Submitted photo — The Brandt family poses with 231Z, a 3,050-pound Simmi/Angus bull owned by Brandt Farms, after winning the Super Bull contest Aug. 9 at the 2018 Iowa State Fair.

Brandt bull
a State Fair champ

By Don Groves
Free Press

A 3,050-pound Simmi/Angus bull owned by Brandt Farms of Corning outweighed the competition to win the Super Bull contest Aug. 9 at the 2018 Iowa State Fair.

“We had a good day yesterday, that’s for sure,” Kirk Brandt said Aug. 10 from the Fair.

The bull, 231Z, is a two-time State Fair winner. In 2012 at 7 months old, 231Z was the Foundation Simmental Bull Calf champion.

“I raised him as calf,” Brandt said. “He was actually an embryo transplant out of a donor cow.”

Brandt sold the bull in 2013 when he would have been yearling sold to friends Alan and Candy Tanner of Creston, who owned the bull the last five years. When the Tanners bought the bull it weighed about 2,950 pounds so last year, when a 2,800 pound bull won the State Fair contest, Brandt said a lightbulb went off in his head.

“I said, ‘I’d like to buy him back when you’re done with him,’” Brandt said.

So Brandt brought 231Z back home, kept him fed, and entered him one more time in the State Fair. In front of a large crowd, the Brandts watched and waited as the seven entries were weighed.

“After they declared us winners, we let the bull in and gave a victory lap,” Brandt said.

The second place bull, DLH Angus of Indianola, came within 66 pounds of the champion at 2,984. DLH Upward 122 and Bedwell Charolais of Osceola took third place with his 2,875 pound Charolais bull Quiet Riot.

The winner, 231Z, as well as the Big Boar and Big Ram, will be on display at the Iowa State Fair in the Cattle, Swine, and Sheep Barns, respectively, through Aug. 19 while the Brandts continue showing other cattle.

“We are here for the entire Fair,” Brandt said Aug. 10. “We show five feeders tomorrow and show three registered Angus next Tuesday. The last three or four days of the Fair we get to sit down a relax a bit.”

Brandt said the State Fair has been “our family vacation” for the last 20 years.

“It’s what we choose to do,” he said.

Brandt and his family will return home following the State Fair’s end this week as will the winning bull. For those who didn’t make it to Des Moines for the Fair will still have an opportunity to see 231Z on when the Iowa Angus Association in conjunction with the Iowa Southern Angus Association host an Angus tour on Aug. 25-26.

“We’ll put him on display as well a lot of our other cattle,” Brandt said.

After that, life will return to normal for the winning bull.
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“I’ll probably shave a few pounds off of him and put him back in the herd this fall,” Brandt said. “He’s a lot of fun and he’s got a super temperament.”

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American Theatre
sees upgrades

By Don Groves
Free Press

Moviegoers attending the Aug. 10 opening of “Skyscraper” at the Corning American Theatre will not just get a look at a new movie, they’ll also experience a bigger, brighter screen and better sound clarity.

For the last couple of weeks, workers with Sonic Equipment Company from Iola, Kan., have been installing a new Harkness curved movie screen and 15 new speakers. Along with the upgraded equipment, the theater has increased its seating capacity from 100 to 105 by removing seven chairs from the front row and installing 12 new recliners in the first two rows.

The new screen is about a foot wider than older one, according to Doug Oldenkamp who has been working with Sonic Equipment.

“It should be a lot brighter,” he said. “There should be no more fading at the edge of the screen.”

While the screen is likely the most visually noticeable improvement to the theater, the frame for the new screen was the biggest expense. And when the sound kicks in, moviegoers hear the audio improvements. The new speakers are more than double the size of the old ones and weigh in at 257 pounds each. Combine those with the 205-pound subwoofers and surround sound will take on a whole new meaning.

The entire video and audio system is automated so that the lights and sound come on at the correct time and at predetermined levels. Sonic Equipment services the theater, helping diagnose problems with a 24-hour call line and visiting he theater every six months to recalibrate the sight and sound levels.
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While the new equipment may add excitement to the Corning American Theatre, there’s a good deal of history there too. A look at some of the items upstairs near the projection room provide a look back in time — an old reel storage area, a ticket machine, projector equipment, and more hearken back to an era when area residents still found entertainment on the silver screen.

Hotel team
​provides update

A group working to bring a hotel to Corning has shared a news release updating its progress.

The Corning hotel team met recently with the Adams County Board of Supervisors, which encouraged Adams Community Economic Development Corporation (ACEDC) to complete the hotel feasibility on a more aggressive timeline. 

Team members have already met with AmericInn, Boulders, and Cobblestone to look at franchise possibilities. They also visited with the highly successful leaders of the privately held Mount Ayr Inn. 

“All companies we met with had similar cost projections between $3.5 and $4 million,” the news release reads. “After months of study and research into building costs, revenue projections, operations costs, franchise fees, management styles and several other factors, the team determined that with a non-franchised model the benefits far outweigh the costs.”

The team reflected on the previous successful projects completed by the generous donations of both locals and alumni and started a campaign to raise funds. The group continued to develop the business model for the hotel. It was soon determined that the project would better suit the needs of the community as an economic engine if an investment module was added. Investor packages are currently being developed with a member-managed LLC. 

The team projects 20-year property tax and hotel/motel tax revenues of $1,969,531. On July 23, the Board of Supervisors continued to support the hotel by contributing $100,000 to ACEDC for the project, approving a 10-year property tax abatement, and refunding the first 10 years of the team’s portion of the hotel/motel tax (if passed in November). 

“This still gives the county a 20-year return on investment of over $1 million,” the news release reads. “The BOS also agreed to pave the road from Highway 34 to the hotel property. All items are contingent on the hotel project being financed.”

Basic information about the hotel includes:

Location: The team looked at several locations. A fairly flat piece of ground that had or could have access to utilities at minimum costs was the driving factor. Access and visibility from U.S. Highway 34 to help market the hotel for those driving Highway 34 was also important to encourage more travelers to stay. Currently, ACEDC has an option on land west of the Corning Winery on the south side of Highway 34 and is conducting pre-engineering surveys to determine site layout. A USDA Rural Business Development Grant has been secured to assist in covering those costs.

Hotel size: 32 rooms — The hotel currently being designed will be similar to many modern hotels being built today with complimentary Wi-Fi, cable tv and breakfast.

Type of rooms: There will be a mixture of queen and king rooms along with two to three extended stay rooms.

Accessibility: All rooms will be accessible by elevator.

Guest laundry: Coin-operated facilities on site.

Parking space: A mixture of paved and gravel parking with enough room for semis and traveling campers as well as fishing enthusiasts.

Meeting room: Guests would be encouraged to use local community meeting rooms, however, the breakfast area will be available for small groups.

Pool, restaurant, fitness center, banquet facilities: In looking at the financial feasibility of the property and wanting to support local businesses, it was determined that the hotel staff will be trained to encourage guests to support local venues.

“This project will economically benefit Adams County, fill a growing need of the community, as well as provide a return to the investors,” the news release says. “Follow the progress of the hotel project in future issues of The Adams County Free Press.”

Lazy Days to take
​place July 27-28

Main Street Corning’s Lazy Days will take place July 27-28 in the Central Park area on Davis Avenue.

From the 13th Annual En Plein Air Festival to the Fourth Annual Johnny Carson Birthplace Car Show, a weekend of activities is planned.

The Corning Center for the Fine Arts’ En Plein Air Festival will take place from dawn to dusk July 27 throughout Adams County. Artists may register from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. that day at the Corning Center for the Fine Arts at 706 Davis Ave. A Chamber Coffee will be held there from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. 

The festival continues from dawn to 2 p.m. July 28. A reception will be held from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the CCFA with En Plein Air judging taking place from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. and an awards ceremony at 3 p.m.

Gates open at 5 p.m. July 27 for the Battle of the BBQ. Included are a beer garden, the People’s Choice Wing Contest, and a street dance with Rusty Laffoon and the Broken Wagon Band.

July 28 begins with the 19th Annual Doctors Dash, a 3.3 or 6.5 mile run and 1 or 3.2 mile walk. Registration is from 6:30 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. The run and 3.2 mile walk begin at 7:30 a.m. followed by the mile walk at 7:35 a.m. Pets are allowed on the walks. All proceeds support Community Wellness Youth Health Education programs.

The Corning Rotary Club will hold its annual pancake breakfast from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Retail Crazy Days will also take place from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.

All ages can find entertainment with inflatables and giant games from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at a cost of $3 per person or $10 per family. A vendor fair will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Corning Opera House will host its second annual quilt show from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 800 Davis Ave. More than 75 quilts will be featured. 

Registration for the Fourth Annual Johnny Carson Birthplace Car Show will take place from 9:30 a.m. to noon. The show itself will be held from noon to 2:30 p.m.

From noon to 2 p.m. the farmers market will be open at a barbecue meal will be served for $7 per person. Children under 6 eat free.

For more information, visit www.adamscountyiowa.com or call the Adams Community Chamber at (641) 322-3243.

District eyes five-year plan

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Southwest Valley’s new superintendent Chris Fenster shared information on the activity center and elementary school projects as well as a five-year facility plan and the school website at the Corning Community Schools Board of Education’s July 9 meeting.

Fenster said repairs at the activity center are going to be taken care of at the end of the month and into August. He said the west wall was shifting and needed some reinforcement but repairs can be made from the outside, saving the district almost $100,000. 

Fenster also presented the board the five-year facility plan, which outlined projects that are needed to improve the district’s facilities. 

Fenster said he has met with staff members from both Corning and Villisca districts to lay out a new school website that will hopefully be up and running by the end of August or early September. The current website needs to be improved so information can get out quicker and more accurately to the public.

The board accepted two resignations and approved two contracts. Assistant track coach Alaina Templeton and assistant cross country coach Jason Hults submitted their resignations.  A contract with William Foley as fifth-grade teacher was approved for the 2018-2019 school year as was a contract with Jacob Wolfe as high school counselor and National Honor Society sponsor pending Wolfe receiving a Class G license.

In other business, the board:

• Approved a 2018-2019 open enrollment application of a freshman student from Creston to the Corning district;

• Approved all checks outstanding for over a year in all accounts for removal;

• Approved depository banks for the district’s funds including TS Bank with $3 million, Page County State Bank (PCSB) $200,000, State Bank of Brooks $200,000, Iowa State Savings Bank $200,000, and Bankers Trust $3 million;

• Appointed board member Maria Fuller as Legislative Action Network representative and delegate for 2018-2019; and
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• Approved a bread bid from Hy-Vee and a milk bid from Hiland Dairy Foods.

Supervisors discuss
​Hunter Trail washout

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Adams County Board of Supervisors discussed the wash of gravel onto a property along Hunter Trail with county secondary roads worker Karl Herring at the board’s July 2 meeting.

Herring told the board retiring county engineer Eldon Rike inspected the shoulder washout on Hunter Train prior to his departure and had said there was little secondary roads could do to prevent wash during heavy rains. 

Cody Silence had requested time on the agenda to discuss the item but was not present for the meeting.  

Adams County Sheriff Alan Johannes appeared before the board to share a letter he had received June 29 regarding the dispatch console for 911 that had already been purchased. Johannes used a grant from the state for part of the cost. He said a letter informed him the grant amount was being reduced by $12,500.

The final payment for the Nodaway Bridge project was presented for approval by the supervisors, which was unanimously approved. 

Submitted photo — This year’s Adams County Youth and 4H/FFA Fair queen candidates are Hailee Trichell, daughter of Debbie and Jackie Trichel of Corning; Anna Inman, daughter of Tonya and Aaron Inman of Prescott; and Emily Lauer, daughter of René and Curtis Lauer of Corning. Crowning will be July 7 during intermission at the Adams County Speedway.

Adams County Fair celebrates 160 years

Adams County is observing two big milestones this year — the Adams County Fair will celebrate its 160th year July 6-11 and Adams County Extension and 4-H will celebrate 100 years in existence this year. 

Chosen as the theme for this year’s Adams County Fair is Rural Life is Real Life. That theme will be woven throughout the activities and events of this year’s fair, which as usual will include something for everyone, from babies to senior citizens.

Activities begin July 6 with the arrival of open class and Care Facility building exhibits between 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. at the Adams County 4-H Exhibit building in Corning. Anyone can enter items in the open class division as long as the entry is the work or produce of the exhibitor. Fair books describing all the varied classes are available at the Adams County Extension office in Corning. Classes include baking (all breads), visual arts, needlework, fine arts, photography, woodworking, welding, flower arranging, floriculture, vegetables and fruits. There are special fun classes in the horticulture division including the largest vegetable and most unusual vegetable categories. There is no cost to enter open class items and ribbons will be awarded to all exhibitors. 

In the open class Care Facility Division, items should primarily be the work of any resident of Care Initiatives Corning, Choice, Inc., Midwest Opportunities, or other area care facilities. Judging for this division will take place July 7. The institution with the most exhibits will be awarded a $25 donation from the Adams County Fair Committee.

From 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. July 6, the Adams County Fair Committee invites everyone to a fair kickoff barbecue hosted by Adams County Extension. The barbecue will be held in the fairgrounds pavilion. The meal will feature pulled pork, beans, apple sauce, chips, and drink for $6. Also in the pavilion and new in 2018 is a Quilts of Valor presentation ceremony at 6 p.m. Following that, the 2018 Adams County Fair queen candidates will be introduced. The Battle of the Bands” will begin at 7 p.m. Bands will compete for cash prizes and will be chosen as the opening act for the July 9 Hairball concert at the fair. In its third year, the open class swine show will start at 7 p.m. at the north end of the fairgrounds. A 4-H/FFA exhibitor swimming party at Adams Community Aquatic Center will round out events from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

At 6 a.m. July 7, all 4-H and FFA livestock exhibits will be brought to the fairgrounds for check-in. More open class building exhibits may be entered between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. Judging of open class and care facility exhibits will start at 9 a.m. Judging of 4-H exhibits will begin at 11 a.m. and continue until completed. 4-H exhibit categories include Family and Consumer Science, Creative Arts/Personal Development, Science and Engineering and Ag and Natural Resources. A bake sale of items brought in by 4-H’ers for exhibit judging will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. or until judging is complete in the 4-H Building.

At noon July 7, open class fun dog show open to area dog owners of all ages will take place in the pavilion just north of the 4-H building. Exhibitors’ dogs must have current rabies vaccinations. Dogs will be judged in fun classes and some will compete in obedience classes.

July 7 is also 4-H/FFA Race Night in the grandstands beginning at 6:30 p.m. This race night is free to all and especially to 4-H and FFA exhibitors wearing their fair t-shirts. The crowning of the 2018 Adams County Fair queen will take place at 8:45 p.m. in the grandstands.

The Adams County Fair Committee will sponsor a breakfast from 6 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. July 8 in the 4-H exhibit building. An antique tractor ride will leave the fairgrounds at 8 a.m. The ride will be 20-25 miles long and will include a stop at the Lake Icaria Beach Restaurant. Riders will be back to the Adams County Fairgrounds for the Antique Expo around noon.

The Adams County Antique Expo will begin at 10 a.m. The theme for this year is Rural Life in 1918. The featured tractor will be Allis Chalmers. Tractors and machinery of all makes are also welcome. Working demonstrations and displays will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will also be a local version of the Antique Road Show at 1 p.m. Those interested are invited to bring antiques to the pavilion for evaluation at this show. A stump the antiquers show will also be held at the 1 p.m. program. The public is invited to bring antique objects that they can’t identify and let the experts tell them about what they have. Classic and vintage cars, trucks, and motorcycles are also invited to the Antique Day show and will be on display from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The fourth year of a special class, Homemade Yard Art, will also be at the 2018 Antique Day. Exhibitors are invited to bring their creations for display. One exhibit will be judged as Best of Show. 

There will also be a special Garden Tractor Show during Antique Day. All old engines pre 1993, dead or alive, mounted or not, GTs, equipment, attachments, lawnmowers, and walk behinds are invited. 
All Antique Day exhibitors will be presented with a souvenir medallion for participating. There will be a special table set up to display items that would have been in common use 100 years ago in 1918. These could include farm tools, household items, publications, pictures, letters, clothing items, and etc.

The Adams County Fair 4-H and FFA Youth Horse Show will begin at 8 a.m. July 8 and the 4-H Share-the-Fun Show will start at 1:30 p.m. 4-H’ers will also be doing working exhibits for judging between 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. The public is encouraged to watch the working exhibits and take part in whatever 4-H’ers are demonstrating or making.

ATV/180 Races will be held July 8 in the grandstands. The pits will be open for registration from 9 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Races will begin after registration. There will be trophies for all class winners and payout for full size classes. Go to Facebook at adamscountyfair for more details.

A Bean Bag Tournament will be new to the 2018 Adams County Fair. The tournament will take place at noon July 8 on the east side of the 4-H Exhibit building.

The 4-H poultry broiler and fryer show will be held at  3 p.m. July 8 in the barn show ring.

A baby contest will be held at 4 p.m. in the pavilion. Classes include: 6-24 months, 2-3 years, and 4-5 years. Contestants must be in the age of the group they are participating in by July 1, 2018. Rules for the competition can be picked up at the Adams County Extension office at 603 Seventh St. in Corning or by calling (641) 322-3184.

Fairgoers can watch the 4-H fashion review and clothing selection show at 5:30 p.m. in the pavilion prior to a short fundraising auction July 8. The 4-H Endowment Fund Committee will recognize the 2018 4-H scholarship winners at 6 p.m. and the 4-H Committee will announce the 2018 Adams County 4-H Hall of Fame recipient as well. Following that, the 4-H State Fair plaques will be handed out in the pavilion.

The Adams County 4-H Youth Council will auction a few of their pies and cakes for fund-raising at 6:30 p.m. in the pavilion. More will be auctioned off at other shows throughout the fair. This money goes to support 4-H activities and financial assistance for Adams County 4-H’ers throughout the year.

 The Bill Riley Talent Show will follow at 7 p.m. in the pavilion with the sprout division and then the senior division continuing until its end.

New in 2018 is a demolition derby in the grandstand at 7 p.m. Entries are $30 and rules are posted on Facebook at adamscountyfair. The grandstand fee is $10.

The Adams County 4-H and FFA Swine Show will be begin at 7:30 a.m. July 9. The Adams County 4-H Pets and Small Animal Show will follow the swine show. It is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.

July 9 is Kids Day in the pavilion from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. The event include many educational and hands-on activities for youth and their parents. Mikayla Oz will have programs at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. The Southwest Valley Robotics Club will demonstrate activities throughout the Kids Day and the Villisca Lions Ferris Wheel will there from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

An open class pet show will be held at 4 p.m. in the pavilion. The show is open to exhibitors of all ages and may include such pets as cats, rabbits, hamsters, gerbils, fish, snakes, turtles, etc. No dogs allowed in the open class pet show.

An all-age pedal pull will begin at 5 p.m. Age divisions include 4-6 year olds, 7-9 year olds, and 10-12 year olds. There are also adult divisions for men and women. A trophy will be awarded for the top winner in each division and each participant will receive a participation ribbon.

 The Southwest Valley High School junior class will host a prom fundraiser meal from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The 4-H Youth Council will have an ice cream social at 5 p.m. to go with the meal.

Also at 5 p.m., the 4-H and FFA sheep and meat goat show will be held in the livestock show ring.
Entertainment will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the grandstand at with the Battle of The Bands winning group followed by Hairball at 7 p.m. Tickets may be purchased at the gate only.
July 10 activities begin at 7 a.m. with a pancake breakfast served by the Adams County 4-H Endowment Fund Committee at the 4-H lunch facility in the air conditioned 4-H exhibit building. All area residents are invited. Proceeds help fund scholarships for area 4-H youth.

Dairy goat and dairy cattle judging begins at 8 a.m. The beef show will follow immediately after the dairy show is completed. A Corning Area Chamber Coffee will start at 10 a.m. on the fairgrounds. Coffee and donuts will be available free for all fairgoers.

The Adams County Fair 4-H Youth Dog Show begins at 1 p.m. in the pavilion. At 1:30 p.m., a livestock judging contest will be held near the livestock show ring. It is open to local and area 4-H’ers and FFA chapters.

July 10 is Agriculture Day in the pavilion. There will be educational materials and displays for fairgoers to learn about today’s farmers and agricultural practices. From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., a community barbecue will be held near the pavilion sponsored by the Adams County Rural Development Committee with its traditional steak sandwich meal.

The bottle-bucket buckaroos show will give children 3 years old through third grade to show a baby calf in a fun, non-competitive atmosphere. The show will begin at 5 p.m. in the livestock ring. Calves can be either a steer or a heifer and will include costumed and non-costumed divisions.

Grandstand entertainment will be the Double S Bull Company Extreme Bull Riding Competition. Price for admission is $10 per person for ages 13 and over. Ages 6-12 can get in for $5 and 5 and under are free. A family pass can be purchased for $25 this year. The pass is good for two adults and their children. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. in the race track grandstands area. Gates will open at 7. An additional feature will be mutton busting for ages 4 to 6 years old. Registration for mutton busting will be at a table near the grandstand gate prior to the start of the bull riding competition.
July 11 is Senior Citizens Day in the pavilion and the 4-H Exhibit Building. Senior Day includes a cookie contest at 9 a.m. in the pavilion with more than $100 in cash prizes to the best bakers. Prize money is contributed by KCSI radio station 95.3 FM in Red Oak. Divisions include: KCSI sunshine cookies, drop cookies, bar cookies, no-bake cookies, and iced and decorated cookies.

There will also be entertainment in the pavilion at 9 a.m. including community booths, music by Erma and Friends, line and square dancing demonstration and participation, a healthy living presentation by Megan King of CHI Health Corning, and plenty of door prizes.

Additionally this year, the Senior Day Committee will have a table in the pavilion set aside for people to display Adams County 100 years of Extension memorabilia. There is no cost for the display. Everyone will get their scrapbooks, pictures or other display items back at the end of the day.

A $5 lunch of chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes, green beans, and fruit cobbler will be available for all fairgoers from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the southeast room of the 4-H building. At noon, the Senior Citizen Volunteer of the Year Award will be presented. Bingo for all ages will start at 1 p.m. in the southeast room and continue until 3:30 p.m.

The 4-H and FFA Fair Livestock Auction will be held at 9 a.m. July 11. This is a chance to watch 4-H and FFA members show their animals one last time, for fairgoers to fill their lockers with meat, and help a young person build their college funds.

Plan now to attend and enjoy the events at the 2018 Adams County Fair, July 6-11. There is always free admission to the fairgrounds in Corning. The 4-H Food stand is always open in the air-conditioned 4-H exhibit building.

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Independence Day
​events begin July 4

The Adams Community Chambers’ 59th annual Flight Breakfast at Corning Municipal Airport will kick off Independence Day events July 4 in Adams County.

A breakfast of eggs, sausage, and pancakes will be served free to all who fly into the airport. The costs for others is $6 for adults and $4 for children 10 and under.

The Farmers Market will be open from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. July 5 at Central Park in Corning.

Adams County Farm Bureau and Farm Bureau Financial Services will sponsor a First Friday BBQ from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. July 6 at Central Park. The menu will include smoked brisket sandwiches, chips, Rice Krispie Treats, and bottled water.

Lake Icaria will also host a barbecue from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. July 6 Also included are the annual Kids Scavenger Hunt at 7 p.m. and the Friends of the Lake Fireworks Celebration at dusk.

Activities continue July 7 at Lake Icaria with a youth fishing clinic for youngsters 12 and under from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Bobbers Down Marina. Prizes will be awarded and lunch provided to all registered youth.

Fourth of July activities wrap up July 7 at the Adams County Speedway with POET Biorefining Fan Appreciation Night and CHI Health Junior Speedster E-Powered Races.

Service to honor
​fallen Vietnam pilot

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

A former Lenox area resident killed in action in Vietnam will be remembered by a former 1969 West Point classmate in a memorial service July 6.

Capt. Edwin Gilbert Northup was reportedly killed in a gun fight after his helicopter was shot down, according to the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association website. Northup was attempting to rescue Stephen Shields of Maryland from the helicopter. Both initially survived the crash.

Northup and Ray Dupere attended the United States Military Academy at West Point together.
Dupere became an ordained minister after serving his country in Vietnam and said he was quite touched when asked to do a memorial service as part of their 50th class reunion next year.

“During my time at West Point I was not someone who cared much about spiritual things, but coming to faith in Christ three years after I graduated changed me dramatically,” Dupere said. “This trip was a way of saying thank you to the class for the honor of being asked to do the memorial service, and a thank you to God as well.”

Dupere said he will be holding other memorial services this summer for a few of his classmates who were killed in action in Vietnam.

“I am from Connecticut and will start out in Detroit, Mich.; Gary, Ind.; Corning; Minneapolis, Minn.; Choteau, Mont.; Tucson, Ariz.; San Antonio, Texas; San Marcos, Texas; Winona, Miss.; Beckley, W.Va.; and Arlington, Va.,” he said.

According to information from information provided by Dupere and compiled by Denis Gulakowski and his B-3 classmates, Northup graduated from West Point in 1969. as an army lieutenant. He was then commissioned in the field artillery and follow the prescribed path for officers through Airborne School and the basic course. He reported to the 5th Infantry Division at Fort Carson, Colo., and spent the mandatory four-month stateside tour there before attending flight school en route to Vietnam. He completed primary helicopter training and was subsequently qualified as a gun ship pilot. On April 2, 1972, he joined his unit in Vietnam. He had also been promoted to captain prior to his death. Details of Capt. Northup’s last mission are documented on the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association website, vhpa.org. It was reported in the June 29, 1972, edition of The Adams County Free Press that Northup had been killed in the line of duty. A full notice about his death was published the following week.

Dupere’s memorial service for Northup will be held at 10 a.m. July 6 at Northup’s gravesite at the Oak Hill Calvary Cemetery in Corning. Family, friends, and any Vietnam era veterans are invited to attend. Dupere said Northup’s sister Linda Pershin is planning to attend.

According to the Free Press, other survivors at the time of Northup’s death were his wife Threse of Wilmington, Del.; his parents Mr. and Mrs. Byron Northup; other sisters Mrs. Cella Curry, Mrs. Louise Sandstrom, and Lisa Northup; and a brother, John.

According to information from 2016 his wife Threse, whom he married in 1969 after he graduated from West Point, had remarried and was living in Wilmington, Del. Sisters Linda Pershin lived West Branch, Celia Curry lived in Johnston, Lisa Wilkinson lived in Prescott, and Mary Sandstrom lived in Dallas Center. His father Byron Northup died in 1981 and his mother Anita Northup died in 2000; both are buried at the Oak Hill Calvary Cemetery. His brother John passed way in 2016 and is buried at Grove Township Cemetery near Lenox.

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Akin, Mullen
​primary winners

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Republican Scott Akin and Democrat Tony Mullen are the winners of the Adams County Board of Supervisors District 3 June 5 primary election.

The two will face each other Nov. 6 general election to decide who will take the seat currently occupied by Linda England who chose not to seek re-election.

Akin defeated Lauri Greenlee 82-25 while Mullen defeated Judith Butcher 66-16.

Adams County voters also will pick their District 1 supervisor in November. Republican incumbent Doug Birt will face Democratic challenger Marty Olive.

Uncontested races in Adams County include District 4 Republican Leland Shipley; county treasurer Nancy Kempton, soon to be Nancy Barnes; county recorder Jamie Stargell; and county attorney Andrew Knuth.

At the state level, District 11 incumbent Republican state Sen. Tom Shipley of Nodaway to face Sara Ramsey of Corning and District 12 incumbent Republican state Rep. Tom Moore of Griswold will face Democrat Denise O’Brien of Atlantic.

Other statewide races include Adams County farmer Ray Gaesser, who was in a five-way race for the Republican nomination for State Secretary of Agriculture. Mike Naig, who was appointed by Gov. Kim Reynolds to replace Bill Northey who went to Washington, D.C., is the current incumbent but fell short of the needed 35 percent of votes to become the Republican nominee with just 34.74 percent. Instead state convention delegates will choose the nominee June 16. In addition to Gaesser and Naig, delegates must decide between state Sen. Dan Zumbach, former Iowa Farm Bureau president Craig Lang, and farmer Chad Ingles.

Other statewide races in November will pit incumbent Republican District  3 Rep. David Young against Democrat Cindy Axne, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds against Democrat Fred Hubbell, incumbent secretary of state Republican Paul Pate against Democrat Deidre DeJear, and incumbent state auditor Republican Mary Mosiman against Democrat Rob Sand. Incumbent state treasurer Democrat Michael Fitzgerald is unopposed. 

SWV names new superintendent



​By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Corning and Villisca school boards have chosen a new superintendent to lead the Southwest Valley District.

The boards selected Chris Fenster, current North Linn of Troy Mills superintendent and elementary principal at a May 31 meeting.

Fenster has been at North Linn for the past two years. He received his undergraduate degree from Upper Iowa in Fayette and his master’s in education/superintendent degree from Drake University in Des Moines. He is the father of three boys, Carson, Cade, and Colby, who attend Norwalk School near Des Moines. He enjoys playing golf, travelling to St Louis to watch the Cardinals, watching and playing sports, volunteering to assist in community activities, and exercising.

“I am excited to be moving here by the end of June,” he said “The move will allow me to be closer to my family as my boys live in Norwalk and I will be closer to see them instead of a six-hour trip on Wednesdays and every other weekend that will be shortened to about an hour and 15 minutes.”

Fenster said he wants “to make SWV a destination school in Southwest Iowa” but is aware both the district and education itself face several challenges.

“Funding from the state will be disappearing. I am good at working with the business manager on budgets and want to work to keep both districts viable for the foreseeable future,” he said. “Someday down the road we might have to look at consolidation but I know educating the public is also very important with the two districts.”

Fenster plans to begin tackling his superintendent duties relatively soon and begin conducting interviews for teachers as well as a replacement for Linda Brecht Kwirant who resigned last month as elementary school principal.

Fenster and Lenox secondary principal Mike Still were two finalists chosen from a pool of five after Corning and Villisca boards began conducting interviews after SWV superintendent Willie Stone announced his resignation in May.

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Four seek District 3 seat

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Four candidates will compete for the Adams County Board of Supervisors District 3 seat in June 5 primary election.

Democrats Judith Butcher and Tony Mullen and Republicans Scott Akin and Lauri Greenlee are on the ballot to replace District 3 supervisor Linda England, who took the oath of office Nov. 1, 2005, to fill out the unexpired term of Rhonda Millhollin after she resigned her seat. England was selected according to Iowa Code by the Adams County auditor, treasurer, and assessor at that time. The party winners will face off in the November election.

The Free Press asked the four candidates to complete a questionnaire to share their background, reason for seeking office, and what issues face Adams County. Below are their responses presented in the order the candidates appear on the ballot.

