Leaders of a religious group that moved to Iola on Jan. 17 in answer to the call of the Lord, have apparently moved away, leaving no clue as to their destination. Brother Don Kindhart, minister for the group that met at the Madison Avenue Baptist Church until it was sold at sheriffs auction last April, has apparently left town along with seven or eight of the families that followed him to Iola last January. The Zion School, which was opened this fall by the group in the building of the former Maple Grove School north of Iola on U.S. 169, has been closed. Four of the children who had been attending there have been entered at Carlyle and one has been entered in the Iola schools. The Kansas Convention of Southern Baptists, which announced earlier that it had withdrawn its financial support said that the group had defaulted on their loan contract with the Convention and owes $65,000.
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An all-out community effort toward getting the new proposed medium security prison located at Iola was launched today at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce board. Probate Judge Leslie Norton said he believes Iola can get the prison if it is willing to provide free land and bring utilities to a selected site.
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Diphtheria remains a threat to Allen County, the county medical society announced in the wake of a recent diphtheria epidemic at Stilwell, Okla., which was fatal to three. The local society said the feeling of the doctors is everyone in this region should be brought up to date on immunization against the dread disease. With previous immunization a booster shot is sufficient protection, they said.
