hitch.
I also want to recognize the members of CITF, Coterie, Friends of the Bowlus, Iola Reads, Kiwanis, PEO, Rotary Clubs, and the Veterans Committee, who served birthday cake and punch.
It goes without saying that none of this would have been possible without the outstanding Bowlus staff members who made it a labor of love to pull this very special weekend together.
Finally, thanks to our wonderful and supportive audience. Your energy and enthusiasm made the weekend worth all the hard work and planning.
Sincerely,
Susan Raines,
Executive Director

Dear editor,
I know that our children and those who teach them need new schools. I also know that we “cannot afford” to turn our backs on $25,000,000 from the state fund we have contributed to over the years, since it is very likely we will never have access to that money again.
A week ago I was solidly in the YES camp, but last weekend we celebrated the Bowlus while looking at the school district’s future plans for the facility.
At first I was confused.  If we want to build a new structure on the edge of town to accommodate technology, why are we designating a 50 year old building as a technology center? Why are we moving the fine arts out and supplanting them with computer courses only tangentially connected to the arts?
I found the answer on the district’s website (http://www.usd257.org/page/116596_3) in a reference to Senate Bill 155 (http://www.ksde.org/Agency/DivisionofLearningServices/CareerStandardsandAssessmentServices/CSASHome/CareerTechnicalEducation%28CTE%29/Initiatives/SenateBill155.aspx). This bill provides added state funds to a school district for Career and Technical Education. It also provides funds for the transportation of students to a center for such instruction. Obviously, in order to qualify for the funding, the district will need to convince the state that the courses to be taught at the Bowlus are, in fact, Career and Technical Education.  I think that will be easy. They are.
It will be much harder to convince a court reviewing the Bowlus will that they are arts, especially fine arts.
I like technology and spend a lot of time with it. I have also been involved with music all my life, been heavily invested in dramatic arts, and am now working on gaining proficiency in the graphic arts. 
Art and technology are different. They employ different parts of the brain. They “feel” different to do. How many members of the Kansas City Symphony would buy into the idea that in “the 21st century” art is made with a computer?
The Bowlus makes Iola special. It is irresponsible to put it in jeopardy by trying to convince the community that Career &Technical Education is fine art. It is also insulting to the intelligence of our citizens.
The school district has a choice and very little time to make it. Either rethink the plans for the Bowlus, or kiss the bond issue (and the $25,000,000) good bye.
I hope they choose wisely.
Mary Ann Dvorachek,
Iola, Kan.

Dear editor,
People have asked me for my opinion on the upcoming school bond issue.
The short answer is that after reviewing the FACTS of the proposal, i.e., cost, financing, location, transportation, age of current facilities, the technological explosion, and the need for Iola to grow, I intend to vote for both the 1/2 cent sales tax and the bond issue!
Although I can’t afford it financially any easier than most of us, I don’t think we can afford not to take advantage of this opportunity. It won’t come around again.
The long answer is too long to address in this letter, but I will say that from my experience as a Superintendent of Schools that I have full faith in, and respect for, our Board of Education. In my 15 years as a superintendent, I never had one board member who didn’t take his or her job and responsibilities seriously. Their first priority was always the welfare and education of all of the students for whom they were responsible. Their next major concern was their responsibility to the taxpayers of the district to find the most economical way to finance the educational program at the lowest possible cost. Sometimes I think they felt like an astronaut riding a rocket to the moon knowing that the rocket was built with parts provided by the lowest bidder!
Boards of education are required to meet once a month. The USD 257 Board has met twice a month since the Bowlus Fine Arts building became a part of our system 50 years ago. The Bowlus is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The time board members spend on regular board business can be excessive, but when they’re also dealing with a bond issue of the magnitude of this one, they can almost be overwhelmed. They have added time to meet with various committees concerning programs, sites, security, health, activities, food service, teacher groups, administrators, architects, financial consultants, construction managers, etc., before they, as a board, decided to put it to a vote by the patrons.
I’m confident that the Board considered many different alternatives before settling on this option as the best solution to most of the problems they’re dealing with in expansion of fine arts courses that are so necessary to the support of today’s fine arts performances. Tom Bowlus was a great asset to our school district and our community!
And Board of Education members are not doing all of this for the money — a member of a board of education in Kansas is one of the only remaining elected positions that is unpaid!
Support the children in your district and your Board of Education — I am!
Vote FOR the bond issue AND the 1/2 cent sales tax.
Don Bain,
Retired Supt. USD 257
Iola, Kan.