Judith Butcher
Biography — I am Corning High School graduate from 2000, later earning credits for nursing from Southwestern Community College in Creston in 2002. Over the years I have maintained employment on Main Street; factory setting (Midwest Products at Blue Grass Park) and local livestock farmers. I was also employed at Feeders Grain and Supply as an accounting clerk, proudly serving the rural farming community for six years. I also had the opportunity to serve on the Adams County Rural Development Board during this time. In 2008, I was elected to the Corning City Council, which was extremely educational. I am currently employed with Southern Iowa Trolley serving a range of residents from youth to senior citizens from Adams and surrounding counties. I currently serve as treasurer of the Corning American Legion Auxiliary; volunteer at the Wellness Center; am an active member of St Patrick’s Catholic Church; and volunteer at Corning Gymnastics. My husband and are pleased to raise our two children in this wonderful community.

Why are you seeking election? — My priority is to serve the taxpayers with the best service possible at reduced cost while maintaining an aggressive budget. I will strive to keep county money local and employment positions filled by local residents. My previous experience of budgets, finance, and local relations make me an excellent candidate to conduct county business effectively. Being a fifth generation Adams County resident my connections run even deeper.

What are the top issues facing Adams County and how would you fix them? — My first concern with the secondary roads is an obligation to assertive rotation schedule of county equipment. Also, hiring a qualified county engineer is another important component at instilling top-notch service for both residents and county employees. We have an immense obligation to roadways as they play a major impact to transportation of goods and services within out county. Technology also drastically impacts daily operations of citizens and government alike and it is my hope to see a modernization of electronic infrastructure in Adams County. Updating and expanding fiber optics countywide will allow for greater potential to accommodate internet based businesses and self-employed individuals seeking a rural lifestyle.

I am thankful for the humbling experience to represent my fellow community members. Your support for election to the Adams County Board of Supervisors is greatly welcomed.

Tony Mullen
Biography — I have been an Adams County resident and registered Democrat my entire life. My wife Linda and I both graduated from Corning High School, as did all four of our children. I have formed for over 40 years in Adams County on the family farm, which has been in my family for 66 years. Throughout my adult life, I have been involved in many community organizations. My family and I are members of the Carl Methodist Church and I am currently an active member of the Quincy Cemetery Board, Adams County Speedway Board, and a Quincy Township Trustee. I was a founding member of the People In Need community outreach group and continue to serve in that organization. I also spent eight years on the Farm Service Co-op Board.

Why are you seeking election? — I care deeply about the future of Adams County, which is why I have decided to run for office. I truly feel fortunate to live in Adams County where there are a lot more positives then negatives. We have great industry in the industrial park and the ethanol plant. We have a good tourism base with the Adams County Speedway, Lake Icaria, and very strong Mainstreet.

What are the top Issues Facing Adams County and how would you fix them? — We have many issues facing us such as declining population; continuously increasing taxes, and the need for more employment opportunities.

If elected, I will bring a new voice and fresh perspective to the table. I am willing and able to listen to the concerns of the people of this community, learn the rationale behind decisions that have been made in the past and look toward a bright and promising future by working collaboratively towards solutions to help build a more prosperous and fiscally responsible Adams County for the future.

Scott Akin
Biography — My family has lived in Adams County for three generations. My grandfather bought into the lumber business in the 1920s and we have been a fixture in Corning ever since. I graduated from Corning, went to college and returned to grow the family business. I married Betsy Turner and we have two children Connor and Ella. I have served Adams County for many years. I have helped bring industry and jobs to Adams County; I was on the school board that brought the Corning and Villisca Schools together to form Southwest Valley. I am currently chairman of the Coning Municipal Utilities and Industrial Development Boards. I am also the vice president of the Adams Community Economic Development and treasurer of the Adams Community Foundation. I feel I have the qualifications and experience to lead, compromise, and to fulfill my position as 3rd District supervisor. The rewards are in helping shape the future of our county and to make it a great place to live, work, and raise a family.

Why are you seeking election? — As a supervisor I will encourage the board to support our economic development partners. We must be proactive in promoting industry, job retention, and wage growth. We need to provide economic opportunity for our high school graduates to stay here or come home. We must nurture entrepreneurship.

What are the top issues facing Adams County and how would you fix them? — Counties are increasingly under financial pressure from state budget cuts. We have a broken health care system. Rural jails are becoming default facilities for community members with mental illness. Medical care cost for inmates can be a budget buster. The state road use tax fund allocation is inadequate for the needed construction and rehabilitation of secondary road bridges and culverts. The Board of Supervisors must rise to the challenge. I am also aware of the financial burden of property taxes. I will make sure our resources are spent wisely.

I believe with my experience I can help Adam County grow. I would like the opportunity to serve Adams County as a supervisor from the 3rd District. I will listen to my constituents and do my best to understand their concerns and resolve problems as they arise. I would appreciate your vote.

Lauri Greenlee
Biography — I have been married to John for 20 years and we have raised eight children in Adams County. Our family includes 12 grandchildren and one on the way. I have been a homeowner for 35 years in Adams County while living in Adams and Taylor counties my whole life except for two years when living in Washington State. My parents and grandparents are from Adams County. My dad Roger James is a 1952 graduate of Corning High School and my mom Donna James graduated from Corning High School in 1955. My family has a Century Farm in Adams County. I graduated from Lenox High School in 1976 and was a 10-year Adams County 4-H member. I have worked professionally as a hair dresser and licensed electrologist on main street for over 25 years, I have also served as pastor at United Methodist Churches in Adams County. I am also an independent health coach.

Why are you seeking election? — I am anxious to learn more and support Adams County while serving on the Board of Supervisors. I believe in Adams County and the future of Adams County. I have much to learn about the duties of the supervisors and have been attending the open meetings gleaning information. I also believe needs continued diversity with female representation as currently there is only one female on the board and she is not seeking re-election. I have served the Adams County people in many areas, working in the service industry my entire life. I have also listened to people, helped them to resolve issues, guided them in decision-making and I am excited to serve in the future as a supervisor in District 3.

What are the top Issues Facing Adams County and how would you fix them? — The issues facing the county that I see as a I have begun my journey of learning the duties of the Board of Supervisors would include economic development, senior housing, tourism and recreation, being transparent and available as a board, and proper disposal opportunities such as appliances, chemicals, electronics, and tires.

How to fix the issues? I don’t have those answers at this time. I am just in the early stages of understanding the duties and possibilities of this board. I am not going to make promises that I can’t keep; I try my best to stand by my word. Some answers sound simple only to find out legal and financial restraints restrict the solution.
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I look forward to listening to the citizens of Adams County to hear their ideas and concerns, spending time getting to know the great people we are blessed to have in our county.

Former courthouse
​site sold

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The site of the former Adams County Courthouse in Quincy is now under new ownership.

Dana and Dean Morgan bought the property with a $10,000 bid at the May 14 Adams County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Supervisors had been approached in January to sell the property, which formerly was the site of the original county courthouse in the 1800s. After the courthouse was razed, a schoolhouse was built and still stands today. The public hearing on the sale was opened and no comments were heard from the public or presented orally to the board. Bidding opened at $1,000, which included the cost of the deed to be drawn up as well as advertising for the sale. Anything above the $1,000 is to be returned to the Quincy Township Trustees.

County conservation director Travis Paul met with supervisors to discuss the proposed cottages at Lake Icaria. Paul said the conservation board met May 10 and approved a bid package presented by Nishna Valley Builders of Corning, which will build two cottages at a cost of $446,000. Paul said work is expected to begin as soon as all the infrastructure such as electrical and plumbing is installed.

“Our hopes are that if they can begin construction soon that they will be completed by this fall with the finish date on the contract January of 2019,” Paul said.

Adams County engineer Eldon Rike presented a resolution to post speed limit signs of 25 mph on portions of Quarry Road and Juniper Avenue, which supervisors approved unanimously.

A utility permit was also approved for Southern Iowa Rural Water Association to bore under County Road N-61 for the purpose of water.

Supervisors briefly discussed the secondary roads maintenance supervisor position, which will again be placed on the board’s next agenda for further discussions.

A fireworks permit was approved for the Adams County Fair and Racing Association for a display to be held following the June 30 races on June 30. Supervisors also approved a Cass County child support staffing contract with SFY 2019 Budget.

McMahon to retire

By Don Groves
Free Press

From adding just the right amount of cherry flavoring to a soda to delivering prescriptions to homes around town, for five decades Beverly McMahon has been a familiar face in Corning.

“She’s been on Main Street for 50 years working at the pharmacy,” Hy-Vee pharmacist Troy Weddell said. “She’s a favorite of everybody.”

At 10 a.m. May 18, Beverly will officially retire with a celebration Hy-Vee Drug Store at 625 Davis Ave. in Corning.

Beverly began working for her father-in-law Richard McMahon during the summers while she was still in high school.

“I started out as a soda jerk then,” she said.

That was up the street from where McMahon Drug Store/Hy-Vee Pharmacy is today. Beverly said at the old pharmacy was set up differently than it is now. The stools, which were moved along with the soda fountain from the original location, made it difficult for people to order their prescriptions, especially after school when high-schoolers would stop by for a soda or ice cream.

“We just had soda and ice cream at the original location,” she said. “My father-in-law did not want to have any hot drinks but he had to have his coffee and I’d have to run out and get it for him.”

Beverly said she and her husband John began serving coffee after Richard sold the business to his son. Now coffee is a mainstay at the drug store, drawing a group of local women there daily at 10 a.m. at the tables near the original stools and fountain.

“Down here we wanted to have it set up for tables,” Beverly said. “Main Street [Corning] really helped with plan.”

While Main Street may have helped with the design of the drug store’s seating, Beverly and her husband John helped Main Street — both the organization and the downtown — as well, even serving as chamber president at one time.

Beverly’s official retirement will likely mean more work with Main Street and the chamber, at least that’s part of her plan. Since January she hasn’t worked and has been healing a broken leg.

“I hope to do more with Main Street. I know they need volunteers everywhere,” she said. “Find something I don’t have to be on my feet all the time. And be a taxi driver for my grandkids.”

Serving others has always been a part of her life, Weddell said, and her good nature brightens nearly anyone’s day.

“She always brings out a smile in folks,” he said. “She is fun to work with, always lively. She has a big heart. I think she really liked doing the deliveries and getting out and meeting people.”

Beverly knew more about where to just deliver prescriptions from the drug store. Weddell said she has a vast knowledge about drugs, was a good pharmacy technician and, best of all, she knew the people she served.

“She has a vast knowledge of the people of Corning. She knew what kind and what brand of aspirin someone took,” he said. “She would pick out birthday cards for people when they called.”

Weddell said Beverly was such a part of the pharmacy that at least one person was worried there would be no more deliveries without her but he reassured the caller there would still be deliveries. And, if that isn’t enough, Beverly said she’s still available to help.

“Someone asked my who’s going to help me pick out cards now?” she said. “I said call me and I will help.”

Kindness is just a small part of Beverly’s personality. There are also her animals — goats, chickens, and who knows what else.

“Many times I’d get calls down here because invariably I’d have a pot-bellied pig going down the highway,” she said.” I grew up on a farm so it’s hard to get the farm out of me.”

And then there’s the hair. It’s purple at the moment but the color can change at a whim. When asked how long she had been dying her hair purple she said, “I’d have to ask my hairdresser. For my senior pictures I bleached blonde my hair. One thing about it, you know I dye my hair.”

Beverly said she’ll likely miss the social aspect of work but after her husband’s death at age 57 seven years ago she said when she hit retirement age she was going to retire.

“I didn’t really work for the pharmacy, I worked for my husband,” she said. “I just enjoyed working.”
“She’s definitely going to be missed around here,” Weddell said. “The pharmacy department is definitely going to be more boring without her. I’m happy that she’s retired. She deserves that. Her love for her grandchildren is very evident.”

“I enjoy life. In fact my husband was the serious one,” she said.

And though not working at the pharmacy will be a major change in her life, Beverly thinks that might be a good thing for the drug store.

“They might get a little more done without me, be a little more serious,” she said.

Stone announces
​SWV resignation

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Board of Education of the Corning Community School’s accepted the resignation of Southwest Valley Community School District superintendent Willie Stone at an April 27 special board session.

Stone, who has been superintendent for SWV since July 2009, will become superintendent at Washington Community Schools in Southeast Iowa. He said he had not planned to leave Corning and SWV but was approached by the Washington school district.

“I want to start off by saying that I was not looking for a new position but in late March, I had a representative from the Washington Community School District call me and asked me to look at their open position,” he said. “I hesitated to apply for the position because we love our community.”
Stone said he made the decision to be near his father.

“I decided to apply for the job because it is 30 minutes from where all of my family lives and my dad’s health has been failing,” he said. “It is also a good school district. I went through the interview process and was selected as their new superintendent.”

Stone admitted it was a tough decision.

“We (my family) are full of mixed emotions right now. We have the excitement of moving to a new community and accepting the challenge of being there. We are sad because of the great relationships that we have with people here at SWV,” he said. “I want to thank the district and community for allowing me to be part of the great things that we had happened over the past nine years and more importantly for treating my family as one of their own.”

The board also accepted four other resignations: assistant wrestling coach Anthony Donahoo; elementary teacher Haley Blackledge; K-12 art teacher and high school yearbook sponsor Bryce Giesmann; and head cross country coach Joshua Sussman.

The Corning School Board and Villisca School Board met May 1 in joint special session. The boards discussed the superintendent search process and decided not to hire a search firm at this time. The boards also discussed the soon to be vacant athletic director position. Current athletic director Jason Wetzel announced his resignation April 9 as high school wrestling coach and athletic director.

Main Street Corning receives national accreditation

Main Street Corning has been designated as an accredited Main Street America program for meeting rigorous performance standards set by the National Main Street Center. 

Each year, the National Main Street Center and its Coordinating Program partners announce the list of accredited Main Street America programs in recognition of their exemplary commitment to preservation-based economic development and community revitalization through the Main Street Approach.

“We are thrilled to honor this year’s 829 nationally accredited Main Street America programs for their commitment to preservation-based economic development and the revitalization of their commercial districts,” said Patrice Frey, president and CEO of the National Main Street Center. “The power of Main Street shines across the country through these vibrant communities, who have all worked to generate impressive economic returns, preserve community character, and celebrate local history.”

In 2017 alone, Main Street America programs generated $4.48 billion in local reinvestment, helped open 6,211 net new businesses, generated 30,294 net new jobs, catalyzed the rehabilitation of 8,737 historic buildings, and clocked 2.7 million volunteer hours.

The Main Street Corning performance is annually evaluated by Main Street Iowa, which works in partnership with the National Main Street Center to identify the local programs that meet ten national performance standards. Evaluation criteria determines the communities that are building comprehensive and sustainable revitalization efforts and include standards such as fostering strong public-private partnerships, documenting programmatic progress, and actively preserving historic buildings.

Corning was designated a Main Street in 1990 and has maintained this accreditation for 28 consecutive years. In 2017 the reported private dollars spent on projects and acquisition totaled $377,243. There were 1,679 volunteer hours in 2017 an equivalent to almost one FTE.

“All I can say is wow, our Main Street program has amazing volunteers on our board, committees and for special events. Each person is a key component in making things happen,” said Marilea Mullen, president MS Corning. “I think it is exciting to be witnessing new vibrancy in our local district the past few years, to seeing new businesses move into the district, updates and expansion for others. We’ve got talented and passionate business owners in our community. It’s not just about earning and income for them, they recognize and help fill needs for our community and help Corning be a great community.

“Receiving this accreditation recognizes the input from our volunteers and businesses believing in the Main Street Corning district and philosophy,” she said. “It truly is a team effort to achieve this designation.”

Main Street America has been helping revitalize older and historic commercial districts for more than 35 years. Today, it is a network of more than 1,600 neighborhoods and communities, rural and urban, who share both a commitment to place and to building stronger communities through preservation-based economic development.

Since 1980, communities participating in the program have leveraged more than $74.73 billion in new public and private investment, generated 614,716 net new jobs and 138,303 net new businesses, and rehabilitated more than 276,790 buildings. Main Street America is a program of the nonprofit National Main Street Center, a subsidiary of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. 

Submitted photo — Adams Community Economic Development Corporation executive director Beth Waddle receives a Main Street Iowa Leadership Award on April 13. From left are Marti Gebbie, Gov. Kim Reynolds, Waddle, and Iowa Downtown Resource Center director Jim Engle.

Waddle receives Leadership Award

Adams Community Economic Development Corporation executive director Beth Waddle was presented a Leadership Award at the 32nd annual Main Street Iowa Awards celebration.

Waddle voluntarily gave support to the Main Street program during two occurrences of director vacancies.

“She is always willing to lend a hand, guide us to the right places for answers, and offers superb technical assistance,” Main Street director Marti Gebbie said. “Most importantly, she has offered unwavering words of encouragement to make sure we succeed, a real can-do attitude which is contagious. Beth is truly deserving of this award and so much more.”

Main Street Iowa hosted the awards celebration April 13 at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines. The program honored the efforts of those who work day in and day out to revitalize Iowa’s downtowns, the heart and soul of communities across the state.

Main Street Iowa has annually presented awards honoring outstanding accomplishments, activities and people making a difference in Main Street districts throughout the state. Projects large and small are recognized and serve as outstanding examples of what historic commercial district revitalization is all about.

This year, 18 projects were selected to be recognized from the 117 competitive nominations submitted. The honors were presented by Gov. Kim Reynolds and James Engle, director of the Iowa Downtown Resource Center.

“The Main Street Iowa program is a powerful catalyst for local revitalization and community investment,” Reynolds said. “As I travel across the state, I see over and over that Main Streeters are passionate, innovative and creative. They’re also committed to making their downtowns — and our state — a stronger, more sustainable place to live, work and raise a family.”

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MARK SAYLOR/Free Press — Volunteer Guy Brace helps remove dirt around a headstone in order to allow it to be raised and become more visible at the Queen City Cemetery during a restoration project.

Couple share ‘labor of love’

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Tombstones at the tiny Queen City Cemetery in rural Adams County got a facelift last week thanks to former residents Ken and Mary Booth who now live in West Des Moines.

Both are originally from Corning so it was just natural they come back to work in their home county. Mary is the daughter of August and Theo Bauer. They have been doing restoration projects in Illinois for almost 20 years. After learning of one of the stones at the site, great-great grandson Rod Van Velson contacted Corning city leaders and told them his great-great grandmother Mary Ann Lewis Bundick was buried there and wanted to do what he could do to get her a tombstone in her memory. The information was gathered and a group went to the cemetery at Lake Binder east of Corning and located her stone, which led to the restoration project.

The Booths say their work is a labor of love. Their interest in genealogy leads them taking on projects such as restoration or repairing stones. Local volunteers worked with the couple to clean or unearth the stones that were placed at the site by Adams County residents years ago. They use a combination of soap and water to clean the stones that will kill all the growth of lichen to prevent it from further damaging the stone. Although the stones at the cemetery have been cleaned they will never become bright white as they once were but the inscriptions will be easier to read once the lichen has died off.

The Booths have worked on various cemeteries in both Iowa and Illinois, restoring them to their former glory, reset stones, or do any repairs that need to be completed. Among those who assisted the Booths in the project were Guy Brace, Saundra Leininger, Dale Carmichael, and Nancy Carmichael

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Medical examiner investigator assistant OK’d

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Adams County medical examiner investigator Lisa Brown will receive a little help when her duties require her to be out of town.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors approved hiring Jen Worisek of Creston to serve as Brown’s assistant in the event she is out of town at the board’s April 2 meeting.

Worisek will complete the required training at no cost to the county thanks to a grant from the State Medical Examiner’s Office. The grant will pay for the entire cost of the training, which will be in August in St Louis.

Brown said there have been times when she has been out of town and has had to work via phone and instruct law enforcement to collect the information in her absence. Supervisors approved the request after being reassured there is no cost to the county.

Supervisors approved a claim submitted by county Emergency Management Coordinator Donnie Willett, who had earlier presented a claim for CPR training materials in the amount of $239.20. CPR classes will be instructed by Prescott Fire Chief Billi Vavra, who will be utilizing the materials and then teaching Adams County employees and others CPR. The only cost involved is updating CPR cards.

The claim had earlier been denied by the auditor’s office, as it was not believed to be a county expense, because another county entity would be using the materials and then billing back for that cost. Willett reassured supervisors that the only cost to the individuals is for their cards.

Supervisors also decided to reopen applications for the county engineer position. The supervisors’ top choice for engineer accepted a position with a different county. Due to the small number of applicants, the board decided to seek new applicants.

Lake project delayed

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Adams County Conservation director Travis Paul update the Adams County Board of Supervisors on the cottages being built at Lake Icaria at the board’s March 26 meeting.

Paul said the bids for the work came in very high.

“I think we need to go back to the drawing board and make the plans more cost effective as even with voluntary alternates the bids are still too high and possibly go to one story rather than the two-story plan,” he said.

Paul said the Conservation Board has had some issues with the architects, Alley-Poyner out of Red Oak, getting plan revisions correct and getting them done in a timely manner.  He said it seemed the Adams County project was put on the back burner and was only worked on when the architects had time. 

Supervisor Karl McCarty advised Paul of the possible problems of starting the project over.

“You’re not going to gain anything by going with either something else or a different plan,” McCarty said.

Paul said the architects admitted they had bigger projects on the table but those projects are about over and then they would have more time and manpower to devote to the Adams County project.  Instead of going back to the drawing board, McCarty advised Paul of a possible solution.

“Find out the cost to revise the current plans and to rebid the project, and when the packets need to be sent out for this project to still begin yet this spring,” McCarty said.

As far as the delay in the project, Paul suggested that payment to the architects be held until they have a clear path on how the project is going to get finished. If necessary, due to delays and other issues, it may be necessary to withhold partial payment, he said. 

The board discussed meeting with county attorney Andrew Knuth to let the architects know about the county’s concerns.

“Just advise them that due to their delay in the project we are done paying you,” supervisor Merlin Dixon suggested to Paul.

The supervisors also met with county engineer Eldon Rike who had two utility permits for approval: one with Southern Iowa Rural Water Association for a pump station project in Prescott and the second for Farmers Mutual Telephone southeast of Nodaway along the new railroad overpass that was constructed last summer. 

Auditor Becky Bissell and election clerk Nancy Turner met with the board in regard to the purchase of new election equipment.

Bissell said election equipment had not been updated for several years and the new equipment will assist voters in allowing them to see the entire ballot as the screen will be larger and easier to read. The new equipment will cost a total of $12,804, which includes a trade in of the older equipment. Supervisors approved the request.

The board also approved a request from county recorder Jamie Stargell for the purchase of a new document locator, which is used to transfer files, at a cost of $12,137.90. Both purchases are budgeted for this fiscal year.

The supervisors also approved several tax abatements that were presented.

Knuth met with supervisors to discuss the possibility of him performing other duties as time allows on projects not involving the county. Knuth said several individuals contact him to assist in writing of wills, contracts, and title opinions. He said in doing such projects he will not perform any duties that present a conflict of interest with his position as county attorney. The consensus of the board was to allow Knuth to perform these duties as time allowed.

ACS community honors Sharp family

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Tragedy struck the Adams County Speedway family last week after a Creston family was found dead in their condominium while vacationing in Mexico.

Kevin Sharp, 41, his wife Amy, 38, and their children Sterling, 12, and Adrianna, 7, died after inhaling toxic gases, according to Mexican authorities. They say the source of the gas leak was in the water heater that had become damaged either from use or lack of maintenance.

Relatives reported the Sharps missing about a week after they left for vacation. Their bodies were discovered following a welfare check in Tulum on the Caribbean coast.

Kevin Sharp was a regular at the Adams County Speedway beginning in 2008. He had eight career wins, winning a track title in 2015 and was ranked 22nd all time in the speedway’s stock car division.
More than 300 people attended a vigil March 24 at the Speedway, where Kevin’s pit pad for his No. 2 race car will remain vacant this season.

A second vigil was held March 25 at the Veterans of Foreign Wars baseball field in Creston where he and his son Sterling played baseball.

Funeral arrangements for the Sharp family are pending.

Two organizations relocate

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Two offices have recently moved to new locations in Corning.

The French Icarian Colony Foundation and the Johnny Carson Birthplace Society recently left the Lauvstad Center to new locations at 616 Davis Ave., the New York Life Insurance office, and 518 Davis Avenue, R&S Motors respectively. The two entities are run independent of the Adams Community Chamber of Commerce, Main Street Corning, and the Adams Community Economic Development offices, all of which are located in the Lauvstad Center. The phone numbers will remain the same. To reach the French Icarian Colony Foundation call (641) 322-4717 or (515) 868-1415 and call the Johnny Carson Birthplace Society at (641) 322-3212.

The French Icarian Colony Foundation is headed by Saundra Leininger and according to its bylaws is responsible to establish the means by which the heritage of French Icarian Colony may be recognized, preserved, promoted, interpreted, and made available for the benefit of the public. The mission statement of this corporation is: “The French Icarian Colony Foundation is dedicated to conveying the importance of the Icarian experience to the history, of our nation by protecting the heritage, preserving the site and celebrating the contributions of the Icarians as an integral part of history.”

At the helm of The Johnny Carson Birthplace Society is Roger Sorensen who owns R&S Motors. His office is in the 500 block of Davis Avenue. Sorensen is also chair of the society so it only made sense to move volunteer coordinator Doris McElwain to that location. The society hosts several events throughout the year including the annual car show during the Lazy Days celebration each summer.

The French Icarian Colony Foundation has several events planned throughout the year including a new event called Kites over Icarian Village, which will be held April 14 with a rain date of April 21 at the village east and north of Corning. Another special event upcoming will be the annual Ladies May Day Tea on May 5.

Another event going on at the Icarian Village is the spring plantings by Corning fourth-grade students. Students will plant and harvest several native plants at the village. The foundation received a grant that enabled it to put in a septic system, continue renovations to the dining hall, and construct modern bathroom facilities. 

Camp reservations
​could change

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Iowa Senate is attempting to change the way campsites at state parks are reserved now that almost half of the campsites available cannot be reserved in advance.

Nodaway state Sen. Tom Shipley said the legislation will make it possible to attract more visitors to the state parks.

“Fewer and fewer campers are willing to pack up the kids and the tents and the sleeping bags and the fishing poles and drive to the campground if there is a chance there won’t be a site available when they get there,” he said.

The legislation would get rid of rule that now requires at least a quarter of the campsites in each individual state park be held open and filled on a first come first served basis. Shipley said under the current rules many campsites sit empty when they could have been reserved.

Adams County Conservation director Travis Paul said he has mixed feelings about the idea.

“While reservable sites generate a more stable income they benefit the non-local users much more than local users,” he said. “With first come, first serve camping, local campers and users have the advantage because they can check how the park is filling up and decide when to register for that campsite by driving to the park in person and seeing how fast sites are filling on any particular weekend. Non-locals don’t have the luxury of being close to the park to register a day or two ahead of their planned arrival date without making an extra trip to the park, which may involve an extra couple hours spent in the car just to check on site availability.”

Paul said that at Lake Icaria attempts are made to satisfy as many campers as possible.

“We offer one campground, Timber Ridge, online and available for advanced reservations and Lake View campground is only available for first come, first served camping,” he said. “It seems no matter what we as a board decide to do it is very difficult to make everyone happy all the time.”

Paul said since Lake Icaria offers reservations in Timber Ridge campground, the park is receiving more requests to have reservable sites in Lake View campground as well.

Paul added there are a lot of users who help take care of Lake Icaria. These users have camped in state parks, other county parks, and parks across the country who have seen weeds are out of control, unmown grass, garbage, and unclean restrooms. Paul said the state parks have seen decreased funding and reduction in seasonal staff over the last several years, which has aided in lower approval ratings by users.

“While I completely understand that many will continue to use the state parks because their camping rates are lower than ours, I believe it would be in their best interest to increase their rates to be able to return those dollars to their park maintenance program,” he said.

Paul said the public should understand why the local Conservation Board increased camping and cabin rates for the upcoming summer season,

“We have done this to allow us to stay ahead of the state parks and other parks throughout Southwest Iowa,” he said. “This being said, we have always offered out camping coupon books that are very popular with our regular and local users. The camping coupon books stayed exactly the same rate. By offering the coupon books at the same rate as they have been in the past, we are encouraging users to take advantage of this opportunity to save themselves money and camp more regularly at Lake Icaria.”

Paul said offering the coupon books at the same rate allows the board to collect a few more dollars from our out of town campers using the park and its facilities, which allows the board to continue to reinvest in the program.

The coupon books are available for $228 and are good for 14 nights of camping on an electrical site, which comes to a of just $16.29 per night. Coupon books can be shared between campers and do not have to be used the same year they are purchased. Paul encourages everyone to take advantage of this opportunity.

“While running a campground is a business and definitely not cheap, we try to keep our users in mind whenever we make changes,” he said. “The Adams County Conservation Board wants everyone to feel that Lake Icaria is a great and safe place to come camp, fish, swim, boat, hike, and play with the entire family.”

Paul said anyone with any questions about Lake Icaria should contact him or his staff at (641) 322-4793. To reserve a campground or cabin, visit mycountyparks.com, search for Adams County and watch for the addition of new cottage style cabins coming this summer.

Submitted photo - Annie played by Anna Inman, Grace Farrell played by Kaitlyn Richey and Oliver Warbucks played by Connor Shipley discuss what to do on Annie's first night in the mansion in Southwest Valley High School's production of "Annie."

Leapin’ lizards! ‘Annie’ coming to SWV

By Mindy Docker

It’s musical season at Southwest Valley, and this year the Music Department is proud to present “Annie.”

Annie is the classic story of the orphan who crosses paths with a wealthy businessman on her search to find her parents. The show will take place on Friday, March 9, and Saturday, March 10, at the Southwest Valley High School Auditorium. The show will start at 7 p.m. on both nights.

The Southwest Valley Music Boosters will be providing a dessert and beverages during intermission and after the show for a freewill donation. Ticket prices are $6 for students and $7 for adults and can be purchased at the door; there will be no reserved seating. “Annie” is under the direction of Mindy Docker and Shelby Cooper, and Monica Allen will be accompanying the students on piano.

Annie is shaping up to be an exciting show with lots of new talent on the stage. The role of Annie is played by newcomer Anna Inman. Connor Shipley does an excellent job in the role of Oliver Warbucks. Grace Farrell, Mr. Warbucks’ personal secretary, is played by another actress getting her first leading role, Kaitlyn Richey.

We have an excellent group of orphans participating as well. Miss Hannigan, the director of the orphanage, is played by Oakley Goodvin. Rooster (Anthony Bynum) and Lily (Lillie Oglesbee) do a great job scheming with Miss Hannigan to … well, I guess you’ll need to come to the show to find out. With all of the hardships with weather and scheduling, these kids have been working hard to produce a show that you won’t want to miss.

