Iola

Engineering unit ordered to mobilize

About 500 engineers for the Kansas Army National Guard began mobilizing Tuesday for deployment in support of the Iraq war.

The soldiers from the guard’s 891st Engineer Battalion include 230 individuals from its headquarters here, who reported to their armory Tuesday. The remainder — about 270 guard members from Company A in Pittsburg and Company B in Coffeyville — must mobilize next week.

No deployment date has been set for the soldiers, who will report to Fort Sill in Oklahoma. They will participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom, though military officials declined to specify where they would be stationed.

The engineers will bring the total number of deployed Kansas guard members to about 1,400.

Hutchinson

State Fair accident leaves worker dead

A Kansas State Fair employee was killed Monday when a beam fell on him while workers were taking down part of the grandstand stage, police said.

They said a cable broke and the beam fell on Larry Ankerholz, 55, of Hutchinson. He was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The fair completed its 10-day run Sunday. On the final day, three people were hurt during auto races at the grandstand. Race promoter C. Ray Hall of Speedway Inc. said a wheel fell off a sprint car traveling about 80 mph, injuring two girls.

The girls, 13 and 15, were treated at a hospital and released.

In a separate incident, sprint car driver Jon Johnson, of Utica, suffered serious burns when a fuel line was severed and his vehicle hit another car and caught fire, Hall said.