25 Years Ago
December 1993
ERIE A $4 million biking and hiking trail linking Iola and Ottawa will be built on the abandoned railbed of the Santa Fe if the state agrees to fund 20 percent of the project, a Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks official told Southeast Kansas Regional Planning Commission members here Tuesday. It will be called the Prairie Spirit Rail Trail. State funding is still in limbo. Gov. Joan Finney said she would not propose additional funds for the project and that the Department of Wildlife and Parks would have to divert money from other projects if it is to be funded in fiscal 1994.
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Gary Parker of Moran has been named to the United Soybean Board for a three year term by Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy. Parker is a past-chairman of the Kansas Soybean Commission.
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MORAN Debbie Colgin has been recognized as the USD 256 Master Teacher for 1993-94.
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Wayne Still, who has been a member of the Iola Fire Department since July 30, 1969, was named the new fire chief by city commissioners Tuesday. Clarence Hydorn is retiring as chief on De. 31.
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Rex Taylor will become Iolas police chief on Feb. 1. City commissioners selected Taylor to fill the vacancy to be created by Jay Thayers retirement on Jan. 31, 1994.
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Frank Porter, D.O., has joined Physicians Medical Clinics, a subsidiary of St. Francis Regional Medical Center, Wichita, as a family physician. Porter has operated the Osborn Clinic in Colony for six years and will continue his practice there.
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Lyle Dreher of Iola, who contributed much to the Allen County Fair, 4-H and other activities, died Sunday at 65.
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Charles Hosley of Iola, a veteran of World War I, has received a medal commemorating the 75th anniversary of the armistice that ended the war. The medal came from the Robert R. McCormick Tribune Foundation in Chicago.
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Ben C. Ellis, 77, a former Iola mayor and businessman, died Dec. 23, 1993 in Apollo Beach, Fla. After running a dry-cleaning business in Iola for three years, Ellis was involved in the boat-building businesses in Iola, either as owner or manager, until he retired in 1972.