We are looking forward to having our Corning and Villisca friends at the show. See you on the stage!

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Deliberation determines school closings

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Do parents and students ever wonder how the decision is made to have school or not when it snows? 

Southwest Valley Schools superintendent Willie Stone said last week’s snowstorm pushed the last day of school for SWV students to May 25, barring any more snow days. In his explanation, Stone said there several different things he looks at in delaying or cancelling classes.

“We track the weather patterns. I get alerts from the Omaha and Des Moines National Weather Service and listen in on their phone meetings when things are looking bleak,” he said. “We try to make a decision as soon as we possibly can to give parents the ability to make arrangements for childcare. If possible, we make the decision the night before, but most of the time we need to wait until the morning to see if the storm is still tracking our direction.” 

Stone said that on the really stormy days he transportation director Tim Thibodeaux starting hit the roads at 4:30 a.m.

“We try to span out across our district as best we can,” he said. “Mr. Thibodeaux drives around the Corning area, and I drive around the Villisca area. We try to get to the secondary county roads first and move to gravel roads after that.”

Stone said in making the decision they are not as worried about busses being able to make it is as they are about independent student drivers.

“We have several students driving for the first time in winter weather, and we always try to take that into consideration,” he said.

Stone the SWV district is in constant contact with other area districts when monitoring the weather.

“We also continue to listen to weather predictions for the day,” he said. “My goal is to make the call no later than 5:15 a.m. We have several students involved in school activities at 6:15 a.m. and I want to have the call made before them getting on the road. This also provides more time for parents to make arrangements. When in doubt on making the call we will delay or postpone for our students’ safety.”

The change in the school schedule makes May 25, the last day of school, only one day later than planned with the original school calendar.

Lundquist seventh at state

Drug dog fundraiser
hits $1,700

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office is almost a third of its way toward its $6,000 goal for a new drug dog.

Sheriff Alan Johannes told the Adams County Board of Supervisors at its Feb. 12 meeting his office has raised $1,700 for the purchase of a new dog. To donate to the fundraiser, call the Sheriff’s Office at (641) 322-4444.

The supervisors approved updating the tobacco policy in the county employee handbook. The handbook now reads “Adams County now is a tobacco-free/nicotine free workplace and property. While the courthouse has been tobacco-free for many years, this new policy expands the prohibited items to tobacco-like products and the use on county property at any time is strictly prohibited. Prohibition includes all buildings, all areas maintained by Adams County including sidewalks and all vehicles owned or leased by Adams County. There are now no designated smoking areas within any Adams County location or on any grounds. Ash receptacles will not be available on company property. All Adams County employees while representing the county shall not use tobacco products. This new policy applies to all employees, visitors, workers, volunteers, or any person coming on grounds or to any Adams County facility.”

The county is reminding the public that there are no cigarette receptacles at courthouse entrances and asking those who smoke to extinguish cigarettes before entering county property.

The board discussed the sale of the Quincy School property. The sale will be delayed while county attorney Andrew Knuth draws up the necessary paperwork the sale of the property. Currently the property does not have an adequate legal description, as it was the original site of the county courthouse. A survey of the property will also need to be completed and Knuth is working to get the legal description to allow for its sale.

The board also continued work on the 2019-2020 fiscal year budget. Work has been completed and next up for the budget will be to decide when the public hearing will be held before the budget can be adopted.
​
The board also approved a liquor license for The Brooks Bar in Brooks and received an update on the sale of the county farm and the former county care facility east of Corning.

Extreme Images by Ashley photos - Southwest Valley's Teagan Lundquist faces Atlantic's Kole Hansen in the first place match of the 126-pound competition Jan. 20 in the John J. Harris Invitational. Lundquist qualified for the Class 1A state wrestling tournament after placing second Feb. 10 in the Iowa High School Athletic Association 1A Sectional 10 Tournament in Corning.

Lundquist makes it two

SWV wrestler earns second trip to state

Southwest Valley’s Teagan Lundquist is getting his second shot at a state wrestling champion for the second year in a row.

Lundquist placed second Feb. 10 in the 126 pound weight class in the Iowa High School Athletic Association 1A Sectional 10 Tournament in Corning. Three other Timberwolves — Dylan Dalton, Merik Gaule, and Tallen Myers — finished third in the tournament and just missed qualifying for state.

“I knew coming into the tournament we were going to have some tough matches, but there were also matches I thought we could win,” head coach Jason Wetzel said. “Teagan has continued to do a nice job for us. This is his second consecutive year qualifying, placing seventh last year. I know he would like to improve on last year's placing.”

Lundquist claimed an 11-2 major decision over Jaeden Rassmussen of AHSTW in the semifinal but lost by fall in 3:14 to Alex Thomsen of Underwood in the first place match. Lundquist won by rule over Rassmussen in the second place match.

Dalton lost a 6-3 decision to Jackson Dunning of St. Albert in the 160 semifinals. Dunning took the second place match by rule. Dalton won by fall in 1:27 for third place against Brennon Mauer of Treynor.

Gaule lost by fall in 1:13 to Gabe Pauley of AHSTW in the 170 semifinals and lost by fall in 3:12 in the second place match to Jace Morgensttern of Clarinda. Gaule won a 9-1 major decision against Mick Clevenger of Riverside Oakland for third place.

Myers lost by fall in 4:42 in the 220 semifinals to Brady Canada of AHSTW. Canady won by rule in the second place match. Myers won by fall in 3:58 over Isaiah Moore of St. Albert for third place.

“I am also proud of Dylan, Merik and Tallen. All three had tough first round loses but were able to wrestle back to third place,” Wetzel said. “Merik was the only wrestler to earn a wrestle-back for true second. He was wrestling well on the day but the Clarinda kid got him in a head throw and Merik couldn't fight out of it. I would always like to have more guys at state as we had a great year, but now Teagan is the lone representative for Southwest Valley wrestling. I know he will make the team proud.”
​
A community send-off for Lundquist as he heads to the state tournament will be held at 10:15 a.m. Feb. 15 on Main Street in Corning.

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Program warns
​of risky behavior

An interactive display designed to warn young adults about the dangers of risky behavior will be presented at Southwest Valley High School in Corning and the SWV Villisca Campus.

Hidden in Plain Sight displays items that are danger signs of destructive behavior, substance abuse, gambling, and other risky behavior in a mock teenager’s bedroom to create a healthy conversation between teens and parents, grandparents, and guardians about those dangers. The presentation is not designed for those under 18 years of age. Parents, grandparents, and guardians are welcome to walk through the display.

Hidden in Plain Sight will be presented from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 8 and from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 12 at SWV High School. Contact Brandy Powers at (712) 850-1211 for more information about the Corning presentation. It will also be presented from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 8 and from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 12 in Villisca. Contact Damon Clark at (712) 243-5091 for more information about the Villisca presentation.

Page County Public Health Tobacco Prevention, Zion Recovery Services, and Heartland Family Service are presenting Hidden in Plain Sight.

 ‘We Always Bet
on Adams County’

Chamber honors those who build community

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The theme “We Always Bet on Adams County” was readily noticed as 115 Adams Community Chamber members and families attended the chamber’s annual awards banquet and meeting Jan. 25 at the Corning Community Center.

Several awards were handed out including:

Entrepreneur of the Year awarded to Anne and Tyson Greenwalt, owners of Carver’s Ridge. While Carver’s Ridge is relatively new to the community it continues to grow and expand. The business hosts several events a year, serving local customers as well as those from surrounding communities. Carver’s Ridge not only promotes its own products but also hosts a few other businesses in the community as well. The Greenwalts have renovated their store. They have also been active on social media with their promotions and giveaways, using technology to grow their inventory and provide support alongside local marketing efforts. The Entrepreneur of the Year is awarded to an individual or business partners who have taken the initiative to develop, continue, or expand a business in the Adams Community through exceptional vision, effective leadership innovation in products, services or processes, market awareness, operational efficiency and or outstanding customer service.

Agriculturalist of the Year was awarded to Judy Loonan. Loonan continues the family beef seed stock business that is in its 43rd year of operation. It offers Simmental, Red Angus, and Red Simmental seed stock. As a business the family looks to continually provide the best genetics available in the industry. Loonan is an accomplished businesswoman in her industry and has given generously to her community. The Agriculturalist Award is for an individual or business that have taken the initiative to develop, continue or expand a business in Adams Community through exceptional vision, effective leadership, innovation in products, services, or processes, market awareness, operational efficiency and or outstanding customer service.

Business/Organization of the Year was awarded to the Corning Opera House. As the award was presented it was noted the Opera House has rejuvenated the historic property and provided the area with outstanding entrainment, bringing many people to town. More than 2,000 people have used the building since its restoration. The Opera House has provided the opportunity for personal growth through its educational program. It hosts numerous community events to add to its own entertainment venues. It has become one of the main cultural mainstays. The Business/Organization of the Year award is given to the business or organization that has continued growth and/or economic health, dedication, to customer service, community involvement, leadership, and innovative efforts to adapt to changing community.

John McMahon Volunteer of the Year was awarded to Jerry Peckham. In his introduction for the award it was noted that he is always willing to help out whenever asked and always has a positive attitude. He never asks for or expects recognition but is usually working on numerous community projects, making him dependable whenever there is a community project in Corning. Whether it’s cleaning the city park, putting up the park lights, cleaning highways, serving on numerous boards and committees, Peckham is there helping out. The John McMahon Volunteer of the Year award is given to a special person who has shown outstanding volunteer efforts, which have made a significant and positive impact on the Adams Community. Devin Hunter, who presented the award, said the chamber and the entire community rely on volunteers to achieve a variety of goals, which are met through events and activities. Without volunteers the Adams Community would not be as viable as it is.

Joe Cook Lifetime Support Award was given to Jim Ruppert. Ruppert was recognized as a special person to the community who has volunteered many hours behind the scenes such as organizing roadside cleanups and providing a place for volunteers to continue camaraderie after a task was completed. Ruppert has shared success stories and the needs of the community with governors and legislators at the Statehouse and helps organize and play host at legislative coffees. The renovated Corning American Theater was a project of pride and passion for him. The theater remains a focused volunteer activity for him. Ruppert also played a major volunteer role in the vision and completion of the Aquatic Center, spending hours of strategic planning, fundraising and following up. Ruppert has served for several years on a local daycare board, offering his services in a leadership capacity. Even in his retirement, Ruppert stays busy by serving on the Board of Directors of the Adams Community Economic Development Corporation, spending hours each month working on projects, meeting with prospects and offering expertise as treasurer of the organization. The Joe Cook Lifetime Support Award recognizes an individual for lifetime support and dedication to the betterment of the Adams Community. Marilea Mullen, who presented the award, said those who were nominated have been there to provide vision, to give guidance and to invest their time, talents, and resources to make things happen. These supporters are often not in the limelight. Sometimes they are the ones providing the quiet, continuous, and much needed assistance.

The Adams Community Foundation presented grant awards to recipients at the banquet. The Corning Center for the Fine Arts received $4,880 to upgrade lighting at the facility, the Corning Public Library received $3,000 for the purchase of new materials, and the city of Prescott received $9,325 to assist with repairs to its city hall/library building. The Foundation was started in 1988 and since then has awarded 255 grants totaling $1,140,095.27 including the latest awards, which total $17,205
​.
The 2018 Chamber Board members were also introduced. The new board includes Jessica Wilson, Devin Hunter, Julia Paul, Marilea Mullen, James Craig, Denny Villhauer, Anne Greenwalt, Alyssa Ogburn, Wendi Boswell, and Andrew Bardole.

County engineer
​to step down

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Adams County Board of Supervisors met Tuesday, Jan. 16 a day late because of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Supervisors heard from a variety of county boards and department heads regarding budget requests for the approaching new fiscal year.  During his presentation of his 2018-2019 budget, county engineer Eldon Rike stated he was not going to renew his contract at the end of June 2018.

Supervisors also met in closed session to discuss the possible purchase of property within the county. After the closed session, supervisors voted to offer $500,000 to Rodolfo Morales for the purchase of the old Department to Transportation shed located at 2004 200th St. and use proceeds from the sale of the county farm to purchase the property if the offer is accepted by Morales.

Supervisors also met with Ronda Russell, dispatcher, in regard to the scheduling of dispatchers. Currently, only two dispatchers are required to get at least 80 hours per pay period with three other part-timers on staff to take the shifts that are not covered by the two fulltime dispatchers. It was mentioned one of the part-time dispatchers who works 32 hours a week is willing to work a full 40-hour week but Russell failed to schedule her because she was not aware supervisors would allow her to work a full 40-hour week. Supervisors said it would not be a problem as the county is already paying benefits for the employee. Supervisors said they were initially looking at current costs within the department budget and noticed a lot of overtime was being paid in that department.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors also heard from Corning Mayor Jan Leonard who discussed the payment concerning the Corning Fire Department. Due to a clerical error when the city was paying off the fire station it failed to use the $50,000 the county had given the city to go toward the fire station project.  Supervisors gave permission to the city to move the funds from the fire station building fund to its general fund.

JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press Southwest Valley’s Teagan Lundquist competes in the semifinal of the 126-pound class in last year’s John J. Harris Invitational Wres¬tling Tournament in Corning. Lundquist placed fourth.

63rd Annual John J. Harris Wrestling Tournament set

The 63rd Annual John J. Harris Wrestling Tournament will be held at Jan. 19-20 at the Southwest Valley High School Campus located in Corning.

The tournament began in 1955 when John J. Harris started the Red Raider Wres­tling Tournament. In 1986 the tournament was renamed in his owner and continues to be one of the premier wrestling events in Iowa. Twenty-three teams will travel to Corning for this year’s event.

According to the Jan. 5 rankings published by “The Predicament,” this year’s competition will feature 28 state ranked grapplers. Twelve of the 14 weight clas­ses will have a ranked wres­tler, with 138 pound and 220 pound each featuring four ranked wrestlers.

Class 1A No. 4 ranked Mis­souri Valley will be wrestling with six ranked wrestlers and appears to be the early favor­ite for the team title. Also look for Class 2A perennial power Creston to vie for one of the top spots as well as Winterset and Atlantic.

“The field appears to be very evenly matched this year,” Southwest Valley ath­letic director and head wres­tling coach Jason Wetzel said.

Teams competing include Adair County/Guthrie Center, Atlantic, Bedford/Lenox, Central Decatur, Chariton, Clarinda, Clarinda Academy, Clarke, Creston/Orient-Macksburg, East Mills, Gris­wold, Missouri Valley, Mt. Ayr, Nodaway Valley, Pano­rama, Red Oak, Riverside, Shenandoah, Southwest Iowa, Southwest Valley, Tri Center, Wayne, and Winterset.

The Jan. 19 schedule begins with weigh-ins at 2 p.m. in the high school gym followed by a coaches meeting at 3 p.m. in the music room in the Activ­ity Center. All wrestlers and managers should go the Ac­tivity Center gym to be marked for admission. Cheerleaders should report to the band room. Competition begins at 4 p.m. with pigtails and championship first round, which is expected to last until 7 p.m. Quarterfinals and first round consolation matches are scheduled for 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Weight classes 106-145 will compete in the Activity Center and classes 152-285 will compete in the high school gym.

The Jan. 20 schedule begins with weigh ins at 9 a.m. in the high school gym followed by a coaches meeting at 9:20 a.m. in the hospitality room. Second round consolation will take place from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. with classes 152-285 in the Activity Center and classes 105-145 in the high school gym. Semifinals will take place in the Activity Center and third consolation in the high school gym from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. fol­lowed by a break until 1:45 p.m.

Consolation semifinals will take place from 1:45 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. with classes 152-285 in the Activity Center and classes 106-145 in the high school gym. Fifth and sixth place matches will take place from 2:50 p.m. to 3:50 p.m. in the main gym. Championship and third/fourth matches will take place from 4 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the main gym.

Wetzel said it’s important for competitors, coaches, and fans to know that all times are approximate.
“We will run ahead of schedule if possible,” he said.

For more information about the tournament, contact Wet­zel at by email at jwet­zel@corningcsd.org or by calling (641) 322-4245.

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Community to honor
​Dr. Wayne Ryan

The St. Patrick Church community invites the com­munity to honor and remem­ber a favorite Corning son, Wayne Ryan, for a memorial mass at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 13 at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church. Members of his family plan to attend and would like to visit with guests at the St. Patrick Parish Center imme­diately following the service.

Wayne Ryan, Corning High School class of 1945 graduate and lifelong friend to Corn­ing, passed away Nov. 3, 2017. Ryan is a Corning na­tive, one of five children born to Patrick Ryan and Lillian Casey. The Ryan family moved to Omaha between Wayne’s junior/senior high school years. A ruptured ap­pendix kept him in the hos­pital for two months that summer.

“On leaving the hospital, I attended Creighton Prep for two months,” he said. “I re­belled and returned to Corn­ing to finish school while living with my grandparents.”

Wayne, at a very young age, found a passion for sci­entific research. His first pa­tented invention was the first blood quality control product. He founded Streck Laborato­ries Inc. in 1971 in LaVista, Neb. Streck now produces control and calibration mate­rials for hematology labora­tories worldwide, as well as products for chemistry, im­munology, and histology la­boratories. As Phil Gauthier once wrote about Wayne, “Not bad for a Corning kid who, in junior high school, blew off his eyebrows and part of his hair while at­tempting to make gunpow­der.”

Wayne often remembered, “I loved sports … football, basketball, and the special times brought with athletics. I was a serious thespian for two years. I wasn’t a good student.” He called his years at Corning, “some of the best times of my life. The contin­uous association with class­mates and others have been a source of great enjoyment.”

Ryan once said, “The cen­ter of my life has been trying to satisfy my intellectual cu­riosity by doing research.” He credited longtime Corning High School principal and science teacher Ralph Currie and librarian Anna Craft for their inspiration.

Wayne loved his hometown and the people who have worked to keep it strong over the years. He also loved the school. He gave generously back to the both in thanks­giving for the values and life lessons he learned: that through hard work, determi­nation, and youthful ambition great things could be accom­plished. In 1998, he set up the Ryan Scholarship program for graduating seniors. To date his assistance has helped an estimated 500 graduates of Corning High School and now Southwest Valley con­tinue their education. He set up an internship program at Streck, and offered several to Corning graduates.

When the Adams Commu­nity Economic Development Corporation started the sub­division at Spring Lake and was looking for funds to build a triplex housing unit, Dr. Ryan loaned ACEDC the money at 0 percent interest. Once the three units were completed, he contacted ACEDC and said that he would forgive the whole loan, if a) ACEDC sold the outer two units and donated the money in his name to the Education Foundation; and b) ACEDC would retain owner­ship of the middle unit and Dr. Ryan would pay to have a designer furnish the unit, as long as he could stay there the two to three times each year that he came back to Corning to visit. Thus Corn­ing Alumni House was es­tablished.
When St. Patrick Church was undergoing both some structural and cosmetic needs, Dr. Ryan made a large donation to help cover the costs of the projects in order to pay homage to the church of his youth as well as the one he always attended when he was back in town visiting.

He gave generously to many other projects and local organizations, even to the extent that his memorial money donations were sug­gested to all Corning enti­ties: Corning, Iowa, Alumni Association, St. Patrick Catholic Church in Corning, and the Corning, Iowa, Public Library.

MARK SAYLOR/Free Press — Southwest Valley High School student Nevada Simpson purchases a drink from Morgan Jones and Cory Steinbach at the T-Wolf Café.

SWV students
​open T-Wolf Café

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Inspired by Backgrounds Coffee Bar and Boutique in Corning, Southwest Valley High School teacher Keanon Lewis decided to bring real world experience to members of his consumer math class.

As students started a unit on business and how to run a small business, they were tasked by Lewis to find the cost of supplies if they were to open a student-run coffee shop. The students researched the quality and expanse of items for the coffee shop. They worked with Back­grounds owner Sherry Keefe to find out what they would need to start the coffee shop. Keefe let the students use her supplier to order the same quality of coffee and flavored syrups that she offers.

During the inaugural two weeks of the T-Wolf Café, students learned which drinks are popular with their peers. They found out that French vanilla coffee and hot choco­late are the most popular items but they continue to get feedback from surveys to meet their customers’ needs. Items for sale at the T-Wolf Café include green tea, cin­namon tea, hot chocolate, flavored coffees, and several food items that meet the healthy school requirements.

The student workers have also been experimenting and developing their own crea­tions with the most popular to date being The Tina, a drink named after the high school secre­tary. Second semester culi­nary arts students will create and sell homemade treats at the T-Wolf Café.

TS Bank presented a $2,500 to help the students with start-up funds to make the T-Wolf Café a reality. In addition to math and business skills, the students are also learning about problem solving, effec­tive communication, leader­ship, and accepting feedback — all are skills that will be needed in the workplace as they embark on their chosen career paths.

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Supervisors weigh
​replace­ment options

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Adams County Board of Supervisors met Dec. 18 with county engineer Edlon Rike to discuss the possible replacement of county maintenance supervisor Stan Grebner who resigned earlier this month.

Rike said he had received some applications for the va­cancy, which has been adver­tised locally with a Dec. 29 deadline to apply. The board plans to decide after the deadline if the maintenance supervisor position will be filled or if the board will cre­ate an alternate solution.

Supervisors asked Rike about his plans for retirement in the coming year with Rike not committing to when he may retire as county engineer. Currently Taylor County and Adams County share Rike’s services but some Taylor County supervisors have ad­vised Adams County supervi­sors that they are looking for a full-time engineer and after they have one hired Taylor County will terminate the 28E agreement on the shared county engineer position.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors opened bids for the sale of two county owned dump trucks. Each required a minimum bid. One of the trucks was sold to An­drew Johnson of Corning but the minimum bid of $11,500 for the other truck was not met. That truck will remain with the county roads depart­ment for use as a spare this winter.

Adams County supervisors also set a hearing for Jan. 8 for public input regarding the sale of the Quincy School House and property. The property is where the original county courthouse stood and after it was razed a school­house was built at that loca­tion. Quincy Township trus­tees approached the supervi­sors about selling the property but because it is county prop­erty the board said a public hearing would need to be held to get input from community members.

Supervisors met with Ronald Saltzman who re­cently purchased the former Country Haven agricultural portion of the property to dis­cuss some of his concerns. Saltzman wants to install a new fence to separate the properties to make it clearly mark the property lines.

Travis Paul met with super­visors to give them an update on the progress at Lake Icaria with the building of new cot­tages and the site preparation work that is taking place. Paul said he just wanted to make sure the board was updated on the project and will continue to update the board as the project continues.

The board also heard from Sandra Leininger and Nancy Carmicheal with the Certified Local Government Program with her end of year report. CLG also updated the board on the goals for next year and also submitted its budget re­quest. County treasurer Nancy Kempton also submitted her budget request to the supervi­sors. The board also heard a presentation and budget re­quest from the Adams Com­munity Economic Develop­ment Corporation.

Season shines
​with Light Of Hope

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Mercy Health Care Foundation Board at CHI Health Mercy Corning spon­sors an annual event during the Christmas season.

It’s the Light of Hope and Marilea Mullen, Foundation coordinator at CHI Health Mercy Corning, said the event has been ongoing since 2000.

“It is a fundraiser for the foundation and was started after seeing a similar program at Bergen Mercy in Omaha,” she said. “Our board members felt like this was a great pro­gram to give people the chance to remember and honor loved ones. It has been a very successful program providing much needed sup­port for special projects since it started.”

The Light of Hope tradition is designed to honor special people in one’s life such as family members, a newborn child, godchild, good neigh­bor, church family, home­bound friend, or military or emergency personnel. It’s also designed to be in remem­brance of someone who has passed away.

Every Light of Hope contri­bution of $20 or more pro­vides a light that is tagged with the donator’s wishes to honor a loved one. Each year the Light of Hope Tree is in the Mercy Corning lobby. This year will remain lit until Jan. 6. Mullen said the foun­dation receives an average of $7,000 to $8,000 in donations every year. This year the foundation received a special significant one-time gift from the Corning Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) after the congregation disbanded.

Each year the foundation chooses a need of the hospital to receive all the proceeds from the Light of Hope after receiving requests from the various hospital departments. Mullen said this year founda­tion board members decided the gifts would assist the Out­patient Specialty Clinic and Therapy Department.

“This year foundation board members determined the do­nations would be used to pur­chase an additional recliner and television set, which were purchased,” she said. “And through the outpouring of generosity this year the foun­dation was also able to pur­chase a total gym for physical therapy patients to utilize.”

The recliner and television will be used in support of patients getting treatments and tests to helping staff members provide a comfort­ing environment of care. The equipment for the therapy department will be used often for patients with hip and/or knee replacement recovery therapy.

In the past the foundation has funded several special projects through the Light Of Hope program. Some of these include supporting patients needing rides to hospital, wound care equipment, a spe­cial needs patient room, a healing garden, Taylor County Medical Clinics, and electronic door openers for Corning Clinic and Specialty Clinic.

It is not too late to make a contribution for the 2017 Light of Hope. Tags are still being added to the tree and on display until Jan. 6. Contribu­tion to the Mercy Health Care Foundation may be made by sending them to Mercy Health Care Foundation, 603 Rosary Drive, Corning, IA 50841. For more information, call (641) 322-6276.

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County maintenance super­visor to resign

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Adams County Board of Supervisors accepted the resignation of county mainte­nance supervisor Stan Grebner at its Dec. 4 meeting.

Grebner has been with the county for 12 years. His last day on the job for Adams County will be Jan. 3. Grebner and his family will be staying in the Adams County area. He has taken a job with Blacktop Services where he will be a salesman for Southwest Iowa.

Supervisors have begun a search for Grebner’s replace­ment, according to county engineer Eldon Rike.

Supervisors opened the bids for the county care facility and land property for the for­mer Country Haven location east of Corning.

Bids were received from:
• Duane and Evelyn Dougherty for Parcel B for $873,000;
• Justin Petersen for Parcel B for $760,920 and $50,800 for Parcel A;
• Arnold and Stacy Maynes for Parcel A for $944,000;
• Ron and Karen Saltzman for Parcel B for $985,680; and
• Jason McManis for Parcel A with a $20,000 cash bid, which included an economic development projection.

Bids will be evaluated and scored before the board’s Dec. 11 meeting.

Supervisors reappointed Lu­anne Brown to the Adams County Conservation Board for another term to end on Jan. 2, 2023.

The board also approved a portion of the Family Farm Grant applications submitted by county auditor Becky Bis­sell.

Court­house security studied

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Adams County Board of Supervisors spoke with county department heads about security at the Adams County Courthouse at the board’s Nov. 27 meeting.

County auditor Becky Bis­sell, treasurer Nancy Kemp­ton, recorder Jamie Stargell and Sheriff Alan Johannes discussed with the board cre­ating a backup system if a security issue arises at the courthouse and law enforce­ment is not able to respond immediately.

The county will revisit the issue at budget time to see what funds are available for courthouse security.

The board received a rec­ommendation from the Com­pensation Board for a 4 per­cent salary increase for all elected officials with the ex­ception of the county attorney who had a recommended sal­ary increase of 2 percent. As the fiscal year 2017-2018 budget is set, the supervisors will again discuss the recom­mendations. 

The board also discussed invoices for the Nov. 7 mu­nicipal elections. Each com­munity with an election was billed an amount that pays for poll workers, the printing of the ballots, and associated administrative fees.

Billed were Corning for $939.83, Carbon for $463.48, Prescott for $464.08, and Nodaway for $391.47.

The supervisors also ap­proved a 2017 weed commis­sioner report submitted by Virgil James.

Medical examiner provides help in Puerto Rico

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

A local medical examiner for both Adams and Taylor County recently returned from Puerto Rico.

Lisa Brown was deployed to Puerto Rico following Hurri­cane Maria to assist on the Disaster Mortuary Opera­tional Response Team (DMORT).

Brown spent 30 days in Puerto Rico working 12 hours shifts seven days a week as­sisting other team members. Brown worked in the Medical Examiners’ office assisting her team and was also part of a strike team, which made multiple trips across the island in search of decedents need­ing to be brought back to the Medical Examiner’s office for autopsy.

DMORT is composed of medical examiners, coroners, pathologists, forensic anthro­pologists, funeral directors, medical records technicians and transcribers, fingerprint specialists, forensic odonatol­ogists, dental assistants, x-ray technicians, and other person­nel. Although the responders hail from communities na­tionwide, when deployed they are federal government em­ployees working as part of a coordinated federal response. Brown said there was also one other member on the team deployed from Iowa.

The National Disaster Medical System is a federal program that supports com­munities with medical care and mortuary assistance dur­ing disasters or public health emergencies at the request of states. NDMS is among the resources made available by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. Brown’s team was deployed to assist after 9/11, the Sioux City air crash, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Ike, as well as many other disasters re­sulting in multiple deaths.

Living conditions were not the best as Brown said they were initially placed in the convention center when they first arrived. They were given a cot to sleep on and told to “pick a spot” among the other 1,500 responders who were also sleeping in the conven­tion center. They then were moved to a hospital that was under construction and there they were given some addi­tional amenities including a shower. Still, they were never guaranteed after getting to the sixth floor shower if it would be cold water or scalding hot water.

Toward the end of her stay a retired cruise ship was brought in from Italy, allow­ing the teams to have addi­tional privacy as well as meals for breakfast and din­ner. Brown said when they first arrived they were given military Meals Ready to Eat. Brown said the days were hot and humid and they were ad­vised before travelling to Puerto Rico to get hydrated because dehydration would probably set in rather quickly if they were not prepared. Brown said the biggest ad­justment she had to make af­ter arriving was working long shifts in the hot weather but she eventually became accli­mated.

Brown said she really has a sense of compassion for those in Puerto Rico and attempting to get people’s lives there back in order after such a major disaster. She said after arriving back home a lot of things seemed pretty trivial after seeing what many Puerto Ricans had to go through. Brown said if given the chance she would return to help out in in a heartbeat.

Gaule named new baseball coach at SWV

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Corning Community Schools Board of Education hired a new baseball coach for Southwest Valley High School at its Nov. 13 meeting.

Stoney Gaule of Creston will serve as the new coach for 2017-2018.

The board also approved hir­ing an additional boys basketball coach and accepted the resigna­tion of special education teacher Michael Robinson.

Superintendent Willie Stone discussed the upcoming state school board convention, foun­dation work, and senior class caps for graduation.

The board also approved a School Budget Review Com­mittee application for $52,728 for open enrollment students not included in the fall 2016 enroll­ment.

An open enrollment applica­tion of a preschool student from Corning to Villisca was ap­proved, as was a third grade student open enrollment.
​
The board also approved Ad­ams County Sheriff Alan Johan­nes as Level 2 investigator and Sharon Meyers as equity coor­dinator.

