A medley of fun

A collaboration of Allen Community College, Kansas State University, Thrive Allen County and Laharpe PRIDE turned an informal mixer into a medley of musical fun.

Check the video below to see ACC President John Masterson, LaHarpe residents James and Judy Heinrich, Damaris Kunkler of Thrive and teams of other students show off their lip syncing talents.

 

Christmas lights will still shine

A rumor regarding Iola’s downtown Christmas light displays being turned off this year are just that — a rumor.

Assistant City Administrator Corey Schinstock told the Register this morning the city will look at its Christmas lights in the coming days, to ensure Iola’s aging lights are still usable.

Schinstock noted a group of volunteers spearheaded efforts last year to install new lights around several downtown businesses surrounding the courthouse square.

“Those are a little different style of lights than what the city has,” Schinstock said.

The only way Iola’s lights would remain dark is if it’s determined they are not working and cannot be repaired, Schinstock said.

 

Boo Bash to descend on city Saturday

Iola’s annual Boo Bash, a Halloween celebration cosponsored by Iola Kiwanis and the Iola Police Department, runs from 3 to 5 p.m. Saturday at the National Guard Armory on North State Street.

The celebration was moved to the armory from Riverside Park because of recent flood damage to the Recreation Community Building.

Admission is $5, and pays for games, inflatables, prizes, train rides and a meal.

 

More packages seized, similar to pipe bombs

WASHINGTON (AP) — Suspicious packages addressed to actor Robert De Niro and former Vice President Joe Biden were intercepted Thursday, and investigators said they were similar to crude pipe bombs sent to former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and CNN.

None of the devices exploded and no one was injured, but the packages, sent to prominent Democrats critical of President Donald Trump, underscored the heightened political tensions and fears two weeks before national midterm elections.

Police said the package recovered in Manhattan addressed to De Niro, who dropped an expletive insult at Trump at this year’s Tony Awards, was similar to the other pipe bombs recovered this week. De Niro had also apologized to Canadians for the “idiotic behavior of my president.”

Biden has also criticized Trump, as recently as last week, saying Trump may not “know what he’s doing” and coddles dictators.

A law enforcement source said the package addressed to Biden was intercepted at a Delaware mail facility and was similar to the others. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Suspicious packages have been seized in New York, Washington, D.C., Florida and California.

Trump still assails Clinton at rallies while supporters chant “lock her up” — two years after he defeated her. He also often singles out cable news network CNN and other news media whose reporting he does not like, terming them “fake news.”

Today, without directly referencing the explosive devices, Trump again blamed the media for the “anger” in society.

“A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News,” he said in a morning Tweet. “It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!”

Hours earlier, he took a softer tone at a rally in Wisconsin Wednesday night.

“Let’s get along,” he said. “By the way, do you see how nice I’m behaving tonight? Have you ever seen this?”

The attacks overtook other news in an already-tense political season that could reshape Congress and serve as a referendum on the first two years of Trump’s presidency.

The bombs seized Wednesday, each with a small battery, were about six inches long and packed with powder and broken glass, said a law enforcement official who viewed X-ray images and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

The official said the devices were made from PVC pipe and covered with black tape.

The first crude bomb to be discovered had been delivered Monday to the suburban New York compound of George Soros, a liberal billionaire and major contributor to Democratic causes.

The FBI said an additional package was intended for former Attorney General Eric Holder, but that one ended up at a Florida office of Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose return address was on it.

Later Wednesday, the FBI said two additional packages addressed for Rep. Maxine Waters had been intercepted that were similar in appearance to five others.

The White House condemned the attacks aimed at Democrats and other perceived foes of the administration.

“Acts or threats of political violence have no place in the United States,” Trump said. “This egregious conduct is abhorrent.”

Other Republican leaders said the same. But Democratic Senate and House leaders Chuck Schumer of New York and Nancy Pelosi of California said such words “ring hollow” when coming from Trump. They noted the president’s recent praise of a GOP congressman who body-slammed a reporter, among other Trump statements.

Law enforcement officials said all the packages were similar: manila envelopes with bubble-wrap interior bearing six stamps and the return address of Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She is the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee who was accused by Clinton rivals of secretly helping the party’s eventual presidential nominee.

