Elsmore dinner Saturday

ELSMORE — Elsmore Ruritan Club will have its annual chili/soup supper from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday at the Elsmore Community Building. Club members will serve chili and a variety of soups, homemade cornbread, crackers, cake and a drink for a freewill donation. 

Proceeds will go to the club’s college scholarship fund. Last year the club awarded $1,400 in scholarships.

Tickets will be sold for dessert drawings held throughout the evening. Diners bringing an item for the Elsmore Blessing Box or a non-perishable food item for the food pantry will receive one free dessert drawing ticket per diner. Blessing Box items can include non-perishable food, small household items such as dish detergent, bath or facial tissues, toothpaste/brush, etc.

Each year the Ruritan club helps Marmaton Valley High schools, treat bags are given students riding the bus from Elsmore to Moran at Halloween and Christmastime and treat bags and community calendars are given senior citizens at Christmas. The club supports the Allen County Fair, has a dog/cat vaccination clinic, helps maintain the city playground, community building and community garden, and distributes food monthly in conjunction with Feed America and Humboldt Ministerial Alliance. Last year the club sponsored the July 4 celebration and the annual Elsmore Days.

State news in brief — 3/12/19

Man dies after car falls on him

BURDEN, Kan. (AP) — Authorities say a 26-year-old man died after a car crushed him in Cowley County.

George Fletcher was working on the car Monday afternoon when it fell on him.

First responders who were called to the home in Burden found Fletcher’s body underneath the car.

 

Sex offender caught

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A 27-year-old convicted felon on the Texas 10 Most Wanted sex offender list has been captured in Kansas.

The Texas Department of Public Safety on Monday announced Billy Don Urango was caught Feb. 26 in Wichita. Urango was wanted for parole violation and failure to register as a sex offender.

Records show Urango has a 2010 conviction for aggravated sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child-sexual contact in a Grayson County incident with an 11-year-old boy.

DPS says a tipster will be paid $5,000 as a result of the arrest of Urango, who was wanted since mid-2017 after fleeing from Dallas.

Heavy lessons

  • Iola High School science teacher Vince Coons speaks Saturday at a tour of the IHS science building.
  • Iola High School principal Scott Crenshaw talks to Liz Cox about structural problems at the science building during a tour Saturday morning.

Iola High School principal Scott Crenshaw talks to Liz Cox about structural problems at the science building during a tour Saturday morning. The event gave USD 257 patrons a chance to see the building before a school bond vote April 2 that would build a new science and technology building, along with proposals to build a new elementary school and replace heating, ventilation and cooling systems at the middle school.

Bowlus center busy this week

The National Weather Service is hosting a storm spotters training session at 6:30 tonight in the Creitz Recital Hall at the Bowlus Fine Arts Center.

The workshop, “Storm Fury On The Plains,” is a multimedia presentation on which storms develop into tornadoes.

A Conversation on Our Schools and their Future is from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday in the main auditorium. 

Panelists will discuss issues and take questions from the audience surrounding a proposed bond issue on April 2 for USD 257.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Indonesian woman freed from prison

SHAH ALAM, Malaysia (AP) — One of two women accused of killing North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s half brother by smearing VX nerve agent on his face was freed after two years of detention today when Malaysian prosecutors unexpectedly dropped the murder charge against her.

Indonesian Siti Aisyah and her Vietnamese co-defendant, Doan Thi Huong, have said they thought they were taking part in a prank for a TV show.

Prosecutors did not give any reason for the remarkable retreat in their case against Aisyah in the killing of Kim Jong Nam at a busy Kuala Lumpur airport terminal.

Indonesia’s government had lobbied repeatedly for her release. Vietnam has pushed less hard on behalf of Huong, and recently hosted leader Kim Jong Un for an official visit and a summit with President Donald Trump.

Aisyah cried and hugged Huong before leaving the courtroom and being ushered away in an Indonesian Embassy car. She told reporters that she had only learned this morning that she would be freed.

She flew back to Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, later today and thanked the president and other officials for their help.

“I feel happy, very happy that I cannot express in words,” she told reporters at Jakarta’s airport. “After this I just want to gather with my family.”

Huong, who remains on trial, was distraught.

“I am in shock. My mind is blank,” she told reporters after Aisyah left.

The two women had been the only suspects in custody after four North Korean suspects fled the country the morning of Feb. 13, 2017, when Kim Jong Nam was killed.

Aisyah’s release comes just a month before Indonesia’s general election and is seen as a boost to President Joko Widodo, who is seeking re-election.

Indonesia’s foreign ministry said in a statement that she was “deceived and did not realize at all that she was being manipulated by North Korean intelligence.”

It said Aisyah, a migrant worker, never had any intention of killing Kim.

Lawyers for the women have previously said that they were pawns in a political assassination with clear links to the North Korean Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, and that the prosecution failed to show the women had any intention to kill. Intent to kill is crucial to a murder charge under Malaysian law.

Kim was the eldest son in the current generation of North Korea’s ruling family. He had been living abroad for years but could have been seen as a threat to Kim Jong Un’s rule.

Jerry Schomaker

Louis Jerome “Jerry” Schomaker, age 73, Frankfort, died Thursday, March 7, 2019, at Stormont Vail Hospital, Topeka. 

He was born Feb. 6, 1946, in Gas, to Louis Martin Schomaker and Emma Lou (Simmons) Schomaker.

He served with the Army National Guard.

Jerry married Mary Fretz of Iola; they later divorced. He then married Linda Caler of LaHarpe. She survives.

He was preceded in death by his daughter Laura.

Survivors include sons Scott Schomaker of El Paso, Texas, Doug Schomaker of Marysville, Sean Cook of Temple, Texas; daughter Shelli Hadley of Las Vegas, Nev.; and other relatives.

Visitation will be 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Feuerborn Family Funeral Service Chapel. A funeral service will be at 10:30 a.m. Thursday at Feuerborn Family Funeral Service Chapel. Burial will follow in St. Martins Cemetery, Piqua.

Donna Powell

Donna Lee Powell, age 71, of Iola, died Wednesday, March 6, 2019, at Research Medical Center in Kansas City, Mo. 

She was born May 11, 1947 in Hammond, Ind., to Donald E. and Doris R. (Rusher) Riley.

She married Thomas I. Powell on Oct. 3, 1977, in Iola. He preceded her in death.

A visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at Feuerborn Family Funeral Service Chapel. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Feuerborn Family Funeral Service Chapel. Burial will follow at Highland Cemetery in Iola.