Corning OKs ho­tel/motel tax

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Corning voters approved a 7 percent hotel/motel tax in the Nov. 7 municipal election.

Results show Public Meas­ure A passing 98-63. The user tax will be paid for by guests staying at hotels and motels or other lodging facilities within Corning city limits.

Corning voters also ap­proved 117-39 Public Meas­ure B, increasing the number of Municipal Board of Trus­tees from three to five.

In uncontested races, Corn­ing voters elected Jan Leonard as mayor with 150 votes, Jerry Peckham as Ward 2 councilman with 28 votes, and Judy Beckett as coun­cilperson at large with 119 votes.

In Carbon, Larry Johnson was re-elected mayor as were city council members Vicky L. Haley, Helen Hickman, Michael Kempton, Harold Wayne Mitchell, and Donna Rochau.

In Nodaway, Pat Shipley was re-elected mayor. Re-elected to the Nodaway City Council were Gene Dixon, Brenda L. Dunn, Christine Dunn, Becky Poen, and Gary Poen.

In Prescott, Greg Wilkinson was re-elected mayor. Glen Hickman, Brenda Robinson, and Kevin Ray Schafer were re-elected to Prescott City Council. Ann R. Lydic was elected to fill a vacancy after being appointed to the coun­cil.

Voter turnout numbers were also released for Adams County communities.

Of Corning’s 1,036 regis­tered voters, 163 submitted ballots for a 16 percent turn­out.

Of Carbon’s 26 registered voters, nine submitted ballots for a 35 percent turnout.

In Nodaway, 11 of its 57 registered voters cast ballots for a 20 percent turnout.

In Prescott, 38 of its 153 registered voters cast ballots for a 25 percent turnout.
​
All totals were confirmed Nov. 13 during the official canvass at the Adams County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Corning chosen for Com­munity Visioning

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The city of Corning has been selected to be just one of 10 communities within Iowa to participate in the Iowa’s Living Roadways Community Visioning program in 2018.

The program integrates technical landscape planning and design techniques with sustainable community action to assist community leaders and volunteers in making sound and meaningful deci­sions about the local land­scape. A volunteer group con­sisting of Beth Waddle, Marilea Mullen, Kennedy Moore, Bert Peckham, Jerry Peckham, Kristen Carmichael, Judy Beckett, and Janice Leonard will attend a Com­munity Visioning program Nov. 9 in Ames.

Almost 250 Iowa commu­nities have benefited from the Community Visioning pro­gram since its inception in 1996. In order for a commu­nity to qualify for the program the community must have a population of less than 10,000, have existing trans­portation related issues, and a committee of volunteers willing to dedicated their time and talents to the visioning process.

The program is sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation in partnership with Iowa State University Landscape Architecture Ex­tension and Trees Forever, an Iowa based non-profit envi­ronmental advocacy organi­zation. In addition, profes­sional landscape architects will offer expertise in creating conceptual design plans for the communities involved.

Other communities chosen for the program are Coon Rapids, Decorah, Forest City, Glidden, Graettinger, Moville, Peterson, Plymouth, and Wapello.

Westgate cele­brates 50 years

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The state’s first venture into low-rent housing in Corning celebrated 50 years as a facil­ity with an open house Oct. 24.

Westgate Housing came into being after Corning vot­ers overwhelmingly approved building public low-rent housing. Information from the Nov. 7, 1963, edition of The Adams County Free Press says voters favored the plan 406-68.

Westgate became the first project approved in the state under Chapter 403A of the Code of Iowa. The Corning City Council earlier had ap­pointed a Housing Commis­sion to develop the housing facility and conduct its busi­ness affairs. The first five members of the Housing Commission had staggered terms with one commissioner having a term that expired each year. Members ap­pointed were Millard Vance, Bernard E. Miller, Harry Coulter, Lee R. Watts, and Thelma Heitsman. 

The commission’s first or­ganizational meeting was held Dec. 31, 1963. Millard Vance was elected chairman, Harry Coulter was elected vice chairman, and Thelma Heits­man was elected temporary secretary. The commission decided to construct 50 units for the elderly.

The project, which was named Westgate, was started in April 1966 and was com­pleted in December 1967. The first tenants moved in on Oct. 30, 1967. Those tenants were Carrie Dixon, Flossie West, and Laura Ritnour. Westgate celebrated with an open house in May 1968.

At the time it was built ten­ants had to be 62 years old or older or meet the criteria for disabled and income limits. Several changes have taken place at the facility since then. Now tenants are no longer required to be 62 or older. The average age there is 57 with tenants ranging in age from 4 to 98.
With remodeling of the fa­cility, Westgate now contains 46 apartments. Since 1967 there have been 521 leases signed by residents.

Currently, Lori Amdor serves as the director of the facility and Brent Thompson serves as maintenance super­visor. Current board members include chair Monica Allen, vice chair Don Kenworthy, and members Phil Casey, Ann Myers, Marj Reynolds, and Lawrence Peterson. 

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Submitted photo — Southwest Valley High School’s Makayla McMann, left, accepts her Uncommon Students Award from Leslie Hoover-Lauble.

SWV student takes top hon­or 

A Southwest Valley High School senior was one of three winning students hon­ored Oct. 14 in the Uncom­mon Students Awards pro­gram at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum in West Branch.

Makayla McMann and 13 other high school seniors became Uncommon Student Awards finalists, earning a $1,000 award each. Three were selected by a panel of judges for an additional $5,000 scholarship award.

The students applied for the program as high school jun­iors back in March. The Foun­dation selected 14 final­ists from across Iowa to par­ticipate in the program. Each student developed a philan­thropic program of their own design and worked on it over the summer. They returned Oct. 14 to present their re­sults.

McMann’s project “Villisca Summer Day Camps” was one of the three $5,000 schol­arship winners.

“I created and implemented a day camp in a small town which had not held any day camps for their youth for over 10 years,” McMann said.

The camp ran every Mon­day for five weeks and served students in grades K through 6.

“I thought I might get 20 to 25, and was greatly surprised to have 65 show up for the program,” she said.

JJ Kapur of Valley High School in West Des Moines earned a $5,000 scholarship for his project “Iowa Sikh Turbanators.”

“I formed a youth-run or­ganization with the goal to ‘turban-ate’ the negative stig­mas surrounding the Sikh faith in Des Moines through awareness building and com­munity service events,” Ka­pur said.

He said the Uncom­mon Student Award program was a natural fit for him.

“In my life I’ve always con­sidered myself to be un­common, particularly be­cause of my appearance and wearing a turban and looking different among my peers,” he said. “Being part of this program taught me that being uncommon is a good thing and it’s something to be treas­ured.”

The third scholarship award went to Kaleb Cook from Linn-Mar High School in Marion. His program, “Danc­ing Away the Stigma,” pro­vided a 10 lesson dance ther­apy program for Linn-Mar School District special needs students in grades K-12.

“It was really inspiring to be an Uncommon Student,” Cook said. “As I learned about Hoover’s humanitarian work, it was really cool to see the similarities we shared in wanting to impact social change.”

Cook’s program would grow to include the general student body and he’s work­ing on releasing his curricu­lum state-wide with hopes of seeing it go national.

Wesley Hanson of Union High School in La Porte City was recognized as the Mariah Becker Volunteer Leadership Award winner for his project “STEM of New Opportuni­ties for Youth.” This award is presented by the Uncommon Student Alumni group in memory of Mariah Becker, a member of the Hoover Un­common Student Award Class of 2000. She was a stu­dent at the University of Iowa in 2002 when she lost a long and courageous battle with cancer. Hanson received a plaque and his name was added to a permanent display at the Library-Museum. To ensure the STEM program carries on, $250 will be do­nated to help fund the project when it’s turned over to other students at Union High after he steps down to attend col­lege.

The Uncommon Student Awards program annually identifies and honors up to 15 Iowa high school juniors who propose and then accomplish a project of their own choos­ing and design. Grades, test scores, essays and financial need are not evaluated. Appli­cation is open to all Iowa high school juniors and is due by March 15.

About the Foundation
The Hoover Presidential Foundation is a private non­profit organization for the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library-Museum and Hoover National Historic Site in West Branch, Iowa. The Foun­dation fosters the collec­tion, interpretation and preser­vation of historical re­sources relating to the life, ideas, values and times of Herbert Hoover, 31st Presi­dent of the United States.

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Corning school board reor­ganizes

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Corning Community Schools Board of Education met Oct. 9 to reorganize fol­lowing the Sept. 12 school board election.

Board secretary Jodi Lyd­don told the board Howard Anderson, Scott Shuey, and James Houck were elected to the board. Board member Scott Akin did not seek re-election but during his last meeting thanked the board and staff for the opportunity to serve on the board.

The board then adjourned which the organizational meeting was then called to order by Secretary Lyddon then followed. Election of officers was top on the agenda, board members se­lected Scott
The board elected Shuey as president for the 2017-2018 school year, after which Shuey appointed and Marla Fuller as vice president.

The board decided to hold school board meetings at 7 p.m. the second Monday of the month in the boardroom.

In other business, the board approved:

• The 2017-2018 special ed­ucation instructional program contracts;

• A 2017-2018 inter-agency contract for a special educa­tion instructional program with Mount Ayr Community School;

• Two open enrollments ap­plications; and

• Various fundraiser re­quests.

Absentee ballots available

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Adams County auditor’s office has announced that ab­sentee ballots for the Nov. 7 municipal elections are now available at the auditor’s office in the Adams County Court­house in Corning.
 
The who requesting ballots should send their request as soon as possible by completing an Absentee Ballot Request Form or submitting a written request with the following information: Name; date of birth; Iowa resi­dential address; election type or date (such as 2017 City Elec­tion); and signature of person requesting the absentee ballot.

Forms are now available at the Adams County Auditor’s Office or can also be downloaded from www.adamscountyia.com and clicking on the Absentee Ballot link or at www.sos.iowa.gov.

As highlighted in the Sept. 28 issue of The Adams County Free Press, there are candidates in the four cities within Adams County.

In Carbon, electors will vote on the mayor and all five City Council seats.

In Corning, voters will decide on the mayor and Ward 2 coun­cilperson and an at-large seat plus two other public measures.

In Nodaway, electors will vote on the mayor and all five City Council seats.

In Prescott, voters will vote for mayor, three City Council seats and one City Council seat to fill a vacancy.

Sample ballots plus the notice of election will be published in a future edition of the Free Press as Election Day near. Sample ballots will also be posted in the Adams County Auditor’s Office.
Friday, Oct. 27, is the pre-election voter registration dead­line for the election. There is Election Day registration, but proof of identification must be provided and registration before Election Day is encouraged.

Friday, Nov. 3, is the deadline to request an Absentee Ballot by mail for the regular city election. However, those requesting bal­lots on this day will have diffi­culty returning ballots in time to be counted in the election due to the post office turn around.

Other reminders for those voting on Nov. 7:

• Polls will be open from noon until 8 p.m.

• Polling places include Car­bon United Methodist Hall, Corning Community Center (all wards), Nodaway Community Center, and Prescott City Hall.
​
• The Adams County Audi­tor’s Office is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more infor­mation about voter registration, absentee ballots, or voting, con­tact the Auditor’s Office at (641) 322-3340 or visit www.adamscountyia.com or www.sos.iowa.gov.

Work continues on nuisance properties

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Corning City Council continued working to clean up the city’s nuisance properties at its Sept. 26 meeting.

City attorney Matthew Han­son presented the council in­formation representing all the current nuisance properties and legal representation issues against the property owners, which the city is pursing. He said cases filed in court should be resolved in 45 to 60 days. Hanson recommended one of the properties being handled as a nuisance prop­erty should be considered an abandoned property.

Hanson said his office had a conflict of interest in one is­sue pending trial and the city will need to find another rep­resentative. He said another case had already been through the court and the fine had been paid.

The council also asked Han­son to work on a purchase contract regarding a new site for landscape debris.

The council also decided to pursue the filing of small claims for the recovery of delinquent sewer and garbage charges with forms provided by the city attorney.

In other business, city coun­cil:

• Approved a curb cut and sidewalk replacement request from Scott Wilson at 1102 Adams following city code;

• Accepted a $13,450 bid from Dreyer Painting to paint and remark the Aquatic Pool; and

• Approved hiring of M&S Tree Service to trim and re­move trees and grind stumps in city parks, City Cemetery, and city right of way at a cost no more than $4,000. M&S will work with city employees where possible to assist in the removal of dropped materials.
​
At its next meeting, city council plans to discuss the hiring of an engineering firm for the design of the Commu­nity Center Americans with Disabilities Act restroom and handicap parking, the possible purchase of a new refrigerator for the Community Center, and arrangements for the dis­posal of leaves and debris this fall.

Southwest Valley Homecoming 2017

County OKs sale
​of Country Haven

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Adams County Board of Supervisors voted at its Sept. 19 meeting to sell the former residential care facility Country Haven.

The resolution to sell the property passed on a 4-0 vote with supervisor Doug Birt not in attendance at the meeting.

The board made the deci­sion following a public hear­ing on Country Haven and county farm property. No written comments had been received but Jack Kretzinger, Merle Jordening, and Duane M. Dougherty were on hand to further discuss the situation with the supervisors.

Supervisor Karl McCarty expressed the intent of the board is to “see it back on the tax rolls,” while board chair Leland Shipley indicated the board would also “like to see it developed and become eco­nomically viable for Corning and the Adams County area.”

Kretzinger, a local auc­tioneer, also provided some valuable input to the board as to how to possibly sell the property. As of now the board plans to take bids on the par­cels in a couple of different ways yet to be determined. The three men were not op­posed to the county selling the property, only to offer input to the board.

The board also announced the parcel that includes the former Country Haven build­ing will possibly be sold via bid with the purchaser paying to have the asbestos removed after purchase or having the county perform the removal after the property has been sold.

More details will be re­leased at a later date regarding the particulars of the bid packages that will be sought. Country Haven, located east of Corning on Highway 34, closed March 15.

The board also heard from Adams County Conservation director Dan Carl who gave an update on site preparations and floor plans for the new cabins to be built at Lake Icaria next spring. Carl told the board that bids are being sought for the extension of a 4-inch water main to the new cabin site development. He also said a new disc golf course is being developed and should be available for use this fall. The new course is being paid for with a $7,920 grant received from the Ad­ams Community Foundation earlier this summer.

The board met with county attorney Andrew Knuth who was seeking a raise for his secretary, Lisa Brown. Knuth said she recently received her Associate of Arts degree in criminal justice. He also said Brown is a valuable member of his team and she has assists him greatly in administrative duties in collecting fines owed to the county as well helping him with work related to his duties as county attorney. On a 4-0 vote supervisors ap­proved the $2 per hour wage increase to $17 per hour ef­fective at the start of the next pay period.

Congregate meal site un­changed for now

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Corning City Council approved a lease agreement through June 30 2018 with Connections Area Agency on Aging for the congregate meal site to remain at the Commu­nity Center.

The council approved the lease at its Sept. 11 meeting.

Connections AAA will pay $100 per month for the site while Friendship Meals and Senior Citizens Meals at Fair will contribute $200 per month per Colleen Bickford who will bring in the payment to City Hall each month to assist with utility reimburse­ment.

City clerk/treasurer Iona Allen told the council that Deloris McElwain contacted her regarding loose lag bolts and pothole at the BNSF railroad crossing on Loomis Avenue. Allen said she contacted the BNSF su­pervisors who stated they will be getting a temporary fix in place with a perma­nent fix to take place in three to four weeks.

The council approved a $6,311.51 payment to Adams County for the lining of a tube at 220th Street and Eighth Street. Approval was also given for a grant application to Trees Forever with city contribution of $2,000.

The council tabled the hir­ing of an engineering firm for the Community Center Americans with Disabilities Act restroom and handicap Parking.
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Trick or treat night was set for Oct. 31 between 5:30 p.m. and 7:30pm.

CHRISTY GROVES/Free Press — Three foreign exchange students are attending Southwest Valley High School this year. They are Christoffer Ulrich of Denmark, Moritz Schlimbach of Germany, and Eunsu Hyun of South Korea.

Three exchange students join SWV

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Three foreign exchange stu­dents are part of the Southwest Valley High School student body this year.

The three students and their host families are Moritz Schlimbach from Germany with host family Mike and Gina Travis; Christoffer Ulrich from Denmark with host family Tom and Marci Rhamy; and Eunsu Hyun from South Korea with host family Mike and Mondra Laughlin.

Schlimbach is from Hammin­keln, Germany, where his home school has close to a thousand students. He is involved in jun­ior band, big band, and musical education. Back in Germany, Schlimback’s parents are a teacher and computer scientist. He looks forward to participat­ing in band, football, basketball, choir, speech, and tennis while attending SWV.

Schlimbach said almost every­one in Corning and Southwest Iowa seems to drive a truck. He said the area has a lot of space dotted with farming, cows, and small spread-out cities.

Some of the things Schlimbach wants to do while in the United States is to see the Grand Canyon, snowboard in the Rockies, have a fun school year, make new friends and family, experience a new cul­ture, and score his first touch­down in football.

Ulrich is from Copenhagen, Denmark, where his home school has between 700 and 800 students. He is involved with soccer back home. His parents are involved in the banking and insurance industry.

While attending SWV, Ulrich wants to run cross country, and play basketball and tennis.

Ulrich said Corning and Southwest Iowa are different in a good way when compared to Denmark. He said he is looking forward to learning a new lan­guage and meeting new people while experiencing a new cul­ture.

Hyun is from South Korea where she said her city is me­dium sized with her school en­rollment of about 1,200. She is involved with the dance team and psychology club back in South Korea. Her father works as an engineer for Samsung and her mother is a piano teacher.

Hyun plans to join the dance team while at SWV as that is her favorite activity.

She said Corning and South­west Iowa include more farm­land and wild animals when than South Korea.
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Hyun said she is also looking forward to making many friends and sharing her culture. She wants to experience as much as she can while she is in the United States.

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Submitted photo — A core committee representing the Adams Community Economic Development Corporation Fund Inc. is working to bring a hotel similar in the size and style of this one to Corning.

Hotel plans proceed

A core committee repre­senting the Adams Commu­nity Economic Development Corporation Fund Inc. is working to bring a hotel to Corning.

“We need a place for visi­tors to stay,” committee member Beth Waddle said. “Alumni, family, friends and other visitors have to stay 25 to 30 miles from Corning and spend time driving back and forth, when they would rather be closer. Also, we watch dollar after dollar escape our community as sales taxes, dining, gas, retail sales are spent in the other communi­ties they are lodging at.”

The core committee has met with two franchise companies and two private hotels to gain information for construction a 32-35 room two-story build­ing. The construction cost projections for each were around $3.5 million. Once the committee knew the approxi­mate price tag, members de­cided they needed to deter­mine whether at least $2.5 million could be raised for the capital needed to build the project.

ACEDC Fund Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit affiliated with the Adams Community Economic Development Cor­poration. If the funding can be raised, ACEDC Fund Inc. would play a large role in the ownership of the property. Donations for the capital campaign are tax deductible. If there are profits above the normal scope needed to maintain the hotel, those dol­lars would be used for other community projects.

Currently a fundraising committee has begun to ask for pledges. Since some alumni classes met in July, the committee started with those classes. There is an alumni challenge for classmates to work together to raise pledges for $10,000 per year for five years. For each class that reaches that goal, their class year will be on a plaque for one of the rooms. The goal is to raise at least $1 million from alumni pledges. In addi­tional there is a $1.5 million goal from other individuals, businesses, and grants.

The fundraising committee is trying to find a cham­pion/cheerleader from each class who would be the main contact to the committee. That person would gather the con­tact information from class­mates, help send out infor­mation on how classmates can give, and keep them informed on how close their class is to reaching their goal. Currently the fundraising committee has class champions for 1955, 1963, 1969, 1972, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1987, 1988, 2003, and 2007.

Waddle said she hopes once details about the a hotel are known, businesses and indi­viduals will have a better un­derstanding about the project.

“As you can imagine, it is very time consuming to set up meetings with every business and family in the community, and since it is difficult to get a list of every family, we will rely on the community,” she said.

Donors can make a one-time pledger or can make a pledge over five years. At this time, the committee is not seeking actual payments, just pledges. Once a minimum of $2.5 mil­lion has been pledged and the project is moving forward, donors will be contacted about making payments.

“There is a website, www.mycorninghotel.com,” Waddle said. “It was origi­nally developed for alumni, however, anyone is invited to use the form to make a pledge.”

To make a pledge or to be a champion/cheerleader for an alumni class, contact Waddle at the ACEDC office at (641) 322-5229 or e-mail acedc@adamscountyiowa.com.
​
While no exact timeline for the project has been set, the goal for the fundraising com­mittee is to determine if it will have $2.5 million in pledges by December of this year. While the fundraising com­mittee continues to work on that, other committees are forming to gather more in­formation and community input. Watch for more infor­mation in the Adams County Free Press. Additional infor­mation will also be on the mycorningiowa.com webpage.

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Grassley: Health care still a priority

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley met with Adams County community leaders Aug. 24 at the Corning Opera House.

Grassley said he was using his summer break to touch base with all of Iowa’s 99 counties.

Grassley told the audience health care reform has been the topic on most people’s minds.

“Its kind of embarrassing for me to say, after seven years, when we said we were going to repeal or reform a program that didn’t deliver on its promises and come up one vote short,” he said.

Grassley said he hopes leg­islatures will continue work­ing on health care and accom­plish something in the next two or three months.

Mental health, particularly the lack of mental health professionals, is another of Grassley’s concerns.
“We don’t have enough psychiatrists and psycholo­gists to deliver the care we need and it’s very difficult to get people to go into those segments of medicine,” he said. “We have to find alter­native ways of doing it. I also said maybe the problem in Iowa is a little bit different than the nation as a whole because Iowa restructured mental health delivery four to five years ago. I think there are growing pains there and the growing pains were com­plicated by the privatization of Medicaid as it affects mental health.”

Grassley also said low economies are injured when large-scale farm operations benefit from farm program subsidy loopholes but small family farmers are limited in crop acreage because the Crop Reserve Program. He said crop insurance, however, should remain a part of the federal Farm Bill.
Rural areas are also unlikely to benefit from federal plans to improve infrastructure, Grassley said.

“I tried to explain the prob­lems we have with the ad­ministration wanting to pur­sue public/private partner­ships, which I don’t have any argument with except I don’t think it’s very realistic to do in rural America,” he said.

Grassley plans to take the information he receives dur­ing his 99-county tour back to Washington, D.C., including a concern raised by Adams County Sheriff Alan Johan­nes. Johannes said a pris­oner’s Medicaid is dropped after 30 days of incarceration and the prisoner then becomes a burden on local taxpayers.

Grassley was critical of many of his fellow members of Congress who he believes are not allowing President Trump to get things accom­plished.

“I think some of the things the President does detracts from what Congress is trying to do because he gets the at­tention, diverting it from Congress,” he said. “But re­member, we are the legisla­tors and we don’t have to wait for the President and don’t have to be concerned if he is going to sign it or veto it and so I would give more criti­cism to the United States Sen­ate not doing its work rather then blaming President Trump.”

From Corning, Grassley travelled on to Bedford and Shenandoah.

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MARK SAYLOR/Free Press — Southwest Valley’s new teachers are, front row from left, Brittany Wiig, Ashley Pegg, Deb McDaniels, Lindsey Hogan, Karen Cline, and Shelby Cooper. Back row from left are Michelle Morgan, Brianna Porter, Haley Blackledge, Bryce Giesmann, Keanon Lewis, and Sarah Lillie.

SWV welcomes new staff members

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Eleven new staff members greeted Southwest Valley students this week on the Corning Campus when clas­ses began Aug. 23.

The following is a bit of background about the new faculty and staff on the Corning Campus.

Haley Blackledge is in her inaugural year as a third grade teacher this fall after gradu­ating from Graceland Univer­sity in Lamoni last spring. She student taught within the Centerville and Mormon Trail School Districts and also has worked with special education students in Waukee. Black­ledge enjoys teaching history and math. Outside of the classroom she enjoys riding horses, being outside, reading and spending time with friends and family. Her par­ents live on an acreage near Lake Rathbun. Her mom is a nurse practitioner and has a clinic in Centerville and she has two older sisters, one of whom is an attorney and the other is a nurse. Blackledge said she has found Southwest Iowa to be beautiful and eve­ryone here friendly and wel­coming.

Shelby Cooper will be in her first year of teaching band for grades 6-12. She gradu­ated from Buena Vista Uni­versity in Storm Lake. Her parents live in Atlantic. She said she is looking forward to teaching at SWV. Cooper enjoys concert band season. Outside of the classroom she likes to kayak, read, and play clarinet in community bands and musical pits.

Karen Cline is a new cook for the district.

Bryce Giesmann is enter­ing his 14th year of teaching. He will teach elementary and high school art at SWV. He graduated from Luther Col­lege in Decorah and is cur­rently working on his master of fine arts degree from Sa­vannah College of Art and Design. Giesmann taught pre­viously at Charter Oak Ute and Muscatine Schools in Iowa and Fremont #25 in Ri­verton, Wyo. Giesmann en­joys teaching photography. Outside the classroom he likes long boarding and running with his Husky Koda. Gies­mann’s wife, Rachel, is cur­rently the high school math teacher at Mediapolis. They have three children: third-grade Ella, 8, first-grader Hadley, 6, and 4-year-old Bryer. Giesmann said he en­joys the smaller close-knit community he has joined.

Lindsey Hogan is the new school nurse at SWV after being a nurse at Mercy Hos­pital NICU department in Des Moines. She said she enjoys travelling with her family and cheering for the Cyclones. She is married to Michael Hogan, who farms. They have two children, Cael, 10, and Elin, 6.

Keanon Lewis will be starting his first year of teaching at SWV in the math room after graduating from Iowa State University. Lewis will teach Algebra 1A, Alge­bra 1, Geometry, and Con­sumer Math. He said he en­joys teaching Applied or Con­sumer Math. He enjoys woodworking projects and watching baseball outside the classroom. Lewis’s father, Marshall, influ­enced him to become an edu­cator. Marshall is a school superintendent in Nebraska. His mom Kim works in fi­nances while brother Derek is a doctoral candidate at Penn State and sister Kennedy is a high school senior in Ne­braska. Lewis said he enjoys the small town atmosphere, the good people and nice weather in Southwest Iowa.

Sara Lillie will be working as a one-on-one para educator with a kindergarten student at SWV this fall. Lillie went to LaJames College of Cos­metology. She enjoys spend­ing time with her 10-year-old daughter Katey, who is in the fifth grade, and attending sporting events.

Deb McDaniel will teach junior kindergarten this year at SWV. She is entering her 12th year in education after graduating from the Univer­sity of Northern Colorado. McDaniel previously taught in Okaloosa, Iowa. She enjoys teaching science and outside the classroom can be found either reading or doing crafts. She and her husband Brad have a second-grade daughter, Fiona. She enjoys the small close-knit community at SWV.

Michelle Morgan will begin her first full-time job of teaching in the fourth grade classroom at SWV after being a substitute teacher at Creston, Orient Macksburg, and West Central Valley Dis­tricts. Morgan attended Southwestern Community College in Creston and then transferred to Simpson to complete her education. She enjoys teaching social studies, as History was her favorite subject as a student. Outside the classroom Morgan can be found kayaking, fishing, hik­ing or involved in anything outdoors. She has two broth­ers, an older sister, and her mom. Her dachshund Emy completes her family. She said she enjoys the friendli­ness of everyone at SWV.

Ashley Pegg is the new ELP coordinator at SWV. She has been teaching for four years, previously teaching first grade at Inman Primary School within the Red Oak School District. She graduated from Northwest Missouri State University and is cur­rently taking classes from Morningside College, work­ing toward her master’s de­gree as a professional educa­tor with TAG endorsement. Outside the classroom, she enjoys spending time with her family. Pegg and her husband Cody have three children: fifth-grade stepson Colton, kindergartener Addison, and 2-year-old Kinley. She said she enjoys being part of the Corning community after moving to Southwest Iowa almost seven years ago.

Brianna Porter enters her second year as a school coun­selor but her first as SWV Elementary School counselor after spending her first year at North Union High School. Porter attended Buena Vista University in Storm Lake. She enjoys teaching character de­velopment. Porter and her husband Steven have a daughter, Olivia, 10, and a son, Lucas, 18 months. Out­side the classroom she can be found doing crafts, reading, travelling or taking par in outdoor activities. Porter said she enjoys the countryside and the friendly people of Southwest Iowa.

Brittany Wiig has been teaching the last year and a half at Fremont Mills. Wiig will teach seventh and eighth grade computers/business, automation and robotics, and design and modeling. Wiig attended Bellevue University for business and Buena Vista University for reaching. She enjoys teaching personal fi­nance. Wiig and her husband Josh have two children, 3-year-old Charles and 12-month-old Howard and their English bulldog Cadi. Wiig enjoys spending time outside with her children, reading books and spending time with friends. Wiig is originally from Villisca, graduating high school in 2006. She said it feels good coming back and seeing many familiar faces.

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Corning weather hotter, drier in July

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Weather information for the month of July shows a drop in normal rainfall and an in­crease in heat.

State climatologist Harry Hillaker said statewide it was the 41st driest month of July and was the 38th warmest in the last 145 years of record­keeping. He said temperatures were about one and a half degrees warmer than normal. Statewide rainfall was a little more than an inch and a half below the normal average of 4.5 inches of rain in July.

Not only was lack of mois­ture a problem in July but also there were some triple digits recorded by weather spotters around the state. The Corning weather station reported a high of 94 degrees on July 22 and a low for the month of 54 degrees on July 1. As far as local precipitation goes, the weather station located near CHI Health Mercy Corning reported 66 one hundredths of an inch of rain fell in Corning on July 19.

Hillaker also said June, July, and August are usually the months of more precipitation so there is hope this month could turn around the drought-like conditions.

Candidates file for school boards

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Two of the three incumbents on the Corning Community Schools Board of Education have filed for re-election this fall.

Nomination forms were due to county auditor’s office by 5 p.m. Aug. 3. Both Howard Anderson and Scott Shuey turned in their required pa­perwork to appear on the Sept. 12 ballot. Incumbent Scott Akin did not submit nomination papers, thus Corning Community Schools patrons will likely fill that seat via write-in campaign.

For the Villisca Community School Board, incumbent Le­land Shipley is seeking re-election. Incumbent Todd Drake chose not to seek re-election, however, Terry Dalton has turned in papers to run for one of the two vacan­cies also on the board.

Also on the ballot for both districts will be a public measure proposed by South­western Community College in Creston to continue a 6 cent per $1,000 assessed value tax levy in any one year for a period not to exceed 10 con­secutive years starting July 1, 2018, for the purpose of the purchase of instruction equipment.