The package intended for Holder had the wrong address and was forwarded to Wasserman Schultz.

The devices all were sent to an FBI lab in Virginia to be studied. Officials provided no details on a possible suspect or motive.

“Suffice it to say, it appears an individual or individuals sent out multiple, similar packages,” said John Miller, the New York Police Department’s head of intelligence and counterterrorism, who briefed reporters.

The U.S. Secret Service intercepted the bomb that was addressed to Hillary Clinton at the Chappaqua, New York, home she shares with former President Bill Clinton, and another that was sent to Obama at his home in Washington.

A police bomb squad removed still another from CNN’s New York office, which was evacuated. The CNN package was addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan, who has publicly clashed with Trump and is a regular television contributor.

Speaking at an event in Austin, Texas, Brennan called the spate of pipe bombs “a very unfortunate turn of events,” particularly if he and others are being targeted for their public comments.

“Unfortunately, I think Donald Trump, too often, has helped to incite some of these feelings of anger, if not violence, when he points to acts of violence or also talks about swinging at somebody from the press, the media,” Brennan said.

The package sent to CNN contained a live explosive, with wires and a black pipe, and an envelope with white powder, officials said. The powder was tested and determined to have been harmless, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill says investigators are reviewing security video to see if they can identify a courier believed to have delivered the pipe bomb package to CNN’s office. O’Neill said in an appearance on CNN that he was “pretty sure those images will be caught on video, and we’ll be able to find out where that person came from before they entered the building and where they went to after.”

Waters, whom the president has denigrated as a “low-IQ individual,” reported Wednesday afternoon that she was the target of a suspicious package. Though the FBI did not initially include her on a list of targeted individuals, the bureau later said two packages addressed to her and similar to the five others had been found. One was intercepted at a Los Angeles mail facility.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement, “These terrorizing acts are despicable and anyone responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

 

Stock market’s gains for year wiped out

NEW YORK (AP) — Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the market.

If you’re an investor who was lulled to sleep by the stock market’s calm, steady gains this summer, you’re wide awake by now. Stocks have swooned over the last three weeks as investors worried about a sea of troubles, including rising interest rates and the trade tensions between the U.S. and China. Both could impair profit growth for U.S. companies.

The S&P 500 index has plunged 9.4 percent in just three weeks, with two separate six-day losing streaks. It hadn’t had a streak of losses that long since November of 2016. With five trading days left in October the index is on track for its worst month in a decade.

Another loss Thursday will likely push the index into what Wall Street calls a “correction” — a drop of 10 percent or more from the latest high.

For market favorites like technology and consumer-focused companies it’s been even worse. As of Wednesday’s close, five of the six most valuable U.S. companies had suffered a correction: Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet, Berkshire Hathaway and Facebook are all down sharply from their recent highs, although some of those declines began this summer.

The VIX, an index called Wall Street’s “fear gauge” because it measures how much volatility traders expect, is the highest it’s been since February.

The current skid for stocks is the third big swoon for the markets this year. The first was a dramatic downturn in late January and early February, when the S&P 500 lost 10 percent in just nine days as worries about a sharp slowdown in China’s economic growth rattled markets around the world. That was followed by a less severe stumble in March.

But more recently stocks had been placid. Between late June and early October, the market didn’t rise or fall as much as 1 percent in a single day. That was similar to the gains stocks made in 2017, when the market drifted higher gradually and finished up 19.4 percent.

Soaring corporate profits, fueled by sweeping corporate tax cuts, powered the market’s recovery this spring and summer. S&P 500 companies delivered second-quarter earnings growth of 25.2 percent, well ahead of forecasts. That helped send the S&P 500 to a new all-time high in September, erasing the losses from its “correction” in February.

But now doubts are emerging that a similar surge in earnings growth will rally markets out of their latest skid.

Companies began reporting their results for the third quarter last week. And while earnings growth for S&P 500 companies is expected to be around 22 percent, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence, some companies are painting a less-than-rosy outlook.

Several big companies, including AT&T and United Parcel Service, have reported earnings or revenue this week that fell short of expectations. And some company executives are warning of rising costs related to the U.S.-China tariffs and inflation.

The absence of a tax-cut boost and the likelihood of higher interest rates, which can raise borrowing costs for businesses, are also giving investors reasons to worry that company earnings growth will slow.

