35 Years Ago
May 1984
Iola High School Mustangs tied for third in the 4A State Championships at Wichita Saturday out of the 64 teams that competed in the class. Peda Samuel won championship medals in the 100- and 200-meter dashes. Humboldt senior Mark Dobbins won first in the discus in class 3A.
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Descendants of those who lived in Iola or the surrounding area in 1859, the year the city was founded, will serve as grand marshals of the quasquicentennial parade on June 9. Clyde Toland, an Iola attorney, is registering those who qualify. In a related event, Gary Hawk donated one of his paintings to be used in fund-raising and is pictured on page one with Terry Sparks, chairman of one of the celebration events, along with Carolyn Westgate, director of the Iola Area Chamber of Commerce.
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Marty Taylor gave the graduation speech for the 1984 Iola High School Senior Class last night. Taylor was elected by his classmates for the honor. Susan Miller and David Campanini were co-valedictorians. Both had perfect 4.0 grade records throughout their high school careers.
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John Noonan, plant manager of the Gates-Iola plant, said today he had been authorized to go ahead with a $170,000 expansion of its large diameter braided wire hose department. The pole-built hose produced in the department is used primarily by off-shore drilling rigs. Noonan said the plant had been working three full shifts five days a week throughout the plant to meet rising demand for its industrial hose and had been working on Saturdays in addition in the large-diameter hose department. He said employment at the plant had stabilized at 255.
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Ivan Strickler of Iola was elected president of the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board in Washington, D.C. The 36-person board was created earlier this month by Secretary of Agriculture John Block to direct the expenditure of $200 million each year to promote milk consumption and develop new dairy products. The money will be raised from dairy farmers through a 15-cents-a-hundredweight assessment on milk sales. Strickler is also president of the Mid-America Dairymen Co-op.