The deadline to register to vote for the school or college election is 5 p.m. Sept. 1. Af­ter that date a person may register to vote at the county auditor’s office and vote an absentee ballot. All county auditors’ offices will be closed Sept. 4, Labor Day. Sept. 8 is the last day to re­quest an absentee ballot via mail by 5 p.m. that day. Polls will be open from noon until 8 p.m. Sept. 12.

Alternate congregate meals site sought

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Nearly a dozen residents attended the July 24 Corning City Council meeting to dis­cuss the congregate meals program at the Corning Community Center.

Corning Mayor Janice Leonard said she invited sen­ior citizens to the meeting to help bring them up to date with what is going on with the program.

Leonard said currently only about six to 10 people are taking advantage of the meals being served at the Commu­nity Center. AAA Connec­tions presented the council with an updated lease agree­ment reducing the rent from $300 to $100 per month and use of the facility between 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.
The council voted down the new lease, indicating the city would not be able to pay the utilities with that amount and with so few people taking advantage of the meals. The council voted instead to give Connections Area Agency on Aging a 60-day extension to allow the organization time to look for an alternative site in Corning that would have a refrigerator and oven onsite to allow the serving of meals.

As of now no other group is allowed use of the Commu­nity Center while its being used. Currently, the parties are researching different lo­cations. Leonard reiterated the plan is not to “kick them out of town instead help them find a different location.” Leonard added that if the group is not able to find an alternate location the issue will be revisited by the coun­cil, probably in early Septem­ber at the earliest.

In other business, city attor­ney Matthew Hanson told the council he is filing court doc­uments on the owners of seven properties who origi­nally had 30 days to respond to nuisance letters with a court date set for Aug. 17. Hanson requested approval from the council to perform title searches for two of the three properties to proceed with abandoned status with the courts. Title searches will be performed on properties at 1901 Quincy and 814 15th St. A title search is already com­pleted for the property at 303 Ninth St. Title searches cost an estimated $50 to $90 each.

The council also discussed limiting the number of ani­mals allowed at each resi­dence within the city limits. The city has faced an ongoing issue with dogs running off leash creating public health and safety concerns. The number of cats without li­censes within the city was also a concern. Hanson said he will review ordinances of other cities and report back to the council at the next meet­ing. 

Lazy Days

Lazy Days of Summer heat up

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Lazy Days of Summer are upon Corning.

Main Street Corning’s Lazy Days of Summer will take place July 28-30.

The event will feature giant yard games, inflatables for all ages, a vendor fair, the Battle of the Barbecue, class reun­ions, En Plein Air painters, and Green Hills Farmers Market on July 29.

Activities begin at dawn July 28 with the Corning Center for the Fine Arts’ 12th Annual En Plein Air Festival. Artists will create two paint­ings at various sites through­out Adams County for this juried competition. The painting will continue until 2 p.m. July 29 when judging begins. First place will re­ceive $250, second place $200, and third place $150 in addition to the sales of indi­vidual art pieces. A social and reception will be held form 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. July 29.

One of Corning’s newest businesses, Backgrounds Coffee Shop, will be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. July 28 and from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 29 at 708 Davis Ave. The Adams Community Chamber Coffee will be held from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Corning Center for Fine Arts at 706 Davis Ave.

Corning High School grad­uation registration will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 28 and from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Corning Center for Fine Arts. Both the CHS class of 1977 and class of 1987 have planned reunion activities. Also taking place during registration is a silent auction of past En Plein Air art at the CCFA.

Gates open to the public at 4 p.m. for the Eighth Annual Battle of the BBQ Cook-Off on Benton Avenue. More than $4,000 in cash prizes and door prizes will be awarded. The people’s choice wing contest will begin at 7 p.m. July 28. Wing winners will be an­nounced at 1:30 p.m. July 29 followed by barbecue contest winners at 1:45 p.m.

DJ Randy Cooper will pro­vide music from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. July 28 on Eight Street between Benton and Davis Avenue. The beer garden will be open from 5 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. July 28. American Thea­tre at 704 Davis Ave. will feature at movie at 7 p.m. July 28 and July 29. July 28 activ­ities will end with a band and street dance.

The CHI Health Corning Doctors Dash 1 mile run/5K run/10K run/ and 1 mile walk/5K walk will begin with check in at 6:30 a.m. July 29 at Eighth and Davis. The race begins at 7:30 a.m. CHI Health Wellness Center showers will be open from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. at 401 Sixth St.

The Rotary Pancake Feed will take place from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. July 29 on Eighth Street between Davis and Benton. A vendor fair spon­sored by Main Street Corning will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 29 at Central Park while the Corning Opera House Quilt Show will take place at the same time at 800 Davis Ave.

The Third Annual Johnny Carson Birthplace Society Car Show registration will take place from 9:30 a.m. to noon July 29 at the Central Park pavilion. The car show itself will be held from noon to 2:30 p.m. on Davis Avenue. Awards will be presented at 2:30 p.m. in Central Park. Main Street Corning’s Lazy Days Family Fun Activities will be held from 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Registration is at the Lauvstad Center at 710 Davis Ave.

School tours will begin at 10 a.m. July 29 at 904 Eighth St. Other tours from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. include R&S Col­lectibles at 530 Davis Ave. and the Johnny Carson Birth­place at 500 13th St. Also from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. will be a Basket Palooza Sale and Silent Auction will be held at the CCFA.

A barbecue meal will be served from noon to 2 p.m. July 29 on Eighth Street be­tween Benton and Davis. The $7 meal includes a barbecue sandwich, beans, and chips. Children 6 and under eat for free. The Farmers Market will be open from noon to 2 p.m. in Central Park.

Afternoon tours July 29 in­clude the House of History from 2 p.m. to 3:30  p.m. at 1000 Benton, Icaria Village from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. three miles east of Corning, and Floating Vine at the Corning Winery from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. at 2300 State Highway 148.

Adams County Speedway will present Chat Mobility Night and Kids Money Grab on July 29. Gates open at 5 p.m. with races beginning at 7 p.m.

Lazy Days of Summer wrap up July 30 with breakfast at the beach from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at Lake Icaria, a Kline Museum tour from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. in Prescott and a 2 p.m. matinee at American Theatre.

For more information, con­tact the Main Street Corning at 322-3243 or check out Main Street Corning on Face­book.

The Adams Community Chamber Annual Golf Tour­nament is slated for Aug. 8.
Tee off will be at 10 a.m. for the Best Ball Tournament. Registration is $150 per team and $45 for a golf cart, with a free lunch for all registered golfers. Two team mulligans are also available at $20 per team.

Walter selected for 4-H Hall of Fame

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Dave Walter, Jean Smith, the Carol E. Little family, and Ber­nadine Behlers were honored for their contributions during the Adams County Fair.

Dave Walter

The Adams County Youth and 4-H Committee announced Dave Walter as its selection for the Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame on July 10.

David was selected as the 2017 nominee who will now represent Adams County at the Iowa State Fair next month. Walter’s 4-H resume is quite extensive, beginning in 1964 when he joined the Jasper Spe­cialists 4-H Club. Walter got involved showing pigs his first year in 4-H and then after his family moved to town he showed rabbits and had several woodworking projects. Walter had the Adams County Fair Grand Champion rabbit in 1970.

Walter married Kim Dame­wood in 1976 and when their children were old enough they got them involved in 4-H and since they were living on a small acreage west of Corning there was room to allow for large livestock projects. The Walters’ children, Stacey and Tony, raised and showed lambs at the Adams County Fair for 12 years. Dave volunteered to serve on the sheep committee in 1988 and continued until 1999. In 1991 Water became the sheep de­partment superintendent until he resigned the position in 1999.

In 2010, Walter joined the Ad­ams Community Rural Devel­opment Committee. With his position he is in charge of find­ing lambs for 4-H and FFA members to have for county fair projects. This committee has a program that provides livestock projects for youngsters who are unable to finance their own live­stock projects. This year he found three lambs for each of five 4-H’ers in Adams County and similar numbers in other years of the fair.

Walter has also served on the Adams County Fair Committee from 1990 until 1995. He is probably best known for his work with the 4-H carcass shows. He was employed by Corning Meat Processing in 1985 and then purchased the business in 2000. With that po­sition Walter was involved with swine, sheep, and even beef car­cass shows at various times.

The swine carcass show has lasted the test of time. Each Ad­ams County 4-H swine exhibitor learns what raising meat animals is really about with the ability to view their hanging swine car­casses in a required competition at the Corning Locker. For the last 18 years, Walter has also allowed Iowa State University livestock specialists to measure and judge the swine carcasses at the locker and then urges every youth and family to come view their pig and learn at a Saturday morning carcass showing. Wal­ter also provides similar oppor­tunities for 4-H’ers and FFA members in both Montgomery and Page County youth swine shows.

Jean Smith

Adams County Extension rec­ognized and thanked Jean Smith for her 30 years of service as a member of both the Adams County Extension Council and member of the County 4-H and Youth Committee by presenting her with the Adams County Ex­tension Award.

Smith was recognized for at­tending nearly every council meeting, serving as its secretary and also served on the personnel committee, helped with fair bar­becue meals and also manned the county Extension booth at the Ag Day Event.

Carol E. Little family

The Carol E. Little family was recognized at the Adams County Fair this year.

After the passing of Carol Lit­tle in August 2016, the family noted that any memorial money received it would in turn donate to the Adams County Endow­ment Fund for scholarships to Adams County 4-H’ers.

Bernadine Behlers

The Adams County Fair Sen­ior Day committee recognized Bernadine Behlers as the 2017 Senior Citizen Volunteer of the Year.

Behlers volunteers for various activities throughout Adams County including the blood drive, Corning Opera House, CHI Health cafeteria, and Ad­ams County Extension Time Out. Behlers also belongs to the local Red Hat Society, is a good friend to many, is very active on the Senior Day Committee, and coordinates and recruits for a Southwest Iowa square dance group.

MARK SAYLOR/Free Press — The Adams Community Foundation grants were at the July 7 Ad¬ams Community. Chamber Coffee. Pictured are, front row from left, Jake Brandt, Crystal Schafer, and Julia Paul. Back row from left are Dan Carl, Linda Shearer, Donna Hogan, Cheryl Thompson, Jan Leonard, Roger Sorenson, Enid Grundman, and Carol Olive.

Foundation winners an­nounced

By Mark Saylor
Free Press
​
The Adams Community Foundation presented mone­tary awards totaling $64,280.02 to nine local or­ganizations at the July 7 Ad­ams Community Chamber Coffee.

Receiving award were:

• Adams County Conserva­tion with a $7,920 grant for the construction of an 18-hole disk golf course to be built at Lake Icaria;

• Adams County Economic Development Corporation Fund with a $5,000 grant for engineering services for ex­ploring a hotel in the commu­nity;

• The Corning Center for the Fine Arts with a $2,000 grant for the purchase of a new awning at the front of the building and façade work;

• The Corning Volunteer Fire Association with a $17,625 grant for the pur­chase of a Special Rescue Operations Trailer and Ultra-Terrain-Vehicle for use in emergency situations in re­mote locations;

• The city of Corning with a $16,800 grant for the purpose of tearing up the carpet and possibly polishing the con­crete floor area at the Com­munity Center;

• The Corning Youth Club with a $4,500 grant for the purchase of two Automated External Defibrillators and training for volunteers as well as first aid kits for the town’s youth sports teams;

• The Prescott Library with a $5,700 grant to update the library with new carpet and other improvements;

• The Johnny Carson Birth­place Society with a $2,960.02 grant for land­scaping of around the home as well as sidewalk improve­ments; and

• The Corning Opera House Cultural Center with a $1,775 grant for the purchase of a new water heater for the fa­cility.

Since 1988 the foundation has awarded $1,222,890.27 to local non-profit and govern­mental entities.

The deadline for the next round of applications is noon Jan. 5. Donations to support the Foundation are welcomed and can be mailed to Adams Community Foundation, 710 Davis Ave., Corning, IA 50841.

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Adams County Fair begins July 7

The Adams County Fair will be showing its “County Pride, County Wide” July 7-12. The six-day fair includes something for all ages, from babies to senior citizens.

The fair begins July 7 with a barbecue by the Adams County Extension from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in the fair­grounds pavilion. The meal will feature pulled pork, beans, applesauce, chips, and drink for $6. The 4-H fashion revue and clothing selection show will begin at 5 p.m. followed by the Bill Riley Talent Show for the sprout division at 6 p.m. Fair queen candidates will be introduced between the sprouts and sen­ior division of the Bill Riley Talent Show or at approxi­mately 7:30 p.m.

New on July 7 is an open class horse show at 7 p.m. in the horse arena at the south end of the fairgrounds. At the north end of the fairgrounds the open class swine show will start at 7 p.m. After the fair queen introductions, the senior division of the Bill Riley Talent show will con­tinue in the pavilion.

The July 8 schedule in­cludes judging of 4-H build­ing exhibits. Categories in­clude Family and Consumer Science, Creative Arts/Personal Development, Science and Engineering and Ag and Natural Resource ex­hibits in the 4-H building. Open class entries will also judged. They include baking (all breads), visual arts, nee­dlework, fine arts, photog­raphy, woodworking, weld­ing, flower arranging, flori­culture, vegetables and fruits. There are special fun classes in the horticulture division including the largest vegeta­ble and most unusual vegeta­ble categories. Open class entries may be brought to the 4-H building on the fair­grounds from 9 a.m. to noon. Judging will begin at noon. There is no cost to enter and ribbons will be awarded to all exhibitors.

A bake sale of items that 4-H’ers have brought in for ex­hibit judging will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. or until judging is complete in the 4-H build­ing.

There will also be an open class Care Facility Division for items that are primarily the work of any resident of Care Initiatives Corning, Choice Inc., Midwest Oppor­tunities, or other area care facilities. Judging for this division will begin at noon July 8.

July 8 is also 4-H/FFA Race night in the grandstands be­ginning at 6:30 p.m. All 4-H and FFA exhibitors can re­ceive free admission by wearing their fair t-shirts and attending with a paying adult. New is the crowning of the 2017 Adams County Fair queen in the grandstands at 8:45 p.m.

An open class fun dog show will take place at noon July 8 in the pavilion north of the 4-H building. The event is open to area dog owners of all ages. Dogs must have current rabies vaccinations. Dogs will be judged in fun classes and some will compete in obedi­ence classes.

At 6 a.m. July 9, all 4-H and FFA livestock will be brought to the Adams County Fair­grounds for check in.

An antique tractor ride will begin at 8 a.m. July 9. The ride will be 30-40 miles long and will take about four hours. Riders will be back to the fairgrounds for the An­tique Expo around noon.

The Antique Expo will begin at 10 a.m. The theme is Household Appliances and Antiques. The featured tractor in 2017 will be any and all Lawn and Garden Tractors, no matter the brand. Tractors and machinery of all makes are also welcome. Working demonstrations and displays will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will also be a local version of the “Antique Road Show” at 1 p.m. Those interested are invited to bring antiques to the pavilion for evaluation at this show. A stump the antiquers show will be held at the program. The public is invited to bring an­tique objects that they can’t identify and let the experts tell them about what they have.

Classic and vintage cars, trucks, and motorcycles are also invited to the Antique Day show and will be on dis­play from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Homemade Yard Art will also be on display for judging. All exhibitors at Antique Day will be presented with a souvenir medallion for participating.

The Adams County Fair 4-H and FFA Youth Horse Show begins at 9 a.m. July 9 and the 4-H Share-the-Fun Show will start at 1:30 p.m. 4-H’ers will also be doing working exhib­its for judging between 2:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.

At 10 a.m. July 9, the SWIATP Association will have a tractor pull in the cen­ter of the race track.
 At 3 p.m. July 9 the 4-H poultry broiler and fryer show will be held in the livestock arena.

Other July 9 events include  an all-age pedal pull begin­ning at 3 p.m. Age divisions include 4-6 years old, 7-9 years old, 10-12 years old and 13-15 years old for both boys and girls. There are also 16-50 years old and 51-up year old divisions for men and women. A trophy will be awarded for the top winner in each divi­sion. Each participant will receive a ribbon.

At 4 p.m. July 9, a baby contest will be held in the pavilion. Classes include 6-24 months, 2-3 years, and 4-5 years. Contestants must be in the age of the group they are participating in by July 1, 2017. Rules can be picked up at the Adams County Exten­sion office at 603 Seventh St. in Corning or by calling (641) 322-3184.

The Midwest Truck and Tractor Pullers Association will stage a big boys pull in the grandstands at 5:30 p.m. July 9.

The 4-H/FFA exhibitor swimming party will be held from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the pool.

On July 10, the Adams County 4-H and FFA Swine Show will begin at 7:30 a.m. The Adams County 4-H Pets and Small Animal Show will follow the swine show at 11 a.m.

July 10 is Kids Day in the pavilion from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It will include educational and hands-on activities for youth and their parents. Silly Sally the Clown will have programs at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., the Southwest Valley Robotics Club will demonstrate activi­ties throughout the day, and the Villisca Lions Ferris wheel will there from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

An open class pet show will be held at 4 p.m. in the pavil­ion. This show is open to ex­hibitors of all ages and may include such pets as cats, rab­bits, hamsters, gerbils, fish, snakes, turtles, etc. No dogs are allowed in the open class pet show.

 The Adams County Kid Care Council will provide a meal from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. July 10. This meal is the Kid Care Council’s matching-grant fund-raiser for their activities throughout the year. The 4-H Youth Council will have an ice cream social at 5 p.m. to go with the meal. Also at 5 p.m., the 4-H and FFA sheep and meat goat show will be held in the livestock show ring.

State Fair plaques will be presented at 6 p.m. July 10 in the pavilion as will be the 4-H Endowment Fund recognition of scholarship winners, etc., and the announcement of Ad­ams County 4-H Hall of Fame recipient.

At 7 p.m. July 10, the ATV 180 Drag Races will take place in the grandstand. The pits will open for contestants at 5 p.m. There will be tro­phies for all class winners and payout for full size classes. Visit myadamscountyfair.net for more details.

Activities begin at 7 a.m. July 11 with a pancake breakfast served by the Ad­ams County 4-H Endowment Fund Committee at the 4-H lunch facility in the air-condi­tioned 4-H exhibit building. All area residents are invited. Proceeds go to help fund scholarships for area 4-H youth.

Dairy goat and dairy cattle judging begins at 8 a.m. July 11. The beef show will follow immediately after the dairy show. An Adams Community Chamber coffee will start at 10 a.m. on the fairgrounds with coffee and donuts avail­able for free for all fair-goers.

The Youth Dog Show be­gins at 1 p.m. July 11 in the pavilion. At 1:30 p.m., a live­stock judging contest will be held near the livestock show ring. It is open to local and area 4-H’ers and FFA chap­ters.

July 11 is also Agriculture Day in the pavilion with edu­cational materials and dis­plays for fairgoers to learn about today’s farmers and agricultural practices. From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., a community barbecue will be held near the pavilion. The meal will be put on by the Adams County Ru­ral Development Committee and will feature its traditional steak sandwich meal.

At 5:30 p.m. July 11, the Adams County 4-H Youth Council will hold its pie and cake fund-raising auction in the pavilion. Funds go to sup­port 4-H activities and finan­cial assistance for 4-H’ers throughout the year.

Bottle-Bucket Buckaroos, a chance for children 3 years old through third grade to show a baby calf in a fun, non-competitive atmosphere, will show in the livestock ring at 5 p.m. Calves can be either a steer or a heifer and will include costumed and non-costumed divisions.

July 11 grandstand enter­tainment will be the Double S Bull Company Extreme Bull Riding Competition. Admis­sion is $10 per person for ages 13 and over. Ages 6-12 can get in for $5 and 5 and under are free. A family pass can be purchased for $25 this year. The pass is good for two adults and their children. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. in the grandstands. Gates open at 7. An additional is mutton bust­ing for ages 4 to 6 years old. Registration will be at a table near the grandstand gate prior to the start of the bull riding competition.

July 12 is Senior Citizens Day in the pavilion and the 4-H Exhibit Building. Senior Day includes a cookie contest at 9 a.m. in the pavilion with over $100 in cash prizes to the best bakers sponsored by KCSI radio station 95.3 FM in Red Oak. Divisions include KCSI sunshine cookies, drop cookies, bar cookies, no-bake cookies, and iced and deco­rated cookies.

There will also be enter­tainment in the pavilion at 9 a.m. including community booths, music by Erma and Friends, line and square dancing demonstration and participation, a healthy living presentation by Megan King of CHI Mercy Health Corn­ing, and door prizes.

The Senior Day Committee will have a table in the pavil­ion set aside for people to display Adams County Pic­tures from the Past. There is no cost for this and everyone will get their scrapbooks or pictures back at the end of the day.

A $5 lunch of chicken and noodles and mashed potatoes, green beans, and fruit cobbler will be available for all fair­goers from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the southeast room of the 4-H building. At  noon, the Senior Citizen Vol­unteer of the Year award will be presented. Bingo for all ages will take place from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.in the southeast room.

The 4-H and FFA Fair Live­stock Auction will begin at 9 a.m. July 12. This is a chance to watch 4-H and FFA mem­bers show their animals one last time, fill a locker with meat, and help a youth build their college funds.
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Entertainment at 7 p.m. July 12 will be a sand volleyball tournament in the horse arena.

Adams County July 4 events on tap

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The nation’s 241st Inde­pendence Day is rapidly ap­proaching and celebrations are planned all across the country to mark the occasion. The Adams County Commu­nity is no exception with a variety of activities planned.

Events begin July 2 with a sand volleyball tournament at 9 a.m. at the Lake Icaria beach. To register a team or for more information, contact Lindsey Wetzel at (641) 322-9415.

Activities continue July 3 at Lake Icaria. A youth fishing clinic and contest will take place from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the east shelter near the marina. The clinic and contest is rescheduled from earlier this year. The beach concessions will host a barbe­cue from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. with Randy Cooper playing music at 7 p.m. The annual Kids Scavenger Hunt sponsored by the Adams Community Chamber, PCSB Bank, TS Bank, Iowa State Savings Bank, and the State Bank of Brooks will take place at 7 p.m. at the beach. The even­ing will end with fireworks at dark at Lake Icaria.

July 4 features the Adams Community Chamber’s 58th Annual Flight Breakfast be­tween 7 a.m. and 10 a.m. at the Corning Municipal Air­port with complimentary breakfasts for all those who fly in. For others attending the breakfast the cost will be $6 for adults and $4 for children 10 and younger. Pancakes, sausage, eggs, coffee, and juice will be served. 

A reminder: Some busi­nesses will also be closed in observance of the Fourth of July holiday, including the Adams County Courthouse.

Group works to create 
Mount Zion Cemetery direc­tory

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Efforts are under way to raise funds to construct a di­rectory at the Mount Zion Cemetery five miles north of Prescott at the intersection of 150th Street and Quince.

The cemetery dates back to the late 1800s and is still in use today. Stacey Truman, one of the fundraising organ­izers, said they are attempting to raise $12,000 for the con­struction and installation of the structure to help individu­als locate relatives buried at the rural Adams County cem­etery. The directory will be approximately 60 inches wide by 60 inches high and 12 inches deep.

The group has also re­quested funds through an Ad­ams County grant applica­tion. Previous fundraising efforts have been used for the construction of a new fence surrounding the ceme­tery and the placement of 10 flags and flagpoles, which are on display during all major patriotic holidays, weather permitting.

Those who wish to donate or for more information should contact Truman at (641) 344-3071, Walt Veatch at (641) 335-2574, or Marcy Edwards at (641) 344-5640.

Donations may also be mailed to Friends of Mount Zion Cemetery, c/o Stacey Truman, 2619 150th St., Pres­cott, IA 50859.

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Meal will help fill food pantry

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

A June 29 community meal at the Corning Community Center will help the Adams County Food Pantry stock its shelves.

The Corning First Presby­terian Church is organizing the meal. Spokesman Ken Pangburn said freewill dona­tions will be accepted with all proceeds going to the pantry.

“A lot of people think the greatest need for the food pantry is in the winter months, but instead donations are needed while the school-aged children are at home and not getting the hot lunch at school,” he said.

Pangburn said several spon­sors have already contributed to the fundraiser, with some choosing to remain anony­mous. The donations are used to purchase meat — beef bris­ket, beef brats, and chicken breasts — for the meal. The rest of the meal, which in­cludes homemade salads and desserts, is being made by church members. Serving will be from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m. Pangburn said carry-outs will also be available.

Pangburn said this is the fourth or fifth year for the event and every year it has steadily increased in both at­tendance and donations.

To date Pangburn said he has raised more than $800. Those who cannot make it to the meal but still wish to do­nate can contact him at (641) 344-2810 for more infor­mation or send a check ear­marked for the food pantry to the Corning Presbyterian Church in Corning.
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The Adams County Food Pantry is located on North Highway 148 in Corning in the Matura office building.

ISU solar car to stop in Corning

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

A unique car will be in Corning the evening of June 10 through the morning of June 11.

Iowa State University’s stu­dent run solar car team PrI­SUm will be making an ap­pearance at the Adams County Speedway between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. June 10 and at the Corning City Park until around 11 a.m. June 11 before heading to their next stop in Lenox. The car, known as Penumbra, is the culmination of two years of work and is unique to any car that came before it.

The car, which is the 13th such vehicle to be developed by ISU engineering students, will participate in the Bridge­stone World Challenge in Australia in October. The car is the first four-seat vehicle to be built by ISU students. The car is said to be slightly unas­suming in design considering its mostly white body, small tires, the usual front and rear windows, sound system, and a roof full of solar panels. It resembles a small hatchback and passengers are able to check Facebook, use Google Maps, or even listen to music.

The price tag on the vehicle totals $750,000 in materials, machine time, and cash with about two thirds of it coming from the many sponsors. Some of those sponsors who helped make the vehicle be­come a reality including Boeing and Siemens. The car has a top speed of 40 miles per hour on a sunny day.
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The car is touring all 99 counties before leaving on its trip with 15 team members to prepare for the world compe­tition. All cars participating in the Bridgestone World Chal­lenge must obtain 90 percent of their energy from the sun or recover the vehicles kinetic energy. Teams will begin in the northern Australian city of Darwin and continue 1,864 miles to the southern Aus­tralian town of Adelaide

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Corning crafting fireworks ordinance

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The legalization of con­sumer fireworks in Iowa is likely to add a bit more spark to the evening skies this Fourth of July holiday.

Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad signed legislation in May legalizing the sale and use of consumer fireworks in the state. Under the new leg­islation, Iowans may purchase consumer fireworks beginning June 1. The new law indicates consumer fireworks may be sold in permanent buildings between June 1 and July 8 and then again from Dec. 10 through Jan. 3. However, during the Fourth of July holiday season, consumer fireworks may be sold in tem­porary tents and stands begin­ning June 13 through July 8.

The new law has cities and counties establishing guide­lines and ordinances on the sale and use of consumer fireworks. Corning is consid­ering amending its city ordi­nance on fireworks. The Corning City Council is pro­posing the following changes to the current ordinance:

• A permit will be needed for the sale of fireworks within the city limits and for large displays.

• Any person discharging fireworks assumes all respon­sibility for its operation and consequences; must be age 18 and older or if younger must have adult supervision; and must not be intoxicated or under the influence of a drug or narcotic.

• Fireworks may only be discharged between the hours of noon and 10 p.m. July 1 through July 5 and Dec. 30 through Jan. 2 unless on July 4 when hours will be 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. and from 9 a.m. Dec. 31 to 12:30 a.m. Jan. 1.

• Fireworks must be dis­charged on the person’s own real property, not within 200 feet of the sales of fireworks, and not within 200 yards of a hospital or nursing home.

• Violators of the ordinance will face a $500 fine and have all remaining fireworks con­fiscated.
Adams County officials have not taken any action as of this date on the proposed change to Iowa Law.
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The new Iowa consumer fireworks law will allow for the sale and use of consumer fireworks, include aerial shell kits and reloadable tubes, chasers, helicopter and aerial spinners, firecrackers, mine and shell devices, missile-type rockets, Roman candles, sky rockets and bottle rockets, multiple tube devices, cone fountains, cylindrical foun­tains, flitter sparklers, ground and handheld sparkling de­vices, ground spinners, illu­minating torches, toy smoke devices that are not classified as novelties, and wheels wire or dipped sparkers that are not classified as novelties.

Civil War Monument to be rededicated

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Civil War Monument at the Oakland Cemetery at Quincy will be rededicated June 3.

The monument was erected to honor area residents who fought in the Civil War from 1861 to 1865. Its thought the monument was first dedi­cated within 10 years of the completion of the war.

Adams County supervisor Linda England said the rededi­cation is a joint effort between the Oakland Ceme­tery Board and Adams County supervisors. Adams County area residents are invited to attend the 1:30 p.m.

England said a lot of hard work has gone into the restora­tion project. A grant helped fund the majority of the restoration but assistance came from Diane Davis, Da­vid and Barbara Fuller, Anna Ruth Hardisty, Barbara Spring, Estella Swartz, Mer­lin Dixon, Dan Olson, Nancy Davis Adams, Phyllis Houck, Max and Rachel Carney, Mi­chael Carr, PDC Sons of Un­ion Veterans of the Civil War, James and Caitlyn Houck, Leland and Amy Shipley, Phyllis Miller, the Adams Community Ambassadors, Thomas J. Gaardd RV Trust, the Adams Community Foun­dation; American Legion Post #117, and the State Asso­ciation for the Preserva­tion of Iowa Cemeteries.

The monument was rededi­cated in October 2012. The preservation work started last fall and was recently com­pleted with the installation of posts around the monument to prevent individuals from accidently or purposely dam­aging the monument. The ceremony in 2012 honored more than 250 Adams County veterans. At that time it counted nearly 40 who had died and more than 50 who were wounded, captured, or disabled during the conflict. The monument is inscribed with several names that be­came more visible after the monument had been sand­blasted.

In researching the monu­ment and its history it was discovered only a few Adams County Civil War partici­pants are actually buried at the cemetery. They include James Thompson, A.S. Provett, Jacob R. Miller, and Samuel Bryant.

The event will include speak­ers as well as the reading of the rededi­cation speech that was delivered in 2012 by Dean Davis.

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MARK SAYLOR/Free Press — Five trumpeter swans enter Lake Icaria after being released May 12 by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

Film to include swan release

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Five trumpeter swans were released May 12 at Lake Icaria north of Corning.

Dave Hoffman, coordinator of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources trumpeter swan restoration program, said the goal of the program is to have a self-sustaining population that will be hope­fully realized in the next 10 years.