That likely means more volatility for stocks.

“The ability to repeat what we had this year is not going to happen,” said Terry DuFrene, global investment specialist at J.P. Morgan Private Bank. “We all agree about that.”

Nicholas Lehman

Nicholas Michael Lehman, Jr., age 6 weeks, passed away on Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018. Nicholas was born Sept. 7, 2018, in Iola, Kansas, to Nicholas Lehman, Sr. and Ayriana Brunk Lehman.

Nicholas was known as “Baby Boy” and “Sweet Baby” to his parents. He had a great smile that could warm any heart.

Nicholas is survived by his parents; grandparents, Tina Gilliland and husband, Chuck, Iola, Mike Lehman, Piqua, Mandy Taylor and husband, Jay, Gardner, Chad Brunk, Emporia, and numerous other relatives.

A funeral service honoring Nicholas will be at 10 a.m. on Friday at Feuerborn Family Funeral Service Chapel, Iola. Burial will follow in the Geneva Cemetery, Iola.

Memorials are suggested to the Nicholas Michael Lehman, Jr. Memorial Fund, and may be left with Feuerborn Family Funeral Service, Iola.

Condolences for the family may be left at www.feuerbornfuneral.com.

Paul Moore

Paul Leon Moore, age 77, a resident of Fort Scott, passed away early Tuesday, Oct. 23, 2018, at Mercy Hospital in Fort Scott. He was born June 8, 1941, in Humboldt, the son of Paul Moore and Mary Leona Doyle Moore. Paul graduated from Humboldt High School with the Class of 1959. Paul had served for several years with the Kansas Army National Guard. He married Vivian Allen Sowder on April 2, 1977, in Emporia. Paul spent his life working in sales. He was last employed by Shepherd Team Auto Plaza where he worked until ill health forced his retirement. He loved his dogs and watching the Kansas City Chiefs and taking care of his yard as well as watching the wildlife around his home.

Survivors include his wife, Vivian, of the home; three sons, Scott Moore, of Iola, Jeff Moore, of Oklahoma City, Okla., and Eric Moore, of Guthrie, Okla., and a daughter, Joy Taylor, of Salt Lake City, Utah; 10 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren; as well as many nieces and nephews.; and great nieces and nephews. Also surviving are three sisters, Mary Wilbanks, of Paola, Evelyn Udeen, of Chanute, and Carol Blackwell, of Sarasota, Fla. He was preceded in death by his parents, Paul and Leona Moore and a grandson.

The Rev. Jimmy Tucker and the Rev. Joan Koller will conduct funeral services at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Cheney Witt Chapel. Burial will follow in the Turkey Creek Cemetery north of Uniontown. The family will receive friends from 5 to 7  p.m. Friday at the Cheney Witt Chapel. Memorials are suggested to the CrossPower Agape Ministry 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.

 

Marvin Groff

Marvin L. Groff, 84, a former Parsons, Humboldt, and Grove, Oklahoma resident, passed away at 8:15 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 21, 2018.

Marvin was born on Aug. 21, 1934 at Parsons to Everett Edward and Waunita Mae (Chewning) Groff. He grew up in Powell, Mo., and Parsons. He attended Parsons schools and graduated from Parsons High School in 1952. He attended Pittsburg State University where he met his wife.

Marvin and Betty Sue Wells were married on Dec. 29, 1956 in Pittsburg. She preceded him in death on Nov. 15, 2005.

Marvin served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves from 1957 until his honorable discharge in 1959.

He moved to Humboldt in 1959 where he worked at Monarch Cement from 1959 until his retirement in 1999 as transportation manager after 40 years of service. He then moved to Grand Lake, Okla., to a home that he built himself.

Marvin was very active and enjoyed many activities including fishing, boating, camping, water skiing, coaching softball teams, classic cars, and racing. He was also active in the Humboldt and Grand Lake communities serving on Biblesta committees in Humboldt and helping out with festivals at Grand Lake. He loved playing the steel guitar and was a member of the Kansas Steel Guitar Association. He attended Humboldt United Methodist Church and First United Methodist Church of Grove.

