If someone were to poll the individuals who live in area towns outside of Iola as to why they choose to do so — I guarantee the majority of answers would be along the line of … “because it’s not Iola.”
Several times I have heard people say that if given a free house they would still refuse to live there. (I heartily concur with that opinion.)
Why? Because “Iola” thinks it is the only place that matters in anything.
The point of this letter is the so far fictional new hospital. It’s supposed to be a county hospital. So why all the fuss and fuming about it having to be in Iola and possible competition from a motel or gas station that would “hurt” Iola?
Many of us that live in the county and Iola as well as neighboring counties who would patronize a new Allen County Hospital already leave for medical care. We go to Chanute, Fort Scott, Burlington, Garnett, Parsons, Nevada, Mo., Pittsburg, Ottawa, etc.
We also routinely go farther afield to Topeka, Lawrence, both Kansas Cities, Joplin, Wichita and Tulsa. Having to drive a few miles would be a blessing in time, expenses and emotions.
Iola will never become the town it thinks it is (Isn’t it losing population?) until it wakes up and smells the coffee and gets over its inflated self.
I’m not the only one who prefers to risk the chance of catching a fleeting whiff of earthy bovine odor versus the human-made toxic congestion of east Iola. It’s a darn sight prettier farther north, too.
Elle (Linda) Dominquez-Houk,
Moran, Kan.
(Editor’s note: Iola city commissioners pledged a quarter-cent in sales tax monies toward the construction and operation of a new county hospital. That equals to about $350,000 a year up through 2019. No other city in the county has pledged such a commitment.)