The 11-month-old baby swans or cygnets were do­nated by zoos in Des Moines, Baltimore, Md., Cleveland, Ohio, Green Bay, Wis., and Kansas City.

Hoffman held a brief pro­gram prior to the release, which was attended by South­west Valley elementary students. Hoffman said the swans released will start fly­ing in a couple of months. He encourages the public to visit Lake Icaria and view the big birds but discouraged the public from feeding the swans as they will imprint on the area and hopefully return to Lake Icaria.

Hoffman said was encour­aged when he was informed two swans from prior releases were back home in Adams County on the northeast part of Lake Icaria. The trumpeter swan can live up to 30 years while in captivity but are subject to a high mortality rate because of power lines, lead pellets or fishing sinkers, shootings, and disease from eating moldy food.

A unique part of the May 12 program was the filming of the release by producer Steve Harryman. Harryman is creating a documentary to be aired on local public televi­sion. Hoffman said there were other area swan releases at Viking Lake and Lake Anita.

“It’s been a long-term pro­ject as it started out to be a look at the year in a life of a trumpeter swan but I was encouraged by so many states having restoration programs in Iowa, as well as in Michi­gan where I am from, includ­ing Canada,” Harryman said.

Harryman said the documen­tary will tell the story of the trumpeter swan including its history as well as current efforts to restore the trumpeter swan popula­tion and the future of the winged animal. He said Hoff­man encouraged him to Iowa to film portions of the docu­mentary.
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Harryman said he also filmed at Viking Lake as well as Lake Anita to provide foot­age for his documentary, which he said hopes to be a feature length of 90 minutes but could be scaled back to 60 minutes for television pur­poses. He hopes to air the documentary on the Public Broadcasting Service. Plans are to complete the documen­tary by late 2019 or early 2020.

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MARK SAYLOR/Free Press — Parent volunteers Andrea Bevington and Paulina Sharon help Southwest Valley students Joe Scarpello, Madeline Bevington, Alex Morgan, Destiny Licon, Aubrey Reed, Colton Pegg and Johnathan Weatherly put in a garden May 5 at the French Icarian Colony.

Fourth-graders put in gar­dens at Icarian Colony

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Forty-two fourth-graders from Southwest Valley Schools partnered with the French Icarian Foundation on May 5 to develop and plant a variety of gardens to create an ongoing hands-on learning environment for years to come.

The project is part of a ser­vice challenge the students undertook. Fourth-grade teachers Sally Woods and Dianne Roberts worked with Saundra Leininger, head of the French Icarian Foundation in Corning, to put the event together. Woods said they hope to eventually have six gardens around the site. An herb garden is being devel­oped that will produce fresh herbs for sale at 3 C’s Diner and possibly at the Farmers Market later this year, a sun­flower garden, and a fall dec­orative garden with Indian corn, gourds, and mini pump­kins, plus a three sisters gar­den, which will include sweet corn, pole beans, and squash. A sixth garden, a Heritage Garden, will likely become a reality next spring. It will feature native plants and grasses from all over Adams County.

Woods said several area parents and businesses, including Bloomers Greenhouse, which contrib­uted the plants, and Corning Rental, which supplied equipment, helped make the project possible. Woods said the students utilized their en­tire curriculum in preparing the sites for the planting. They used math in figuring out the size of the garden and how far to plant the seeds apart. Liter­ature was utilized to study how certain plots came to be. The students had also studied the French Icarian Colony as part of Iowa history. Science was also utilized with the study of seeds and soil.

Woods also said they hope to harvest the seeds in the fall to then replant in the spring eventually making it a semi self-sufficient project. It’s planned to take next year’s fourth-graders back to the site to help with the harvest of the plants and prepare it for the winter months.

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County OK’s budget amendment

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

The Adams County Board of Supervisors at last week’s meeting approved setting a public hearing date for a budget amendment.

County Auditor Becky Bis­sell said a portion amendment is to increase the county reve­nues in county conservation. Lake Icaria is having a good year so far, she said, and the expenditures part of the budget amendment are needed for capital improvements completed during this fiscal year.

Bissell said when the budget was set for the current fiscal year it was thought most pro­jects at the lake were going to be completed in the previous fiscal year and when that did not happen the current fiscal year’s budget had to be amended in order to allow money to be spent on those projects.

Bissell also said the city of Corning was also able to pay off its portion of the Aquatic Center debt, therefore the County Board of Supervisors made an additional payment on the loan for a little more than the city’s payoff amount, necessitating another amend­ment.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors also approved the hiring of another deputy, therefore an increase in the Sheriff’s Office budget was also needed for the deputy’s salary, truck, equipment, and uniforms. There was also some additional overtime hours by the dispatchers while they were short staffed.

The public hearing for the budget amendment is set for 10 a.m. May 16 in the board­room of the Adams County Courthouse in Corning. The supervisors also approved accepting bids for the mowing of the county care facility to be received by 4:30 p.m. May 12.

SW Iowa Cruisers hit the road

By Mark Saylor
Free Press

Several area classic cars rolled out of Corning Sunday afternoon en-route to Red Oak to enjoy pizza at the Pizza Ranch.

This was the inaugural event for the group Southwest Iowa Cruisers, classic car enthusi­asts from Adams County and area communities. Dale Car­michael, organizer of the event, said the group is just getting started and this was the first organized event with more to be planned in the upcoming months. Thirty-four cars and trucks participated in the first event to be hosted by the club.

“We are a group of people who love cars, trucks, cycles, sharing our passion and hav­ing fun,” Southwest Iowa Cruisers member George Ho­erman said.

The group is comprised of members from Corning, Creston, Clarinda, Villisca, and Red Oak. Additional members are welcome to at­tend their meetings on the third Thursday of each month at 5:30 p.m. at JO’s in Corn­ing; dues are just $25 a year. Car enthusiasts need not be paid members of the group to attend the meetings or partici­pate in the events.

“We love every era of car, truck and motorcycle, so there is something for everyone,” Hoerman said.

The group also has a Face­book page at “Southwest Cruisers” for all to keep up on scheduled meetings and events and where pictures and videos will also be posted.
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For more information on the group contact Carmichael by calling (712) 621-4803 or Hoerman at (763) 283-2574.

Community health event planned

Area residents are invited to a special night to gain aware­ness and understanding about being in control of their health.

CHI Health Mercy Corning is hosting Ignite Your Health from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thurs­day, May 4, at the Corning Winery. This come-and-go event will give attendees the chance to visit with health professionals on a variety of topics.

CHI Health Mercy Corn­ing’s wellness supervisor Cena Danielson said that a committee has put this event together.

“Last year we had a suc­cessful event for women,” Danielson said. “This year we would like to encourage men and women of all ages to at­tend. We have designed this event to be fun and informa­tive on a variety of topics which may impact your health.”

Attendees will have the chance to visit with health professionals and other ex­perts in seven different areas. One featured topic will be body ergonomics and proper lifting. From sitting on a tractor or at a desk all day, standing at the kitchen sink or working in the garden, body ergonomics plays a significant role in how we feel each day. Those attending can learn how to make tweaks in their daily lives to support the skel­etal/muscular system. Proper lifting will be emphasized too to maintain healthy backs and shoulders.

Another health station will include Healthy Relation­ships. Maggie Parrish, RN with Senior Life Solutions said, “This is an important topic no matter where you are in your life. Healthy relation­ships are a key component to a person’s health status. Studies have shown that when you have a network of people you know you can count on, your health status can be pos­itively impacted.”

Other topics will include healthy sleep habits, blood sugar and blood pressure screening, childhood health screening and immunizations and brain health. Along with CHI Health staff, representa­tives from Taylor County Public Health, Alzheimer’s Association and Matura will be sharing information.
Danielson noted a few other special parts of the event.

“When you arrive, you’ll be given a quick survey card to fill out and when you turn it back in, receive a compli­mentary beverage ticket,” she said. “They can enjoy this with the great appetizers available that evening. And of course, we hope that they take time to enjoy a chair massage while there. Dr. Bethel Kopp will be the featured speaker at 5:30 p.m. to give insight on helping you achieve your best health.”

This free event is designed for anyone ages 18 and older so they can learn about factors which impact their health and which factors they have the ability to make an impact on — through lifestyle changes.

“We want to encourage everyone to make choices for positive change in their health,” Danielson said. “Making the choice to be healthy can be tied to making the choice to be happy. Our goal is for everyone to leave the event with information that will help them commit to making choices to improve their health.”

Door prizes will be given to the first 100 in attendance including a month free pass to the Wellness Center. Four large door prizes will be drawn from attendees’ names: Weber Charcoal Grill, Fitbit, Grilling Basket and Gift Cer­tificate for Corning Meat Pro­cessing. Attendees don’t have to be present to win, as this is a come-and-go event.
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“We are excited about this event,” Danielson said. “The Corning Winery, located just south of the Highway 34 and 148 intersection, is a great location because it is such a soothing and enjoyable at­mosphere. Stop by to learn about becoming empowered for better health. We invite you to do just that on Thurs­day, May 4, from 5 to 7 p.m. at the winery.”

Corning honored with Main Street Iowa awards

Main Street Iowa hosted the 31st annual Main Street Iowa Awards Celebration on Fri­day, April 7, at Hoyt Sherman Place in Des Moines.

The program honored the efforts of those who work day in and day out in downtown revitalization in Iowa. Ap­proximately 550 individuals representing communities across the state attended the event.

Corning received the fol­lowing state awards and spe­cial recognitions: award for Outstanding Partnership with Southwest Valley Schools, recognition for reaching the $10 million benchmark for private investment in the Main Street District, and recognition for Outstanding Leadership by Nancy Turner. Thirty-three community members from the school, Main Street, and local busi­nesses represented Corning at the awards.

Main Street Iowa has annu­ally presented awards honor­ing outstanding accomplish­ments, activities and people that are making a difference in Iowa’s Main Street dis­tricts. Projects large and small are recognized and serve as outstanding examples of what historic commercial district revitalization is all about.

Fifteen projects and activi­ties occurring in local Main Street communities were se­lected to be recognized from the 160 competitive nomina­tions submitted. The honors were presented by Gov. Terry E. Branstad, Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds and Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA).

“The Main Street Iowa pro­gram has stood the test of time since its introduction in 1985. The program continues to bring businesses, jobs, in­vestment and vitality to our states’ communities, both big and small,” Branstad said. “The Main Street Approach works, and Main Street Iowa has been a national model because we are creative, we embrace change, we demand local initiative and action, while holding strong to our roots as an historic preserva­tion program.”

“Healthy, historic commer­cial districts are a key decid­ing factor for industrial and business recruitment,” said Reynolds. “Since 1986, local Main Street programs have made a significant impact on Iowa’s economy with 4,514 new businesses and a net gain of 13,402 jobs. More than 740 building projects have been reported with an investment in those rehabs of over $2 bil­lion. Last year alone, the Main Street Iowa network surpassed 156,135 total documented hours of human capital in­vested into Iowa’s downtown revitalization efforts. This demonstrates a tremendous commitment to Iowa’s Main Streets.”

During the event, 10 com­munities were recognized for reaching significant bench­marks based on private dollar investments made in the pur­chase and revitalization of properties within their respec­tive commercial districts. Centerville and Lansing were recognized for reaching the $1 million benchmark in the last year and Ft. Madison was honored for $2 million in lo­cal investment. Ames and Guthrie Center were recog­nized for achieving the $5 million level. Des Moines Sixth Avenue, Chariton, Corning, State Center and Ottumwa all attained $10 million in local investment since being designated as local Main Street programs.
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In 1985, the Iowa Legisla­ture adopted the National Main Street Center's Four Point Approach to district revitalization by establishing Main Street Iowa within the agency that is now the Iowa Economic Development Au­thority. Since its inception, the state program and its communities have been con­sidered examples of excel­lence in the national effort to revitalize historic commercial districts across the country.

Spring brings emergence of EAB

With the arrival of spring, the Iowa Emerald Ash Borer Team is asking Adams County residents to report suspected infestations of the emerald ash borer.

The presence of EAB, an invasive beetle that attacks and kills ash trees, was con­firmed last fall in Adams and Adair counties. The Iowa Department of Natural Re­sources says adult EABs emerge from beneath the bark of ash trees in May through mid-July, creating a D-shaped exit hole. Adult bee­tles are most active during warm sunny weather. They have a limited distance they can fly (one to four miles) depending on the wind but the greatest thing contrib­uting to the spread of EAB is the transportation of firewood.

The DNR says once the em­erald ash borer finds a mate, the female can lay 60-90 eggs in the crevices of ash tree bark. Adult beetles will feed on ash tree leaves creat­ing "notches" that does not harm the tree. It is estimated that adult beetles live up to six weeks after emergence. Usually by the time a new infestation is discovered, EAB has been in that area for 3-5 years slowly killing trees going unnoticed.

EAB kills a tree by disturb­ing and limiting the tree’s natural ability to deliver wa­ter and nutrients throughout the tree. The EAB larvae is the most destructive stage in the life cycle of the borer as it feeds under the bark of the tree all fall and winter de­stroying the tree’s vascular system. Adult EAB can only do minimal damage to a tree as it feeds on its leaves. As a tree becomes damaged there are visible indicators includ­ing canopy thinning, epicor­mic sprouting, bark splits, cracks, woodpecker damage, and the exclusive D-shaped exit holes in the tree.

Research indicates that in­secticide treatments work best as a preventive measure on healthy ash trees. Properly applied insecticides have yielded effective and con­sistent protection from EAB. The most recent maps indicat­ing the recommended treat zone can be found at iowatreepests.com. This is the Iowa Department of Agri­culture and Land Stewardship website that is updated regu­larly on the latest EAB news. The DNR recommends land­owners living within 15 miles of a confirmed infestation starting treatments if they wish to save their tree.

EAB is now present in 28 states after being discovered in Detroit, Michigan in 2002. EAB is native to Asia. The pest was discovered in Octo­ber at Lake Orient Recreation Area (Adair County Conserva­tion Board) in Adair County and a rural area north of Cromwell in Adams County. Insect larvae were taken from both sites and later positively identified by federal identifiers as EAB.

“It is particularly difficult to battle an invasive species like emerald ash borer,” said Mike Kintner, Iowa Depart­ment of Agriculture and Land Stewardship EAB and gypsy moth coordinator. “One thing people can do to help with this effort is avoid transport­ing firewood.”

The Iowa EAB Team strongly urges Iowans to use locally sourced firewood, burning it in the same county where it was purchased. Fire­wood is a vehicle for the movement of EAB. The adult beetle also can fly short dis­tances, approximately 2 to 5 miles.

The state of Iowa continues to track the movement of EAB on a county-by-county basis. Before a county can be officially recognized as in­fested, EAB must be col­lected by a member of the Iowa EAB Team and verified by USDA entomologists.

To learn more about EAB and other pests that are threat­ening Iowa’s tree popula­tion, visit www.IowaTreePests.com. Contact any of the following members of the Iowa EAB Team for more information:

• Mike Kintner, IDALS EAB coordinator, (515) 745-2877, Mike.Kintner@IowaAgricul­ture.gov 


• Robin Pruisner, IDALS state entomologist, (515) 725-1470, 
Robin.Pruisner@Io­waAgriculture.gov 


• Paul Tauke, DNR state for­ester, (515) 725-8450, Paul.Tauke@dnr.iowa.gov


• Tivon Feeley, DNR forest health coordinator, (515) 725-8453, Tivon.feeley@dnr.iowa.gov 

• Emma Hanigan, DNR ur­ban forestry coordinator, (515) 249-1732, 
Emma.Hanigan@dnr.iowa.gov 


• Jesse Randall, ISU Exten­sion and Outreach forester, (515) 294-1168, Ran­dallj@iastate.edu 


• Mark Shour, ISU Exten­sion and Outreach entomolo­gist, (515) 294-5963, mshour@iastate.edu 


• Laura Jesse, ISU Exten­sion and Outreach entomolo­gist, ISU Plant and Insect Diagnostic 
Clinic, (515) 294-0581, ljesse@iastate.edu 


• Donald Lewis, ISU Exten­sion and Outreach entomolo­gist, (515) 294-1101, 
drlewis@iastate.edu. 

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• Jeff Iles, ISU Extension and Outreach horticulturist, (515) 294-3718, iles@iastate.edu 

Local weather volunteers sought

By Harry Hillaker
State Climatologist

Corning, Iowa, on April 1. This was a very pleasant spring morning with clear skies and just a hint of a breeze from the southwest. At noon it was 63 degrees and winds were calm. The year was 1887.

The weather reporter was Capt. Charles S. Stryker who had recently moved to Corn­ing from Creston where he had also recorded weather observations for the Iowa Weather Service (predecessor to today’s State Climatologist Office and founded in Iowa City on Oct.1, 1875).
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Weather observations were recorded by volunteer weather observers at Corning nearly continuously from that spring day 130 years ago until Oct. 6, 2015. On that fall day Mercy Hospital, which had provided volunteer weather observations for the National Weather Service since May 5, 1965, submitted its final weather report. The weather was very similar to that April day in 1887 with a high tem­perature of 65 degrees the previous afternoon, no rain having fallen in the previous 24 hours and a final weather report of a temperature of 53 degrees at 7 a.m. Oct. 6.

Quite a range of weather was recorded over those many years. There was the blister­ing heat in the heart of the Dust Bowl years when the morning low temperature on July 25, 1936, was 85 degrees and the afternoon high soared to 115 degrees. This was one of 39 days that summer with highs climbing into the triple digits. Then there was that frigid day in 1912 when the temperature fell to minus 32 degrees on the morning of Jan. 12 and only “warmed” to a high of minus 13 degrees that afternoon. Then there was that strange spring in 1907 when five snow storms passed through after April 9 includ­ing a 7-inch accumulation on April 29 and 1.5 inches on May 3. Annual precipitation totals varied from only 15.98 inches in the drought year of 1988 to an even 60.00 inches in 1973.
With the closing of the Corning weather station in 2015, Adams County is now the only county in Iowa where no weather data is collected from any publically-available weather station.

The National Weather Ser­vice office in Johnston is looking for a volunteer weather observer in Corning, or at least within a five mile radius of town. The NWS will provide and install a rain gage and electronic temperature system. All that is required to be a volunteer weather ob­server is a suitable location to install the weather equipment and the ability to provide a once daily weather report containing the maximum and minimum temperature (rec­orded automatically by the temperature system), a man­ual daily precipitation meas­urement (rain and/or the liq­uid equivalent of new snow fall), the depth of any new snowfall and the total depth (old and new) of any snow or ice on the ground.

Additionally, there is an­other volunteer weather ob­server network with a need for weather observers any­where in the county. This is for the Community Collabo­rative Rain, Hail and Snow Network or “CoCoRaHS” (pronounced “KO-ko-rozz”). This network was begun by the State Climatologist Office in Colorado in 1998 in re­sponse to a deadly flash flood event that occurred the previ­ous year in Fort Collins. This network has spread to all 50 states, plus Canada, the Ba­hamas, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. CoCoRaHS has been in Iowa for nearly 10 years and has approximately 300 volunteers spread among 78 Iowa counties. This net­work requires use of a 4-inch diameter plastic rain gage to insure consistency of meas­urements at all sites across the network. There is no cost to join or participate in the net­work. More information can be found online at www.cocorahs.org.
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If either of these volunteer weather opportunities are of interest to you, or if you have any questions, feel free to contact Harry Hillaker, state climatologist at the Iowa De­partment of Agriculture in Des Moines, at (515) 281-8981 or Harry.Hillaker@IowaAgri­culture.gov. With your help we can put Corning and Ad­ams County back on the weather map.

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CHI welcomes new physician 
 Jeffrey Powell, D.O., Internal Medicine, will be joining CHI Health Mercy Corning and Clinic staff with clinic appointments starting April 3.

Dr. Powell is a native of Pen Argyl, Pa., a community with a population of about 3,600. After receiving his un­dergraduate degree in biology at Tem­ple University in Philadelphia, he continued with graduate work in im­munology and virology before he at­tended Lake Erie College of Osteo­pathic Medicine. Dr. Powell did his internal medicine residency at Inspira Medical Center, Vineland, N.J.

An internal medicine physician (in­ternist) has an undergraduate degree, four years of medical school and three years of internship/residency. The internist treats a broad range of dis­eases and medical conditions, but the focus is on adult medicine. Dr. Powell is a physician who will provide long-term, comprehensive care, managing both common and complex illness of adolescents, adults and the elderly. Internists are experts in diagnosis, treat chronic illnesses, promote health through strategies such as wellness education and try to prevent disease. Examples include the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, infections and diseases affecting the heart, blood, kidneys, joints and digestive, respira­tory and vascular systems. Dr. Powell has also trained in the essentials of primary care internal medicine, which incorporates an understanding of dis­ease prevention, wellness, substance abuse, mental health and effective treatment of common problems of the eyes, ears, skin, nervous system and reproductive organs.

Dr. Powell’s journey into health care started at home. His parents have health careers as his mother is a nurse and his father works in the lab at their local hospital. Dr. Powell’s grand­mother was also a nurse. A family critical health situation really brought into focus the idea of a health career for him.

“When I was 13, my grandpa had a pulmonary embolism. At the hospital, we were told that he wouldn’t likely make it because his heart had already stopped. The staff administered Tissue Plasminogen Activator (tPA), a medi­cation given to break up blood clots. My grandpa survived and is now 85 years old and active,” he said. “This influenced me to think about how medicine saved the life of someone I loved and I wanted to be able to do the same.”

Dr. Powell originally considered be­coming a surgeon or anesthesiologist but being a self-professed non-early morning person, he quickly realized those career choices wouldn’t be a good fit for him. During med school and residency he found that internal medicine was a path that allowed him to use his desire to “solve health puz­zles” for patients.

“I love complex patient cases, I like the chance to investigate and figure out how to help people become healthy again,” Powell said. “Internal medicine has a wide scope of practice and gives me flexibility in working through what the patient needs for their health.”

Medicine has also been part of his personal healing after having a shoul­der injury during a sparring match.

“I’ve been active in the mixed mar­tial arts since I was 8 years old starting with karate. At 13, American boxing was my next step followed by kick­boxing training,” he said. “I’ve had the opportunity to travel all over the world to compete in kickboxing. At one point, I trained in Thailand in the Muay Thai form of kickboxing.”

A friendly training session with a kick at the wrong moment incurred the injury requiring surgery and physical therapy to regain mobility. His exten­sive travels have led to a desire to learn foreign languages too. When not working, Dr. Powell enjoys working out, skiing, skateboarding, snow­boarding, being outside and most types of extreme sports including rac­ing motocross.

Dr. Powell recently moved to Corn­ing and has enjoyed getting to know the community prior to starting in the clinic. CHI Health Mercy Corning has a great partner in the Adams Commu­nity Economic Development Corpora­tion. ACEDC added a housing com­ponent to CHI Health Mercy Corn­ing’s incentive package to entice Dr. Powell to choose Corning and Adams County over other locations he was considering.

“Quality healthcare is a key eco­nomic component when bringing in new businesses and industries, and even more important to those already within the community wanting to ex­pand,” said Donna Hogan, ACEDC president. “The community needs to continue to work together to create opportunities and expand services to our residents.”

Dr. Powell will be accepting new patients starting the week of April 3 at the CHI Health Corning Clinic and can be contacted for appointments at (641) 322-5245. As a primary care provider, Dr. Powell will be practicing general medicine and will see patients for routine, non-emergency medical care in the clinic.

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Wyatt Konecne points out a postcard he received from his aunt in Kansas.

Postcards help students see the world

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

For the past three years, Corning Elementary second grade students have been working with friends and family near and far to learn about geography.

During the first quarter, students invited friends and family to mail in postcards from their hometowns or vacation destinations. Par­ticipants are encouraged to fill these postcards with in­formation about the popula­tion, culture, location relative to Corning, or local indus­tries. The students then post the postcards on one of three large maps — Iowa, United States and world — in the classroom.

Teacher Kate Jenett said, “It can be hard for them to really visualize and under­stand how different other places are. This project helps them to visualize it all better. And, they love to get mail.”

Anyone wishing to partici­pate in the project is encour­aged to send postcards to Corning second grade at 1012 10th St., Corning, IA, 50841.

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NSP funds aid property purchases

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

The city of Corning recently purchased properties at 903 Adams St. as well as 703 and 703-1/2 Ninth St. with funds remaining from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). These properties are set to be demolished.

A licensed specialist contracted by the city has removed the asbestos from all three locations, making them prepared for demolition as soon as weather permits. Kevin Olson of GO Construction has been contracted to demolish the properties on Ninth Street.

“I am hoping to start this weekend if the weather cooperates and it isn’t too muddy for the equipment,” said Olson.

The Corning Fire Department will conduct a controlled burn for training purposes of the property on Adams Street. The burn is scheduled for Sunday, March 12, contingent on favorable weather conditions. Sunday, April 2, has been set as an alternate day if the weather March 12 prohibits a safe burn.

Last year, the Southern Iowa Council of Governments, which the city has worked with as administrators of the NSP, informed the City Council that the state wanted to close out Corning’s participation in the program and encouraged the council to make a plan for how to use the remaining funds before time expired. The council and Mayor Jan Leonard outlined several properties that pose hazards or other nuisance concerns and prioritized which properties could be procured most quickly and at the least expense in order to make the biggest impact throughout the community.

After these properties were determined to be the priorities, the project was approved through SICOG and the state of Iowa before taking steps to purchase.

Corning’s participation in the NSP will come to a close by the end of March. Corning was initially given approximately $300,000 to participate in NSP. Since then the city has built one new home, rehabilitated two more and with the inclusion of the current projects demolished a total of six dwellings. Only one of those properties has not and will not be sold by the city. Memorial Rock Park was created in a green space created from the demolition of a blighted property.

After final bills from the purchase and demolition of these properties is complete, all remaining NSP funds will revert to the state of Iowa to be used for similar projects in other communities. Any money resulting in the sale of these properties or other properties that the city currently owns through NSP projects will also be returned to the state.

“We will be selling these properties as well as those we currently have ownership of, but the program has limitation for how these properties may be sold,” Mayor Leonard said. “We are not in the real estate business, nor are we interested in maintaining these properties at our expense long-term. Ideally we could get all of the remaining properties sold and back on the tax rolls.”

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — The Southwest Valley Timberwolves pose for a photo Feb. 27 following their successful season. Front row from left are Scotty Adcock, Jace Petersen, Scott Palmer, Wyatt McAlpin and Grant Mauer. Back row from left are coach Kyle Bashor, Jacob Webb, Hunter Poston, Trenton Drake, Dustin Lund, Jadon Bohn, Chance Cobb, coach Robert Whaley and coach Andrew Focht.

Timberwolf family ends on high note

The Timberwolves’ high hopes at the beginning of basketball season ended on a high note with the Class 1A District 14 title, a 14-11 rec­ord and two Second Team Pride of Iowa All Conference selections.
Southwest Valley won its last six games before falling Feb. 25 to Grandview Chris­tian School in the Class 1A Substate 7 Tournament.

“We started the season with high expectations, we had some ups and downs through­out the season and some really close games, we came together really well towards the end of the season and built the momentum go­ing into district play,” South­west Valley head coach An­drew Focht said. “The fan support was great, especially those kids in the student sec­tion, they really helped to keep us motivated and helped us win.”

Fans had much to be ex­cited about this season, espe­cially in the Timberwolves district championship game when SWV turned a 30-18 first half deficit into a 62-59 win over Fremont-Mills.

Much of that excitement came from the intensity of seniors Wyatt McAlpin and Scott Palmer and junior Chance Cobb. Cobb averaged 13.8 points per game, Palmer averaged 10.9 points per game and McAlpin averaged 10.7 points per game. McAl­pin and Cobb were both se­lected Second Team All Con­ference.

“Wyatt McAlpin was a four-year varsity player and a great athlete. He works hard and helps to keep our momen­tum going. He’s one of our best defenders,” Focht said. “Scott Palmer was al­ways in the play and along with Chance Cobb was a leader on the floor. We are going to miss them both next year.”

Teamwork was the key to the Timberwolves’ success, McAlpin said.

“It was fun watching the team progress into a family,” he said. “We built up a lot of trust, we knew we had each other’s back. It was a fun run.”

Palmer, too, saw the Tim­berwolves become a family in ways he couldn’t imagine.

“No one, including our­selves, would have seen us here at the start of the sea­son,” he said. “We started out as a team and ended as a fam­ily. It was a hell of a ride. We can look back and cherish and enjoy these memories when we are older.”

Cobb along with fellow jun­iors Jace Petersen, Tren­ton Drake, Jadon Bohn, Grant Mauer and Chance Tepoel will bring his talent, experi­ence and leadership skills back next year for, hopefully, an even more successful sea­son.

“It was amazing. We had such a good run, it’s just too bad we couldn’t finish it out the way we wanted,” Cobb said. “I want to give a shout out to our seniors Wyatt and Scott — they brought it every night and kept us going. I think we turned a lot of heads this year at districts and sur­prised people. We were one of the best teams in the confer­ence.”

“We had a great team work­ing together,” Focht said. “We couldn’t have done this without all of them.”

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Lundquist brings home state hardware

While Southwest Valley’s two state wrestling qualifiers — senior Bryce Newton and sophomore Teagan Lundquist — didn’t finish the tourna­ment as strong as they may have liked, coach Jason Wet­zel said the Timberwolves were well represented in Des Moines.

“We had an excellent week­end,” coach Jason Wetzel said. “Both boys wrestled well.”

Lundquist came home with a seventh place medal. After losing in a 5-2 decision to Brady Henderson in the first round, Lundquist came back to defeat Justin Severson by technical fall in 3:45 and Kea­ton Hetland in a 3-1 deci­sion. Lundquist fell to Logan Lutgen in a 7-1 decision but won the seventh round match in a 13-10 decision over Anavin Mounivong.

“Teagan wrestled a tough kid in the first round and was in the match the entire time but lost in the end. He had to win the second and third round matches to place, which he did,” Wetzel said. “The third round he won in overtime with a sweet outside leg takedown. He then lost the fourth match to the fourth ranked kid in the state and came back to wrestle for sev­enth place. He was wrestling a wrestler he defeated earlier in the year. This time it was very exciting but Teagan came away with the win. Plac­ing as a sophomore is quite an accomplishment and he will work hard in the offseason and improve for next year.”

Newton started off facing two strong opponents. In his first match, Newton lost by fall in 3:23 to Tom Rief, a wrestler with a 53-4 record at the time. Newton then faced Colton Francis, a wrestler with a 37-9 record at the time. Francis defeated Newton by fall in 4:52.

“We knew going into the meet Bryce would face the No. 2 ranked kid first round and would have the sixth or eighth ranked kid second round,” Wetzel said. “Alt­hough he lost both matches he was wrestling well through­out the two matches. It was great for Bryce to expe­rience the state tourna­ment.”