Marvin is survived by two daughters, Daneen Groff of Humboldt and Deana Jones of Pittsburg; his son Dean Groff, and his wife, Lyndy, of Rosedale, Md.; and several cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents.

Funeral services will be at 2 p.m., Saturday at the Carson-Wall Funeral Home with the Rev. Tim Bever officiating. Burial will follow in the Memorial Lawn Cemetery with military honors conducted by Brown-Bishop Post No. 704 Veterans of Foreign Wars of Parsons. The family will receive friends at the funeral home from 1 p.m. until service time on Saturday. Memorials are suggested to the Humboldt High School Athletic Fund or to Kindred Hospice and these may be left at or mailed to the Carson-Wall Funeral Home 112 N. 26th St., P.O. Box 942, Parsons, KS 67357. Online condolences may be left at www.wallfuneralservices.com.

 

Police Reports

Arrests reported

Iolans Caleb Belshe, 19, and Hannah Stout, 21, were arrested Friday in the 400 block of North Third Street after Iola police officers were called to a disturbance there.

Officers arrested Eric Schommer, 33, Iola, in the 400 block of Eisenhower Drive Oct. 18 on a warrant out of Allen County District Court.

Nancy K. Newkirk, Iola, was arrested Oct. 15 in the 700 block of North State Street for suspicion of driving while intoxicated.

 

Charges requested following incidents

Iola police officers said they are requesting charges be filed against an individual who reportedly removed keys from a vehicle without permission Oct. 16 in the 400 block of West Jackson Ave.

On Oct. 15, officers were called to a domestic disturbance in the 10 block of Scott Circle. Charges are being requested through the Allen County attorney’s office. The suspect was not identified.

 

Accidents reported

Xavier L. Cary, 19, was turning south onto Kentucky Street from U.S. 54 Oct. 11, when he collided with an eastbound vehicle driven by Amanda M. Bishop. Neither was injured.

On Oct. 12, Gabriella N. Richards, 16, was northbound on State Street when she struck a stopped vehicle driven by Jessica I. Marlow, 33. Both were uninjured.

On Oct. 15, Richard T. White, 69, was eastbound on the 400 block of East Street, when he told officers he veered to the right to allow oncoming traffic to pass. In so doing, he struck a parked vehicle owned by Kelci R. Maier.

Debra R. Suchy, 56, was westbound on U.S. 54 near Oak Street Oct. 17, when her vehicle was rear-ended by a vehicle driven by Rhett M. Smith, 20.

Sharon L. Powell, 64, was southbound on the 200 block of South Cottonwood Street Saturday when she struck a parked vehicle owned by Jimmy L. Aikins.

None of the accidents resulted in injury, Iola police officers reported.

 

MV Elementary lists honor roll students

MORAN — Marmaton Valley Elementary School has listed its honor rolls for the first quarter of the 2018-19 school year.

Earning all A’s were:

Sixth grade — Michael Ard, Kason Becker, Danielle Deer and Brayden Lawson.

Fifth grade — Christopher Ferguson, Todd Stevenson and Braelyn Sutton.

Fourth grade — Taylen Blevins and Mason Ferguson.

Third grade — Eterne’ Allison, Brealynn Andres, Alayna Cook, Layla Cook, Addisyn Drake, Ethan Lawson, Kaden mcVey, Kris McVey, Tierce Moore, Caylee Pas, Evva Sander, Tucker Sutton and Bryant Uhlrich.

Earning all A’s and B’s were:

Sixth grade — Piper Barney, Aliexis Carman, Jaedon Granere, Ty LaRue, Trinity Lawson, Alexius Lowder, Lily Mynatt and Ava Newman.

Fifth grade — Karsen Allison, Rodney Cook, Sophia Heim, Dierks Kegler, Jacee Mattox, Brian Morgan, Garrett Morrison, Bella Rahming, Kylah Sander and Isaiah Sinclair.

Fourth grade — Dagan Burney, Adalie Boisvert, Hunter Doolittle, Ethan Flyingman, Skyler Kilpatrick, Brendon Newman, Colter Rogers, Cooper Scharff and Kyliee Whitcomb.

Third grade — Thomas Allee, Kristina Andres, Harlie Cook, Jetta Mathews, Joseph McIntire, Isabella Sneed, Rorrick Trester and Kadience Womelsdorf.