Registered The Iola Register

After a long break, we’re back with a special episode. September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, a time to spread the word about actions we can take to prevent suicide, and to change the conversation to one about healing, help and hope. In that spirit, we sat down with Michelle Hoag, the clinical director at the Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center.


If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please call or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org. You can also contact the Southeast Kansas Mental Health Center at 1-866-973-2241 24/7 or visit sekmhc.org. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255 (TALK) and online at SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources have additional resources.

After a long break, we’re back with a special episode. Today, Register reporter Vickie Moss interviews Dr. Brian Wolfe of Community Health Center of Southeast Kansas and a longtime physician in Iola about the troubling surge in COVID-19 cases.


Active cases, hospitalizations and deaths have skyrocketed over the past several weeks, as the delta variant wreaks havoc on a country already weary of masks, Zoom meetings, and quarantines.


Now, however, as vaccination rates remain stubbornly low and well below herd immunity, it seems we may be done with the coronavirus, but it is certainly not done with us.

Sharla Miller lost her son Matthew to suicide last June. He was 19 years old. Since then, Sharla has become an activist in our community, spreading the word about how important and difficult the battle against depression is and advocating for mental health awareness.


Last year, She was a driving force behind the first-ever 13 Reasons to Fly SEK, a suicide prevention event educating youth and communities at large. And this year, she took the lead again, organizing the event virtually.


In today’s podcast, Register reporter Trevor Hoag and Tim Stauffer talk with Sharla about the road she’s traveled so far, her hopes for our community and the passion she has for not losing one more life to suicide.

In today’s episode, Tim Stauffer speaks with Josh Granere, Peerless Product’s incoming plant manager for their new Iola facility, about what it means for him as an Allen County native, to be a part of bringing Peerless to little old Iola, Kansas.

With the election just a few days away, our country will soon finally be able to put a long and nasty campaign season behind us. But what next? How do we get back to normal again, after spending what seems like forever at each other’s throats?


In today’s episode, I speak with Ed O’Malley, CEO of the Kansas Leadership Center, about what steps community leaders can take to bring people together again and how we can, in his words, mend our civic fabric.

Bob Johnson began working at The Iola Register on July 6, 1964. 56 years later, almost to the day, he penned his last “Weeks End” column in the July 11, 2020 edition of the Register.


In this week’s podcast, Richard and Tim talk with Bob about what he’s seen and learned over a lifetime of journalism. Remarkably enough, Bob encountered only three editors— Angelo Scott, Emerson Lynn and Susan Lynn. But in terms of content, well, Bob’s articles number in the tens of thousands, covering everything from football to city council meetings to slugs. Yes, slugs.