Lundquist, Newton qualify for state

In the first time since 2014, Southwest Valley will com­pete again in the Iowa High School Athletic Association State Wrestling Tournament.

Teagan Lundquist and Bryce Newton both placed second in the Feb. 11 in the Class 1A District 17 Tourna­ment in Underwood. Both claimed wins in the semifi­nals, Lundquist by pinning Dalton Rose of Clarinda Acad­emy in 1:59 at 126 pounds and Newton by pin­ning Denton Hicks of River­side in 2:47 at 220 pounds.

“Both boys wrestled well in their first match of the day, each earning pins,” Timber­wolves coach Jason Wetzel said. “Winning the first match is key and puts you in a much better position to qual­ify for state. They each lost their championship matches, Teagan to the No. 1 ranked wrestler from Under­wood and Bryce to a wrestler who has defeated him two previous times. Neither had to wrestle in a wrestle back match, which was quite a relief from the pressure each of them may have been feel­ing.”

In the championships matches, Alex Thomsen de­feated Lundquist in a 19-4 technical fall and Cade Suhr of ACGC defeated Newton by fall in 1:36.

With their semifinals wins, Lundquist and Newton shot at state wrested on the out­come of the third-place matches in their weight clas­ses. Had the opponents Lundquist and Newton had defeated lost, the two Timber­wolves would have found themselves on the mat once again. Rose and Hicks claimed wins to place third.

The IHSAA State Wres­tling Tournament will take place Feb. 16-18 Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Class 1A competition begins at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 16.

“At state on Thursday, Teagan starts of with the No. 6 ranked wrestler from North Linn, Brady Henderson. Bryce will begins the tourna­ment with the no. 2 ranked wrestler from Missouri Val­ley, Tom Reif,” Wetzel said. “The great thing about quali­fying for the state tournament is everyone who is there de­serves to be there. At anytime upsets can and often do hap­pen. We are going to Des Moines with the mindset of placing at the state tourna­ment. We want guys on the awards podium.”

The community will give Lundquist and Newman a send-off at 8 a.m. Feb. 16 on Davis Avenue and then onto Highway 138.

Speech stu­dents strong at state

Southwest Valley took three groups to the state group speech contest Feb. 4 at West Des Moines Valley.

Two groups received divi­sion I ratings and one group received a division II rating.
Earning Division I ratings were:

• Short Film, “No Clue,” with cast members Tom Wil­son, Jesse Houser, Duncan Roberts, Anthony Bynum and Bryce Newton; and

• Choral Reading, “... And a Class Bunny,” with cast mem­bers Tom Wilson, Ma­zene Laughlin, Grant Maurer, Anthony Bynum, Evan Davis, Connor Shipley, Adam Harris, Elizabeth Fuller, Erin Fle­harty, Danielle Wetzel, Abby Fleharty, Danica Drake, Katie Hoerman, Carlie Breaud, and Kaitlyn Richey.

Receiving Division II rat­ings were:

• Ensemble Act­ing, ”Barefoot in the Park,” with cast members Elizabeth Fuller and Quinton Scott.
Prior to state competition, the students honed their skills before a local audience Feb. 2 in the Southwest Valley Group Speech Home Show in Corning.

“I thought the kids per­formed very well, both on Saturday and at our home show Thursday night,” SWV speech coach Pete Nett said. “We had an absolutely fabulous crowd at the home show; it was great to see so much of the student body and the community get a chance to share with the kids the hard work they did with their selections.”

Chamber celebrates Super Heroes

By Don Groves
Free Press

“The Super Heroes of Ad­ams County” made their ap­pearance at the Adams Com­munity Chamber of Com­merce’s annual banquet Jan. 26 at Happy Hollow Country Club in Corning.

Chamber leaders used the Super Heroes theme to honor the businesses, organizations and volunteers that work to improve Adams County. This year’s award winners are:

• Gary Boswell, Agricultur­alist of the Year. This award is presented to an individual who has dedicated himself to the advancement within agri­cultural opportunities in Ad­ams Community;

• Jeff and Tina Russell of Bobbers Down Marina, Entre­preneur of the Year. This award is presented to an individual/business partners who have taken the initiative to develop, continue or ex­pand a business in Adams Community through excep­tional vision, effective leader­ship, innovation in products, services, or processes, market awareness, operational effi­ciency and/or outstanding customer service;

• Bob Stougard of Corning Gymnastics, Busi­ness/Organization of the Year. This award is presented to a business or organization that has continued growth and/or economic health, dedication to customer service, commu­nity involvement, leadership and innovative efforts to adapt to changing community;

• Doug Oldenkamp, John McMahon Volunteer of the Year. This award is presented to an individual who has shown outstanding volunteer efforts that have made a sig­nificant and positive impact on the Adams Community; and

• Ken Rummer, Joe Cook Lifetime Support Award. This award is presented to an individual who has shown long-term dedication to the betterment of the Adams Community.

Prior to the presentation, the Adams Community Foun­dation chair Nancy Turner presented the foundation’s January cycle of grant awards. Awards went to:

• CHI Health Wellness Cen­ter $1,900 for wellness equipment;
• City of Prescott/Prescott Fire and Rescue, $20,000 for fire equipment;  
• Corning Opera House Cul­tural Center, $15,000 for window preservation;
• City of Prescott, $10,000 for a dump truck; and
• City of Corning, $5,148 and $52,048 for renovation of park restrooms.

Turner said the foundation, which celebrated its 30th anniversary with a free First Friday Barbecue in July, has presented 243 grants and has invested more than $1 million back into the community since its first grant was pre­sented in 1988. The next round of grant applications is due the first Friday in June.

Outgoing chamber presi­dent Jerry Peckham said the chamber gained eight new members in 2016. The new members are TS Bank; Akin Design Center; First National Bank of Massena; Rasmussen, Nelson and Wonio, PLC; Carvers Ridge; Taylor County Public Health; and Preferred Properties.

Treasurer Jodi Lyddon pre­sented a financial report. The chamber was under budget on income in 2016 with $28,090 budgeted and $25,286.69 actual. It was also under budget on expenses as well with $31,634 budgeted and $27,494.93 actual. Lyddon said the 2017 budget is simi­lar to 2016’s actual, with in­come budgeted at $26,465 and expenses at $26,465.

Julia Paul presented the chamber’s 2016 highlights. Among them were $9,000 in Chamber Bucks, 252 people attending the annual Flight Breakfast, more than 30 busi­nesses participating in Sam­ple Corning, six First Friday Barbecues, the lighted Christ­mas parade, visits with Santa, an Halloween costume con­test and other events.

Paul said the chamber’s 2017 goals include hiring a new chamber director, in­creasing membership, sum­mer networking events, Cham­ber Coffees and continu­ing existing events.
Denny Villhauer, chamber board member and 2016 vice president, challenged cham­ber members to keep the com­munity growing in 2017.

“Who will be our Super He­roes in 2017?” he asked.

Jessica Wilson, incoming chamber president, closed the banquet with a few brief com­ments.
​
“I look forward to being president in 2017,” she said. “We will make our commu­nity stronger, viable and a great place to call home.”

Rummer to retire after 36 years

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

After serving for more than 36 years as the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Corning, Ken Rummer will officially retire on Jan. 31. The church will celebrate his ministry Jan. 28 with an open house from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. before his final worship service on Sunday.

Ken and his wife Myrna moved to Corning with their toddler son Tim in 1980 after having served four years as the assistant pastor at Douglas Avenue Presbyterian Church.

“I served under three senior pastors in four years,” said Ken. “The time served functionally as an apprenticeship. When I got here, it was several years before I ran into something ‘new.’ That time really helped to prepare me for the unexpected of ministry.”

Rummer began to feel called into ministry during his sophomore year of college at Michigan State. Rummer chose to take ancient Greek to fulfill his foreign language requirement. As an electrical engineering student, Ken began feeling the pull to go to seminary. One professor told his students that everyone should spend at least one year at seminary. When he graduated from Michigan State he turned down a job with a large engineering firm and decided instead to attend the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary.

During his time at UDTS, the seminary had a sharing agreement with two other seminaries in Dubuque.  Between the three institutions, there were approximately 100 students with access to 65 faculty.

“We had a lot of personalized interaction with the faculty and were exposed to a variety of theological perspectives,” said Rummer.

Presbyterian churches function on a call system. In this system, churches and pastors each fill out a profile outlining their ministry needs and gifts. Those profiles are submitted to a computerized central system that puts together potential matches. This process usually takes several months up to a few years.

At the time that the Rev. Rummer was looking for a new ministry placement, there was a large volume of pastors and churches looking for a match. The general assembly held what it called a face to face, an event at a central location where search committees and clergy could meet in a series of short meetings. Pastors could meet with up to six churches in one day to speed along the process of making matches.

“The call process is a little bit like online dating. Each side fills out a profile and after a series of talking with and interviewing potential matches, search committees bring in a candidate to meet the congregation,” said the Rev. Rummer. “These face-to-face meetings were sort of like the speed-dating. I met with six committees in one day.”

The contingent from Corning was Rummer’s final meeting of the day. Despite being tired from a long day, something about his meeting with the committee stood out as special or different from his other meetings.

“I interpreted that little something extra as the moving of the Holy Spirit,” he said. “There was liveliness and life here that I deeply responded to. Soon after the face-to-face meetings we came to Corning to interview. When we came to visit, our son Tim was only about one and a half. A parishioner, Raymond Moore, offered to take him to find the toys while Myrna and I took a tour of the town. When Tim took Raymond’s hand and just toddled off, we knew this was special.”

Rummer followed the Rev. Jim Sinning who had served First Presbyterian Church for 27 years. When he began his ministry here, Rummer felt that if this were a good match it would last about 10 years. He never imagined that it would be more.

“I thought 27 years was ridiculous at the time,” he remembered. “Opportunities to move on arose, but it was never the right time. We were always right in the middle of something. Sometime around 11 and a half years in, I had a personal crisis. I had outrun my imagined future and didn’t know what I was supposed to do next. After wrestling with myself, I decided to just be here. I told God, ‘if you want me somewhere else, I’m going to need a big sign. That sign never came.”

Thirty-six years leaves time for a lot of growth, both personally and professionally.

“If I were the same pastor as when I came, this would not work,” he said. “I’ve grown and changed and so has the church. There have been new and different areas of ministry to focus on each year.”

Through their years in Corning, Ken and Myrna have served the community outside the walls of First Presbyterian in many ways. After a few years at home with Tim and daughter Tricia, who was born after the family moved to town, Myrna served a term on the school board before joining the faculty at the middle school. While she taught, she also pursued a master’s degree in guidance counseling from Northwest Missouri State University. After working as counselor for both Corning and Prescott school districts, she took courses with an Iowa State University cohort to earn an endorsement in school administration. She spent seven years as the principal of Corning Elementary before retiring. In total she spent 20 years working in the district.

Using her gifts in counseling and education, Myrna has served on boards for Midwest Opportunities, Crossroads and the Corning Education Foundation. Ken served on as chair of the Main Street Corning Design committee and the Main Street board when Corning became a Main Street community. During his tenure the committee worked on façade upgrades and were recruited by the city to work on repairing or replacing the bandstand in Central Park. Ken became the chair of the task force that redesigned Central Park.

In trying to reflect on the life they have led here, Myrna said, “It’s a collection of happenings through the years. Building friendships and relationships.”

Ken shared that he has had the honor to witness the moment when a fussy baby gets calm and quiet during baptism, a moment of understanding when in a child’s eyes as they partake of communion and being present at the deep and mysterious moment of death.
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The next chapter for the Rummers begins with a vacation to visit Myrna’s sister in Florida for a few weeks of what Ken calls “retirement lessons” followed by a period of time helping with preparations for a soon to be born grandbaby. They expect their new home in Ankeny by the High Trestle Trail to be finished by the end of March.

CHI Health sees leadership changes

Joan Neuhaus, senior vice president of CHI Health Support Services, recently announced that Deb Gold­smith became president of regional operations for CHI Health.

For the past year, Gold­smith has overseen the oper­ations of CHI Health’s owned critical access hospi­tals (CAH), while maintain­ing her role as president of CHI Health Mercy Hospital, Corning. Neuhaus said that Goldsmith has done an ex­cellent job, working with the CAH hospital presidents, to expand access and maintain CAH hospital profitability throughout the region.

In her new role, Goldsmith will have oversight responsi­bility for CHI Health wholly owned hospitals: CHI Health Missouri Valley Hospital, Missouri Valley, Iowa; CHI Health Schuyler Hospital, Schuyler, Neb.; CHI Health St. Mary’s Hospital, Ne­braska City, Neb.; CHI Health Mercy Hospital, Corning; CHI Health Plainview Hospital, Plainview, Neb.; CHI Health managed hospitals: Memo­rial Community Hospital and Health System, Blair, Neb.; Thayer County Health Sys­tem, Hebron, Neb.; and Pawnee County Memorial Hospital, Pawnee City, Neb.

In addition to hospital oversight, all operations to support CHI Health’s critical access hospital networks will also fall under Goldsmith. This will include work in the areas of credentialing, peer review, quality and opera­tional support for CAH Net­work hospitals.

One of Goldsmith’s first decisions was the selection of a new president for CHI Health Mercy Corning. Goldsmith recently an­nounced the appointment of Lisa Wolfe to the position of president for Mercy Hospital Corning and Clinics with administrative duties begin­ning Jan. 1.

“We are pleased that Lisa Wolfe accepted this leader­ship role,” Goldsmith said. “Lisa has been a strong team member at the management level and advocate for Mercy Corning. As president, she brings a wealth of knowledge from her hands-on health care experience and former leadership re­sponsibilities.”

Wolfe has worked for CHI Health Mercy Corning 13 years starting in education and clinical support services and serving as operations director for ancillary services for the past eight years. Lisa (Kannas) Wolfe was a grad­uate of Corning High School and received her registered associate degree in nursing from Southwestern Commu­nity College, her Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Phoenix and is currently working toward a Master’s Degree in Health Care Administration. Mar­ried to John Wolfe of Creston, together they have two sons, Jacob and Jay.

“I am honored to have been selected to fill the role as president. When I returned to my hometown to work 13 years ago, I knew I was making a good choice to support the health care of this community,” Wolfe said. “One of my first duties was as the health career instructor for Corning High School. It’s rewarding to see those students now have active health careers and making a difference for others. It’s that type of future I see for our hospital: to make a differ­ence for our community and for people’s health. The business of health care is changing rapidly but one constant for Mercy Corning is the compassion, quality and dedication of service to those who come to us for health care. I’m excited to lead the hospital and clinics on the journey to remain a strong, viable asset of our area.”

CHI Health Mercy Corning is part of the CHI Health regional health network stretching across Nebraska and southwest Iowa. It serves patients and communities through 15 hospitals, two stand-alone behavioral health facilities and more than 150 employed physician practice locations. The system in­cludes 2,820 licensed beds and serves as the primary teaching partner of Creighton University’s health sciences schools. In fiscal year 2013, the organization provided a combined $130.7 million in quantified community bene­fit including services for the poor, free clinics, education and research.

“Mercy Corning is a key player in CHI Health’s on­going mission to provide quality health service to the residents of southwest Iowa and southeast Nebraska re­gions,” Goldsmith said. “It is a win-win partnership to have this hospital in our net­work and to work together to keep health care services where they need to be, close to those who need them. I have every confidence in Lisa’s ability to continue in providing the leadership to strengthen Mercy Corning abilities to meet that need.”

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Young engineers thrive at SWV

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Southwest Valley schools hosted a FIRST TEC (FTC) robotics competition on Jan. 7.

Sixteen Iowa teams, in­cluding three representing Southwest Valley, filled the high school gymnasium and commons areas with their robots and cases of back-up supplies and tools.

Each year, FIRST employs a team of engineers to design and develop a new FTC game. Some components of the game stay the same from year to year, for example, the field is always a 12 by 12-foot square with lighted bea­cons on the two sides oppo­site of the drivers. There are four phases to each meet: judging/interview, qualifying rounds, alliance selection and finals. During the judg­ing portion, teams talk with the judges about their design and building process as well as any community awareness activities they have partici­pated in.

For qualifying rounds, each team is paired randomly with another team to form either a red or blue alliance. In a meet the size of this one, there are 20 qualifying matches. After qualifiers, the top four teams select which team they would like to align with for the semi-finals round. The winning alliance from each semi-finals round compete against each other to determine the overall win­ning alliance. 

The game this year is titled “Velocity Vortex.” It con­sists of a center vortex (a pair of goals atop a pole —these goals can rotate when pushed) and two corner vor­tices, three small balls of each color (particles) and two larger “cap” balls that begin the round parked around the center vortex. There are a variety of ways to score points during the match, including tossing a particle through the center vortex goal, moving or lift­ing the cap ball, claiming the beacon or parking a robot in designated areas. Each task is worth a different amount of points. Teams are given a basic kit of parts and are allowed to add materials within specified parameters. The finished robots must fit within maximum dimension of 18 inches by 18 inches by 18 inches and be pro­grammed using Java-based programming controlled by an Android device.

During the design and building phase, teams ana­lyze the game and decide which aspects they will focus on for their scoring. Some robots at Saturday’s compe­tition were focused on lifting the cap ball and claiming beacons, while others were more concerned with col­lecting and shooting particles through the center vortex.

The match plays out in three parts. First is a 30 se­cond autonomous period, during which the robot exe­cutes a preprogrammed ma­neuver. This is followed by a driver-controlled period of two minutes and a 30 second driver controlled end game. The end game is when robots designed to lift the cap ball transition from other modes of scoring.

Southwest Valley is home to three teams: 8882 — An­nihil8ors and 3634 — KISS represent the high school and 9566 — Tech Bam is from the middle school.

The Annihil8tors team of Ryan Maeder, Daniel Kin­yon, Connor Shipley, Melissa Wiechman, Paige Garland, Bryce Newton, Nic Frede, Hayden Bayles, Jesse Houser, Tom Wilson and Duncan Roberts finished in 15th place.

The middle school team, sponsored by Kelsi Bruce, consists of the eighth grade students from the Extended Learning Program (ELP). These students competed with FTC as seventh-graders and decided to take on the challenge again this year. Each student has designated roles within the team. Marah Larsen and Blaine Venteicher focused on the pro­gramming. Larsen, Aubrey Boswell and Aspen Lundquist completed the build, while Sydney Davies and Kaitlyn Bruce, the “me­dia” team, documented the progress for the team’s engi­neering journal. Kendi Gra­ham is a rover, helping out with building and program­ming as needed. During competition, Larsen, Graham and Venteicher take turns driving, while Lundquist and Boswell serve as coaches.

“Last year, I offered the idea as a project the group could all work on together for their ELP time,” said Ms. Bruce. “They did pretty well, and enjoyed it, so we tried it again this year. I have been learning about robotics and engineering right along with them.”

When evaluating this year’s game, Tech Bam de­cided to focus its efforts on collecting and shooting the particles. During the auton­omous phase, the team’s robot is programmed to shoot two particles before moving the cap ball and parking on the center vortex. If autonomous runs exactly as programmed, the team should score a total of 40 points before the driver-con­trolled period even begins. Robot No. 9566 is designed with a brush created out of zip-ties attached to a spin­ning rod to sweep up parti­cles and transfer them to a throwing arm during the driver-controlled period.

“The competition is a lot of fun. I like to try to solve the problem,” said Venteicher. “I would like to do something like this in the future. I’ve learned a lot.”

Larsen agreed, through this process she has discovered that she has some interest in engineering.

“I really like the problem solving,” she said. “We start with nothing but a bunch of parts and come together to build a robot that can do all these different things. Our robot this year is very differ­ent from the one last year.”

Others on the team are less interested in the engineering aspects of the challenge, but enjoy the emphasis on working together as a team to solve a problem.

“It’s really fun, the group is fun,” said Boswell. “And I like meeting new people. I think it would be great to form a new team next year and keep working together.”

Tech Bam ended the day in 13th place.

Team KISS (an acronym for Keep It Super Simple) has a few veteran members, but most of the participants are new to FTC. Home school senior Rebekah Queener returns to her role as media and coach for a third year. In addition to de­signing their team logo each year and talking to members of the community about ro­botics, Queener focuses her energies on helping the younger members of the team to stay calm under the pressure of competition and focus on following the rules of engagement.

“We have some very com­petitive people on our team, and when things aren’t going as planned, I feel it is my role to help them stay calm through the match,” she said. “Sometimes we have some communication glitches, but when we focus and work together our robot will work how we want it to.”

Ashlyn Pittman is a fresh­man student who is also new to the community. She joined robotics because she wanted to get to know other students and her new community. Her role as media is to help get the word out about their team and get additional students and community members involved.
First year competitors Jor­dan Joyce, Tristan Cline and Suzie Hensley focus on the building, programming and driving of the robot. Both Cline and Hensley credit middle school teacher Erin Wetzel with encouraging them to pursue robotics after demonstrating a natural tal­ent during Project Lead the Way classes.

KISS chose to focus its efforts on claiming beacons. During the autonomous pe­riod, the robot is designed to hit the cap ball and park on the ramp. Recently, the team added a mechanism to the robot to lift the cap ball dur­ing the end game phase. Sat­urday was the test run to see if the design modifications would be successful. During the main phase, the robot’s focus is on pushing the but­tons to claim the beacons for their alliance.

In addition to the five members of the team at the competition on Saturday, Steven Jennings, Mark Collwell, Tracy Baker and Natalie St. John round out the team.

“We stalled out during our first match today,” said Cline. “I’m trying to figure out now if it is an electrical or a mechanical failure so we can solve the problem and keep competing.”

After locating and fixing the mechanical problem KISS went on to finish eighth in the qualifying round and be selected by the fourth seeded team as its alliance partner. Team KISS also earned the Motivate judged award for its commu­nity activities with the County Fair and inspiring others to join Robotics. This award qualified them to move on to the next round of competition Feb. 4 in Sioux City. 

Mobile devices engaging, concerning at SWV

The use of mobile devices in Southwest Valley High School classrooms has ad­ministrators reaching out to students and parents over new safety concerns.

Southwest Valley High School principal Jamie Craig said the vast majority of staff and students have a cell phone or tablet that they use on a regular basis. Teachers have incorporated mobile devices into instruction this year dif­ferent than any other. Stu­dents can use their phones and tablets to conduct research, take assessments, and practice skills. They can communicate with family and friends bringing real-world conversa­tion from all around the world.

Students engage in content different than ever before, Craig said. There are also many concerning behaviors that come with students bringing devices to school. While the positive opportunities for em­bedding technology in the curriculum are endless, so are the negative impacts of inap­propriate use of mobile de­vices.

“Two new concerns have come up lately that parents and the public should be aware of: live broadcasting and spoofing,” Craig said. “Mobile devices have been able to make recordings for a long time, but now those vid­eos can be viewed live as they happen on apps like Facebook and Instagram. When some­one initiates a live broadcast, their followers — someone who ‘likes’ their information feed — receive a notification that they are online broad­casting. With Facebook, the live recording stays on the person’s feed until they delete it. This is very popular with news organizations now as they try to fill every minute of the 24/7 news cycle and be first on the scene.”

Instagram is different be­cause when the live broadcast stops, no video is saved, Craig said.

“This creates a privacy issue for both staff and students and a distraction to the classroom as students receive notifica­tions on their devices that their friends are broadcast­ing,” he said. “At no time are students authorized to video capture, photograph, or audio record others in the school building, on school property, or at school activities unless recording a public perfor­mance, such as a school play, game, concert, contest, etc.”

Craig said the second issue is spoofing.

“Spoofing is when someone sends you a message appear­ing to be someone else,” he said. “This means, for exam­ple, that if you receive a mes­sage from someone you know but isn't content you recognize or is harassing in nature, it may be coming from someone else that has your number and is using a third-party applica­tion to send the unwelcome message. Because these mes­sages do not originate from the cell phone number they say they do, tracking the mes­sages is extremely difficult. This makes cyberbullying harder to investigate, and can get someone in trouble that's number is being used to send harassing texts."

Craig said Southwest Valley High School will not tolerate use of mobile devices with the exceptions of times noted in the student handbook and when approved by teachers or administration.
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“We ask that parents please have a conversation with your children regarding inappropri­ate use of mobile devices at school and possible conse­quences that could come as a result,” he said. “There are many positive ways that tech­nology can be harnessed to give students a more engaging educational experience, and we want to operate with a mobile device policy that al­lows for appropriate class­room usage. We appreciate your support in helping the school prepare students for appropriate device usage as they work to achieve their goals, and as our staff works to provide a quality educa­tional experience for all our students.”

JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Corning Elementary School buddies Zoey Mullen and Addy Morgan and Wyatt Mendenhall and Dre Sparks read together in the library.

Young mentors help kin­dergarteners

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Corning Elementary School is home to a unique mentoring program now in its second year. Each Corn­ing third grade student is paired with a kindergartener. These students meet gener­ally once a month to bond and work together on their reading and other activities.

Third grade is the youngest group of students in the up­per elementary pod at the school.

“We wanted the kids to have the chance to connect with a grade level in the west pod and have a role model,” said kindergarten teacher Sarah Morrison. “The third-graders get to act as a little bit of a mentor to their kin­dergarten buddies.”

Each grade is split into two sections, so each time they meet, half of the third-grad­ers go to the kindergarten room while half of the kin­dergarteners travel to the third grade room. This way, there are never too many children in one classroom at any given time. It also gives the kindergarteners a chance to experience a “big kid classroom” and reminds the third-graders of how much they have grown in the past couple of years.

“We always plan a fun ac­tivity when we meet,” said Morrison. “We want the kids to be excited to see their buddies. Next week when we get together the third-graders are presenting a readers the­ater and we will share our Gingerbread story with them. We have also made crafts to give a Christmas gift to our buddies.”

Other projects completed or planned focus on getting to know one another and improving literacy skills. Students created a book to­gether after interviewing their buddy to learn about what he or she likes and doesn’t like. Later in the school year, students will share their research projects with their buddies.

Third grade teachers Kathy Sothman and Rachel Foutch shared that while the benefits to the kindergarteners may seem more obvious, third-graders are also getting a chance to improve their skills through the partner­ship.

“We want to incorporate social activities to foster skill building, guided interaction and to let the older students take ownership of leading, mentoring and encouraging younger students,” said So­thman. “The younger stu­dents remind our third-grad­ers how far they've come as readers and communicators.”

 The third grade students were very excited to talk about their buddies. Some students already knew their buddies because they are the little brothers and sisters of classmates, ride the same bus or attend the same daycare. Others have met a new friend.

“I really liked getting to meet my buddy and learn more about her because I didn’t know her before,” said Oakley.

Wyatt agreed, “I got to know my buddy better while we made our book.”

“We are making ornaments for our buddies today,” said Aiden.

While some third grade students focused on the so­cial aspect of working with their buddies, others were excited about their reading and the upcoming presenta­tions.

“I helped my buddy read and also work on spelling,” said Ellie C.

“I am excited for our read­ers theater next week. I get to be the gingerbread girl and have people chase me,” shared Ada.

“I’m excited to be a narra­tor and show the kids that you can learn how to re­member your lines,” said Lucas.

Gavin shared that he helped his buddy learn to speak more clearly. “I had a tough time understanding him at first. But as we kept working together, it got eas­ier.”

“I think it’s neat that we get to help them learn to read,” said Chloe.

Cael is excited because, “We get to help them learn.”

“I’m a much better reader and have learned to be a better person than I was in kindergarten,” said Wyatt. “And my kindergarten buddy is helping me learn too.”
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Above all else, that is the goal of this partnership — both kindergarten and third graders will grow academi­cally and socially and come to learn more about them­selves in the process. 

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — The ladies of Sew and Sew quilting club present World War II Army veteran Frannie Mack with a Quilt of Valor to honor his service and sacrifice for his country on Dec. 12. Shirley Fleharty was not available for the presentation.

Quilts serve as reminders to veterans

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

The Sew and Sew quilting group formed 10 years ago with the mission of creating hand-quilted pieces to gift to local non-profit organizations.

A few years ago, the ladies of Sew and Sew learned of the national organization called Quilts of Valor. At that time, the group made a pair of quilts that they presented to recently returned, injured local veterans.

Quilts of Valor was created in 2003 by Catherine Roberts while her son was deployed in Iraq. The first Quilt of Valor was given to a young soldier from Minnesota at Walter Reed Army Medical Center who had lost his leg in Iraq. The thought was simple, a handmade quilt is comforting and reminds the veteran that someone cares for them.

By 2005, Quilts of Valor had grown so quickly that it became an official non-profit organization. In those early days, quilts were only awarded to injured veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. However, quilts were awarded to a group of Vietnam veterans in 2009 when a group of recent veterans could not be located for the program. These veterans commented to organizers that these quilts and the people who presented them were the first thank you they had received for their service in the 40 years since they had returned home. Roberts changed the rules immediately. Now, any warrior who had been touched by war, regardless of dates of service, could receive a Quilt of Valor, no questions asked.

The guidelines for the quilts are both simple and specific. They are to fall within certain dimensions, not too small to comfortably wrap around an adult, but not so large as to be a bed quilt. They are to be patriotic in color scheme and unless they are made with a specific recipient in mind are not to include the insignia of any specific branch of the military. The quilts must be machine or hand quilted and must be labeled as a Quilt of Valor.

The ladies of Sew and Sew have just finished another piece for Quilts of Valor and presented it to World War II veteran Frannie Mack. In an effort to show that Mack’s contributions have not been forgotten, the quilters spent the better part of the past year creating and hand-quilting the project.

The Sew and Sew quilters meet two to three days a month and spend about six hours working on their projects. They chose Mack as their recipient before they began the project last year in October. Each of the nine women — Shirley Fleharty, Erma Fuller, Gwen Herbert, Norma Mosman, Joleen Nelson, Donna Peckham, Kay Peckham, Judi Perrin and Marilyn Shellenberg — pieced together four quilt blocks of whatever patterns they chose. When the individual blocks were completed they pieced them all together into one quilt top. After the quilting process was completed, Perrin took the quilt home to attach the binding and prepare it for presentation.

Donna Peckham shared that they chose Mack because everyone knows him so well and frankly, the time remaining to honor World War II veterans is coming to a close.

“All veterans are deserving, but we can only get so many quilts done,” said Donna. “We will keep working on it to try to reach more.”

Mack served in the United States Army as a medic from 1943 to January 1946.

“I was one of 12 medics in charge of caring for a company of 800 men,” he remembers. “I was able to see a lot of the world. I was stationed in New Guinea, New Zealand, the Philippines and Japan. I was lucky enough to be in Manila when the atomic bombs went off. If I had already been allowed to travel to Tokyo, I wouldn’t still be here.”

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Christmas Angels brighten holiday

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

For well over the past two decades, Corning churches have been supporting local families in need at Christmas time.

