Berg Manufacturing laid off 50 production employees yesterday, bringing the workforce at the plant here down to 269. Employment at the company had reached well over 400 before the slowdown in the economy cut demand for its products.
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The Funston Memorial Home and Museum, about 5 miles north of Iola, is closed indefinitely while the Kansas State Historical Society determines if the needed renovations to the boyhood home of General Frederick Funston are economically feasible. The Funston Home had been restored by the historical society in 1956.
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The shortage of pump jacks, about 1,000,000 worldwide today, has Walton Foundry translating that deficit into booming sales and the basis for the installation of more than $200,000 worth of new production equipment. The foundry has been involved with the production of pump jack parts and other castings for the oil and gas industry for decades. Dick Dewey, manager of the company, said sales have increased 40 percent in the past year and he expects them to increase by another 40 percent by Dec. 1.
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Jack Hastings, who served as mayor of Iola for 15 years, was given a plaque recognizing his service to the city by Mayor John Carder at last night’s city commission meeting.
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The southeast Kansas wheat harvest is near an end. There is a shortage of railroad hopper cars. The Iola Milling Co.’s elevators and bins are full and farmers have begun dumping their harvest onto the concrete. At present, 16,000 bushels of wheat are piled in the old Santa Fe depot parking lot, with more to come.