In the early 1990s Mary Morrison, Nancy Mann and Beth Waddle got together and decided to combine their efforts in order to reach more families and individuals in a more effective way. They came together as representatives of the Presbyterian, United Methodist and Catholic churches in the community and formed the Christmas Angels program. Nancy Turner joined the Angels on behalf of First Presbyterian to replace Mary Morrison several years ago.

“We know that gifts aren’t the point of Christmas, but there’s nothing worse than not being able to give your child something for the holidays,” said Waddle. “For me, the best parts of the program are the grateful hugs from parents and the excitement of the children when they see their box at pick up day.”

Since they began keeping records in 1995, Christmas Angels has sponsored hundreds of local children and their families.

“Our records from 1995 show we had 13 families with a total of 41 children,” shared Waddle. “Now we average 50 to 65 families each year with over 200 individuals receiving gifts. This year we have 46 families with a total of 191 children.”

In addition to gifts for the children of the families, Christmas Angels provides food items through partnerships with Corning Meat Processing and Hy-Vee. Each family receives frozen ground beef and specialized Hy-Vee gift cards when they pick up their gifts. These gift cards indicate how many of which items each family can purchase at Hy-Vee to create meals like spaghetti, chili or macaroni and cheese. This year, thanks to increased generosity of cash gifts toward food items, families will also receive sausage from Corning Meat Processing and be able to get some fresh fruit and vegetables from the grocery store. These food gifts are calculated according to family size and are primarily non-perishable items in order to extend their usefulness beyond the few weeks around Christmas.

In years past, the adults in the families have been given Chamber Bucks or gift cards to local stores. This year, the Christmas Angels team has decided to direct funds to purchasing additional food items for the entire family instead.

“We wanted to focus on things that were the most helpful for the families we support,” said Waddle.

While Christmas Angels began with the three churches, there are now additional churches, businesses and school groups in the community that support the program.

“Each year we have more families offering to help than we have families to sponsor,” said Waddle. “I’m always overwhelmed by the generosity of our community. I feel that Christmas Angels demonstrates the true meaning of Christmas — people supporting each other, coming together to care for one another.”

Many families use the Christmas Angels program to teach generosity and giving to their children.

“Each year we have parents ask if there is a family they can sponsor that has children the same ages or gender as their kids so they can take ownership of picking out just the right gift,” shared Waddle. “And we’ve been doing this for so long, that now we have people who shopped for families with their parents who now adopt families with their own children. Seeing the generational impact is incredible.”

While Christmas has always been and will continue to be their focus, the Christmas Angels program has evolved through the years and supported the community in a variety of additional ways. They have purchased freezers for the community food pantry, provided summer food gifts to families, helped with the purchase of school supplies and assisted families in emergency situations by referral.
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Cash donations may be made to the Christmas Angels account at any time at Iowa State Savings Bank.

Rep. Young’s legislation becomes law

Iowa’s Third District Rep. David Young introduced a piece of Legislation, the No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act, June 7 in response to con­cerns voiced by Iowa veter­ans about unanswered calls, emails or other communica­tions, and failed attempts to receive help from the Veter­ans Crisis Line.

These concerns directly dispute previous assurances from the Department of Vet­erans Affairs to congres­sional VA committees that problems like these had been addressed. The legislation also follows an investigation by the VA Office of the In­spector General, which re­vealed a lack of quality con­trol measures to ensure communications are an­swered promptly and re­sponse efforts are properly documented.

The legislation provides necessary responsiveness and performance improve­ments to the Veterans Crisis Line, which is the confiden­tial, toll-free hotline for vet­erans seeking suicide pre­vention and crisis resources help from VA responders.

 “Our men and women in uniform sacrifice a great deal to keep our country safe and secure, and we owe it to them to provide the best health care possible,” Young said. “When a veteran is in crisis and is reaching out for help, we have to guarantee someone is there for them 100 percent of the time. No excuses. Any instance of a veteran having trouble with the Veterans Crisis Line is simply unacceptable. This legislation requires the VA to provide and implement a plan to improve responsive­ness and performance of the crisis line, an important step to ensure our veterans have mental health resources they need.”

Late in the day on Sept. 26, the U.S. House of Repre­sentatives overwhelmingly approved Rep. Young’s bi­partisan legislation by a vote of 357-0.

On Nov. 16, the U.S. Sen­ate also unanimously ap­proved the No Veterans Cri­sis Line Call Should Go Un­answered Act.

“I appreciate the unani­mous support this legislation has received from my col­leagues in both the House and the Senate, and I hope upon reaching the president’s desk, this bill will be quickly signed into law,” Young said.

President Barak Obama signed the legislation into law Nov. 28. The law re­quires the VA secretary to create a quality assurance process outlining perfor­mance indicators and objec­tives to address responsive­ness and performance of the Veterans Crisis Line and backup call centers, and a timeline noting when objec­tives will be reached, as well as develop a plan to ensure any communication to the Veterans Crisis Line or backup call center is an­swered in a timely manner by a person in accordance with the guidance established by the American Association of Suicidology. Finally, the VA is to submit the plan to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate within 180 days of the legislation’s enactment.

“In a victory for our veter­ans, service members, and their families in Iowa and across the country, the No Veterans Crisis Line Call Should Go Unanswered Act has been signed into law,” Young said. “I appreciate my colleagues in the House and Senate and the president for working with me to get this widely supported, critical mental health legislation for our veterans and service members across the finish line. Those who have sacri­ficed in defense of our free­doms deserve the best qual­ity mental health care possi­ble, and I remain committed to ensuring we uphold the promises made them.”

Holiday Headquarters ring in season

The Corning Opera House Cultural Center is ushering in the Christmas season on Saturday, Nov. 26, with a Christmas Sing-a-long and the grand opening of Holiday Headquarters at 6 p.m. with more than 20 decorated trees by individuals, businesses, and organizations.

The community is invited to join family and friends for holiday music such as “Rudolph,” “Frosty” and “Silent Night” with hot cocoa or cider in the auditorium on the second floor, which is handicap accessible by elevator. Those attending may also stroll among the adorned trees and vote with loose change to pick a favorite. The money raised will cover the cost of utilities for the Opera House. After the lighted parade, the trees can be seen until 8:30 p.m.

From 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. Friday, Dec. 2, the Opera House will host Chamber Coffee. Guests will hear Renaissance music while being served hot cider among the festive trees.

From 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3, children can “make and take” an ornament or decorate a Christmas card for someone special.

On Saturday, Dec. 10, children’s author Jane Goedken will read and sign her book “Froggie’s Best Friend” at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Goedken will also have other frog crafts and games for children to participate in. She hopes to inspire children with a love of reading and nature as she shares her book, through enhanced nature pictures and rhymes that teach the importance of friendship, the patience it sometimes takes to find a best friend, and how differences can make friendship exceptional.

During Men’s Shopping Night from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 15, men are welcome to come in from the cold, enjoy a beer (for a small fee) and shop for their wives and family members. Show tickets for 2017 can be purchased with a 10 percent discount or gift certificates will be available.
Businesses or families can also rent the festive space for a wine and cheese party or catered meal. Call (641) 418-8037 for details.

Other opportunities to visit Holiday Headquarters are from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27; from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 3; from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 11; from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 17; and from noon to 2 p.m. and Sunday, Dec.18. Follow along on Facebook or the Opera House website www.CorningOperaHouse.com to stay up to date.

Sample Corning starts holiday season

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Now in its 13th year, Sample Corning continues to draw a crowd. Held annually on the second Friday of November, Sample Corning is designed to kick off the holiday season in the community.

The number of participating businesses dipped slightly this year due to Veterans Day closures, but the unseasonably warm weather enabled more than 400 residents and guests to visit the 34 participants.
Adams Community Chamber executive director Wendi Boswell shared that the Chamber continues to orchestrate the event because it serves as an opportunity for businesses and the community to interact with one another.

“Sample Corning promotes what our local businesses have to offer by getting people in the doors of businesses that they may not normally frequent and showing them what products or services the business has to offer,” she said. “It also provides a great opportunity for businesses to show their appreciation to the community for their support throughout the year.”

In the past few years, Sample Corning has undergone a few key changes. In 2014, Boswell began printing booklets that contained all the recipes being sampled. That year, these booklets were made available to the businesses participating in Sample Corning, since they were unable to collect recipe cards from the other businesses. Last year, the booklets replaced the cards entirely. That shift was partially precipitated by joining forces with the Small Business Administration to raise awareness for Small Business Saturday and encouraging people to shop local. Anyone interested may download a copy the recipe booklet at www.adamscommunityiowa.com.

The Chamber has distributed a pair of surveys, both of which are available through its Facebook page. One is for businesses and the other is for participants.

“We hope that a lot of people will take the time to complete our short surveys to let us know what went well and offer suggestions to make next year even better,” said Boswell. “We at the Chamber believe that Sample Corning is a perfect way to kick off the holiday season and look forward to many years to come.”

Long overdue

Two World War II veterans presented medals for their service

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Dean Kester and Harold Walter received long overdue thanks and were awarded service medals for their service in the United States Navy during World War II. Sen. Joni Ernst presented the medals during an Election Day ceremony at Vintage Park in Lenox, where both men are residents.
Kester served in the Navy from 1940 to 1946.

“I served every day of World War II,” he said. “And a year before and after.”

Kester, along with his brother, served in the Navy while another brother joined the Army.

“We all volunteered, at that time, there wasn’t a draft,” he said. “I’m the only one of us left now.”

During his tenure of service, Kester served on three vessels: the battleship USS Idaho, the USS Fargo and the only wooden sub chaser used during World War II — the SC1048.

“I spent two years on that battleship and when we got off, there were quite a few sailors that I had never met before,” said Kester. “But I guess you’ll have that with 2,500 people on one boat.”

The Idaho moved from its dock at Pearl Harbor through the Panama Canal to Iceland in September 1941 to protect American advance bases. The ship departed Iceland to return to Pearl Harbor two days after the attack.

While serving on the USS Fargo, stationed in Naples, Italy, Kester found himself in charge of getting a fellow sailor to his court-martial hearing.

“He rather liked his liberty and wouldn’t always return when he was supposed to,” remembered Kester. “The commander decided enough was enough and scheduled him for a court-martial. I had to transport him as a prisoner from Naples to Florence. It took two days by train. Then I was responsible for him all the way back to the States.”

During the war, while Kester was on a short leave before transferring to another ship, he returned home to marry long-time sweetheart Leona.

“We’d known each other since grade school,” he said. “I got married and moved my new wife with me to Washington, D.C., while I went to school to become a gunner’s mate.”

After earning the rank of gunner’s mate, Kester was stationed aboard the sub chaser and was in charge of the ammunition, the artillery and the depth charges.

“We used sonar to locate the subs under the water,” he shared. “When we found something, we dropped a depth charge. I know we found and hit one during my time.”

During his years of service, Kester travelled the world and was in places like Iceland, New Zealand, South America and Italy and sailed the Southwest Pacific, the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean. During his 12 weeks of training to be a gunner’s mate in Washington, D.C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed away. Kester was selected as part of the Honorary Guard for his funeral.

A few months ago as Kester’s son Larry and his wife Denise were going through Dean’s military paperwork, they discovered that he had earned several medals that he had never received. The Kesters passed the paperwork on to an employee of Vintage Park who worked with Sen. Ernst’s office to arrange the presentation.

Like Kester, Walter served on three vessels in the Navy from Aug. 28, 1942, to Feb. 15, 1945. 

For the first six months he was stationed on the English gunboat the PG68. The second ship he served on was actually a converted yacht that the U.S. Navy had seized from Harold S. Vanderbilt at the outbreak of World War II. Walter spent six months aboard this vessel before earning the rank of 3rd class yeoman and being transferred to a sub chaser.

While on the sub chaser, Walter climbed in rank to a 2nd class yeoman, but never rose higher.
“You had to know and use shorthand to make first class,” he remembered. “I didn’t like shorthand, so I never made it past 2nd class.”

Walter served all along the Eastern Coast during his tenure, ranging from as far north as Newfoundland, Canada, to the Grand Cayman Islands in the south. When the war was over, his sub chaser was responsible for bringing a German submarine into the harbor at Boston.

When Walter realized that he was the only one of the five young men who left for war together who was still living, he looked over his military service paperwork and noticed that he was to have been given several medals that he had never received. That is when he requested that someone from the Veterans Affairs helped him apply for them.

Sen. Ernst spoke about her respect for these two men who demonstrated what she deems the four pillars of success: Assuming prudent risk, leadership, service and gratitude.

“Leadership,” she said, “is not just someone who wears a title like senator or sergeant, but someone who inspires others to follow them toward a common goal.”

Sen. Ernst also shared that these medals were not from her or her office, but rather given by the United States on behalf of the people of the United States.

“These two sailors earned these awards and unfortunately never received them. This recognition is long overdue and I am so honored to be able to present them.”

Kester was awarded the Navy Good Conduct Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the American Defense Services Medal, the American Campaign Medal and the American Pacific Campaign Medal as well as a Discharge button and Honorable Service lapel pin.
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Walter was given the Navy Good Conduct Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, and the American Defense Services Medal as well as a Discharge button and Honorable Service lapel pin.

Harley Crill sells his share of the crop to be converted into ethanol and animal feed on the final day of the Watch Me Grow project Oct. 26 at POET Biorefining.

Fifth-graders harvest corn

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Corning Elementary fifth-graders completed their Watch Me Grow project at POET Biorefining on Oct. 26 with a harvest celebration.

Fifth-grade students, teachers and parents were invited to POET to hand pick the corn they planted last spring with the help of some POET and Crop Production Services employee volunteers, Farm Bureau members, and Southwest Valley High School FFA students.

After picking their corn, playing some games and learning about corn mold and ethanol, the students sold their corn to POET. Students earned $3.10 each for their crop. After completing their sale, students and guests took a tour of the manufacturing plant before regrouping for a picnic lunch.
Several students shared their favorite parts of the entire project from planting to the celebration. Tate Haffner most enjoyed “picking the corn” while Layla Konecne thought “the tour, seeing what the lab is for and smelling all the samples was cool.” Samantha Davies thought the games were fun and the tour was really interesting and KC Sitzman was excited to get money for his work.

Brianna Crozier experienced something brand new in picking corn and Emma Cooper thought the tour was really interesting. “Going in the building and seeing the machines was cool,” she said. “And we got to see the computer and tell what was and wasn’t working when the plant had a problem this morning.”

Charlee Larsen enjoyed picking corn too. “I got to pick my corn and another row too,” she said.
Emma DeVore thought the tour was neat. “It was good to see what people do in the factory and learn how ethanol is made,” she said. Parker Boswell most enjoyed “going into the office and learning about all the things that are made from corn.”

Most of the children were so excited about the events of the day that it consumed their focus. A few students remembered back through the summer. “Getting things in the mail all summer was really cool. My favorites were the hat and the puzzle,” said Megan Ramsey and Karissa Richey couldn’t pick a particular favorite, “the mail, the tour — it was all very enjoyable.”

Allison Thomas explained that her family also received and enjoyed the summer mailings. “It was always like Christmas at my house when the POET envelopes came,” she said. “We’d all read the newsletters together and each of us found something that we wanted from the fun surprises. What I enjoyed was that we learned so many things about farming and ethanol.” She also explained how the project fit nicely into the school curriculum, “We are talking about the eco system and food chain so this fits in perfectly with what we are working on in science,” she said.

POET Corning general manager Greg Olsen expressed a sense of pride in the first season of Watch Me Grow, a program that he created with support from Farm Bureau and CPS.

“It was great, the kids seemed to really enjoy it and so did we,” he said. “We will absolutely do it again.”

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Local candidates answer questions

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Five candidates for Adams County government attended the Oct. 18 candidate forum. Tim Ostroski, executive di­rector of Southern Iowa Council of Governments, served as moderator. A small audience of approximately 30 voters was assembled to hear from the candidates.

Becky Bissell, running un­opposed to retain her seat as Adams County auditor, shared that the biggest change in her office over her first term is the acquisition and implementation of elec­tronic poll books.

“The electronic poll books use free software from the Iowa Secretary of State’s office. All we had to pur­chase was the laptops and printers for the precincts. For that minimal expense, we were able to upgrade our election process and ensure the integrity of the elections in Adams County,” said Bis­sell. “Many counties in Iowa that are much larger than ours have not yet made this transition.”

Bissell later explained that this system, combined with multiple fail safe security measures at both the county office and the Secretary of State’s office, ensure that election tampering does not occur.

“Our database never touches the network and is kept in a locked and secured room at all times,” said Bissell. “We work very closely with the Secretary of State, and their system is monitored 24-7.”

Bissell indicated that the biggest challenge facing her department relates to human resources.

“My office has been working to streamline our county HR practices,” she said. “We need to bring our policies and procedures up to state and federal laws and department of labor regula­tions. And most importantly, limit our county liability.”

Karl McCarty and Merlin Dixon are running unop­posed for reelection for Ad­ams County Board of Super­visors District 5 and District 2, respectively.

McCarty is running for a third term. He shared that the board has many accom­plishments over his past two terms that he is very proud of.

“I am very pleased with our secondary roads crew, they do a great job at main­taining our county roads and keeping them safe,” he said. “We’ve made some im­portant safety improvements at the courthouse, brought the sewer lines in from Lake Icaria and Country Haven, and made improvements to the lodges and campgrounds at Lake Icaria. And now we have the wind turbines in that will create revenue that should help keep taxes down.”

Dixon agreed that the sewer lines were a big ac­complishment over the past few years for the board.

“The sewer lines should get us out of trouble with the DNR. We also became a Home Base Iowa commu­nity, which will help us to get vets to move into the community,” he said. “And we have great communica­tion with our state legislature which has helped us to keep our E911 service alive.”

McCarty would also like to see HR improvements across all departments countywide; he feels this is the No. 1 pri­ority facing the board. Dixon indicated that he would like to see the board finish up­dating county ordinances so that they are fair and known to everyone.

Both supervisors indicated that as the state legislature continues to evaluate trans­forming Highway 34 into a four-lane corridor Adams County needs to take steps to ensure it is ready to meet the demand of the increased traffic. One voter asked the candidates what the county has planned to make sure that Adams County is more than just a pass through.

“These transportation op­tions [truck friendly high­ways and accessible rail­ways] are a big draw for in­dustries. We make sure when we are courting potential new industries that they are highlighted as one of our advantages,” said Dixon.

McCarty also commented that a heavily trafficked highway would open up other possibilities for the community.

“There would be a need for a truck stop, which would create some jobs,” he said. “We do need to address housing. We need more moderate priced homes that appeal to those just starting out, not so much those who are nearing retirement. Maybe we need to create some incentives to help peo­ple afford to purchase a home. Young people are what will keep this commu­nity going.”

The only locally contested race in this election is for Adams County sheriff. Dep­uty Robert Lillie is chal­lenging incumbent Sheriff Alan Johannes. Johannes has served as sheriff for six years. He was appointed to the position when Bill Lyd­don retired mid-term and was elected to the position four years ago.  Lillie has been with the department since 2009.

Johannes indicated that he would like to see the depart­ment continue to treat all people with respect and dig­nity.

“I don’t want anyone to be afraid to call 911,” he said. “I want people to know that if they have a problem, we are there to help and that we have an open door policy.”

Johannes did not indicate any significant changes he would like to make to the department.

Lillie commented that he would like to make two ma­jor changes. “We need to eliminate em­ployer/employee relation­ships and improve honesty. We have outstanding offic­ers; I want to keep them in the department. We need to keep them working and keep them happy.”

Both candidates indicated that one of the best things happening currently in the department is the joint screening process for new hires.

“All deputies are involved in the screening process for new officers,” said Lillie.

Johannes agreed that this procedure is highly effective. “I agree with Bob. Joint screening really helps with longevity of our officers.”

Johannes also indicated that he is pleased with the recent radio and repeater upgrades that allow the dep­uties to communicate more effectively with dispatch.

When questioned about how to improve the effec­tiveness of countywide law enforcement the candidates had some differences of opinion.

“We always have two dep­uties on duty, generally one stays in and around Corning while the other is in the rural areas of the county — be­cause of this, we have great response time,” said Johan­nes. “We are adding another deputy, which will reduce the on-call time for our of­ficers. That will be an im­provement. Also, we have just recently purchased new software and are in the pro­cess of switching over, for better record keeping. As we purchase new or upgrade our vehicles, we will have com­puters installed that are com­patible with the MACH sys­tem from the Iowa DOT. We already have cameras in all vehicles as well as body cameras for each deputy.”

Lillie indicated that the MACH system is a high pri­ority.

“Right now, there is a war on police and Highway 34 is dangerous, especially in the middle of the night. An of­ficer never knows what situ­ation they are walking into. In the event that something happens that they can’t radio in, the MACH system lets dispatch know exactly where the officer is,” he said. “We also need to upgrade our weapons system, right now it’s not useful at night. And we need to have trauma plates for our body armor. In this rural area, so many peo­ple have rifles — our armor will not protect us from a rifle round. And we also need to implement regular, monthly, hands-on training.”

One voter asked why each candidate thought they were better suited for the office of sheriff than their opponent. Lillie highlighted his many years of military experience, particularly that of his duties as first sergeant responsible for a company of 138 subor­dinates.

“I have experience leading and I know have the respect of the officers and the dis­patchers. Without that re­spect, you can’t be much of a leader. I lead by example,” he said.

Johannes indicated that he also leads by example. “I never ask them to do some­thing I am not willing to do. I spend time on patrol as well as in the office doing paperwork.”

Ostroski probed the ques­tion further, asking how the candidates meld the roles of law enforcement and admin­istration.

“I’ve never claimed to be a great administrator,” said Johannes. “But I have a great staff — my chief deputy is a great help, and we have re­sources for help with HR through Becky. And after six years on the job, I’ve gotten more efficient, reporting that used to take a full day, now takes only a few hours.”
Lillie indicated that ad­ministration is more than just paperwork. “A good admin­istrator also has to manage personnel. There should be regular reviews that are doc­umented.”

Two final questions for the sheriff candidates centered on finances. First the candi­dates were asked if they felt, considering the needs stated, the department was under­funded. Both candidates in­dicated that the budget is sufficient to meet the needs of the department and that the board is very supportive and grants additional spend­ing when needs are pre­sented. Secondly, the candi­dates were asked if there had been misspending of the budget that made the pur­chase of trauma plates not feasible.

“There is a line item in the budget for public safety. Money has not been spent on things that it shouldn’t have,” said Johannes. “There’s no reason not to have bought the trauma plates.”
​
Lillie was not given the opportunity during the forum to respond to the question. However, after the forum was over, he indicated that he believes money has been misspent. “There is a 60-inch television in the office, two $600 office chairs and half a dozen radios that are incom­patible with our system, all of which Alan purchased. That money could have been used for safety upgrades but wasn’t.”

Submitted photo — During his visit to the Iowa School for the Deaf, Sen. Tom Shipley met fourth-graders Aiden Gaines, left, and Nathan Stacey.

ISD helping students achieve

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Iowa legislators paid a visit to the Iowa School for the Deaf in Council Bluffs to experience the school’s homecoming festivities and tour the campus.

Sens. Tom Shipley, Mi­chael Gronstal and Mark Costello joined Reps. Tom Moore, Mary Ann Hanusa and Charlie McConkey for a tour of the facilities, many of which are in need of updates. Iowa School for the Deaf began in Iowa City in 1855. By 1870, enrollment had boomed and outgrown the Iowa City facility. Eighty acres of land was purchased in Council Bluffs. This ex­pansive space allowed the school to be self-sustaining with its own farm, power plant and hospital.

In 2002, Iowa School for the Deaf (ISD) opened their first new building, a multi-purpose athletic complex, on campus in more than 50 years. Since that time, the school has added a state of the art science center. However, much of the facility is comprised of 1930s era buildings that now require a variety of updates. For instance, the building that houses the middle and high schools requires extensive renovations to remedy the inadequate ventilation and air circulation as well as installing a fire suppression system and addressing water seepage which is contributing to mold growth. This renovation is estimated to cost the school $4.6 million.

Like other public schools, the ISD is supported primar­ily through state and federal education funding. Families are not charged for tuition or room and board expenses for their student. Some students that live in the Council Bluffs area choose to live at home rather than participate in the boarding program. However, being the only school of its kind in the state of Iowa, most of the schools’ 97 students live on campus during the week. The board­ing program allows for stu­dents to make fast friends and be surrounded by a lan­guage rich environment. An additional 11 students are served by the ISD, four of which receive services from the Northeast Regional Academy, a satellite location in Charles City that serves two area education agencies in Northeast Iowa.

Every member of the fac­ulty and staff at ISD is fluent in American Sign Language, allowing for direct instruc­tion without the need for an interpreter. According to the school, this allows for better instruction, especially in specialized areas, where an interpreter may not know the sign for a particular word. Direct communication be­tween student and teacher eliminates the chance of in­formation getting lost in translation. Open communi­cation isn’t restricted to the classroom either. Students sign with food service staff, housekeepers and bus driv­ers. While this creates the environment for students to thrive, finding qualified fac­ulty and staff presents a challenge.

In 1984, enrollment was at its peak, with a graduating class of 63 and nearly 400 total students on campus. This boom was attributed to an outbreak of rubella in mothers, causing deafness in their infants, nearly two dec­ades earlier.

“The decrease in current enrollment is a credit to the fact that for the most part, diseases are under control, resulting in fewer deaf chil­dren,” said Sen. Shipley.

Sen. Shipley was im­pressed with the quality of education at ISD.

“They do a tremendous job with these kids. It’s just like any other school. In addition to meeting with two ele­mentary students from my district, I had the opportunity to talk with the president of the student council, who is also the quarterback of their football team. He was very well spoken and bright,” he said. “The school is really helping these kids make their way in the world.”

Rep. Moore echoed that sentiment, “the students all seemed to be happy to be there. They are flourishing in the environment on campus and have a lot of pride in the Iowa School for the Deaf and what they are accomplish­ing.” He continued saying, “I was happy to be invited. I’d never been on campus be­fore. It was good to learn more about the school and really see their growth and impact around the entire state. Because it’s in Council Bluffs, we tend to think of it as just a Southwest Iowa school, but they serve the entire state.”

After his visit to ISD, Sen. Shipley held a meeting in Red Oak with nursing home staff to learn of their chal­lenges.
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“If it’s important to the people I serve, it’s important to me,” said Shipley. “I want to learn all I can to have a better understanding of where they are coming from.”

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Tyson and Anne Greenwalt reinvented the space at 718 Davis Ave. in brining Carver’s Ridge to downtown Corning.

Carving out a niche on Main Street

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Davis Avenue in Corning is home to a brand new busi­ness in a familiar, old loca­tion. The former home of the Fickle Frog has been trans­formed into Carver’s Ridge. The familiar turquoise is now a subtle pale gray, the quirky polka-dot grand piano has been replaced with rustic tables and natural stone. Ty­son and Anne Greenwalt have reinvented the front two rooms of the 718 Davis Ave. storefront since taking own­ership in June. They plan to continue renovations on the remainder of the building after the holiday season.

The Corning location is a second bricks and mortar site for Carver’s Ridge. Their primary location in Stewart houses their production fa­cility as well as a gift shop. The Greenwalts, self-pro­fessed rock lovers, had commissioned some en­graved boulders from a busi­ness in Winterset and were disappointed at the lack of font choices available and that they were not shown a preview of the piece before it was engraved. Realizing that there was a market for per­sonalized engraved items with a focus on customer service, Tyson began en­graving rocks as a side hobby out of his garage.

In 2009, both Tyson and Anne were laid off from their full-time positions and their first son, Tristan, was born three months premature. Carver’s Ridge provided the extra income the Greenwalts needed to cover Tristan’s medical expenses. Through word of mouth and social media marketing, by the fall of 2011, Carver’s Ridge had outgrown their garage. The Greenwalts decided to pur­chase a small acreage outside of Stewart to build their fa­cility and gift shop. They opened their flagship loca­tion Oct. 1, 2012. Four years later, nearly to the day, they held the grand opening of the Corning location.

Anne shared that expand­ing the business came out of a process of defining who they are and how they sup­port customers. They de­cided to take a proactive ap­proach and diversify their business. In addition to the two bricks and mortar loca­tions, Carver’s Ridge also has two online stores and has ventured into the wholesale market, distributing their products to retailers around the country.

“I’m very focused on cus­tomer service. We created the online stores so that cus­tomers could shop at home, after hours, at their conven­ience and still be able to pick up their item in store,” said Anne. “And we ventured into wholesale to ensure that we can afford to keep our staff during first and third quarters when retail business is slow.”

The variety of products available is even more di­verse than the purchasing options. Most engraving companies focus on either stone or glass. Carver’s Ridge personalizes both and more. Boulders, small natu­ral stones, flagstone, baking and serving dishes as well as glassware and ceramic, leather and even metal items are all available through Carver’s Ridge. They also offer three levels of person­alization. First, customers can choose any number of finished products engraved with a Carver’s Ridge origi­nal design. For a more per­sonal product, customers can choose a previously designed option and customize it with their own names and dates. Finally, customers are wel­come to sit with the full-time Carver’s Ridge designer and create their own custom de­sign and see a preview of it before the engraving begins.

“We felt that this was the best way to meet our cus­tomer’s needs as quickly as possible. Creating custom work takes time and the en­graving is done by hand be­cause we want to create a quality, lasting product,” said Anne. “But since we are in rural areas, we also wanted to offer everything a cus­tomer might need to put to­gether a nice gift. That’s why we carry the gourmet food items and other accessories. They make a nice comple­ment to our original prod­ucts.”

Tyson and Anne began scouting locations for their second storefront last fall.

“We talked about expand­ing into the markets like Des Moines or Omaha,” said Anne. “But ultimately we decided that the smart move was to stay in small towns. I truly believe that society will come back around to the small town way of life.”

A Corning native, Anne felt that returning to her roots was an obvious choice.

“I’ve always been im­pressed with Main Street Corning,” she said. “The community support and loy­alty here is just amazing. Since the beginning of Carver’s Ridge, we’ve al­ways had a lot of support from our hometowns of Corning and Massena. I come from an entrepreneur­ial family — my dad owned the Hardware Hank that be­came the art center and be­fore that it was my grandpa’s store ‘Gambles.’”

With the opening of the Corning location, the Greenwalts have moved their family to Corning as well.

“We sold our house in Stewart and moved our fam­ily here. We’re actually liv­ing in my grandparent’s old house,” said Anne.

Tyson and Anne have three children — Tristan is 9, Ma­son is 4 and Adelaide was born one week before Carver’s Ridge held their special preview sale for RAGBRAI in July.

“The past 18 months have been really busy for us with revamping the websites, opening a new location, selling our home and moving and having a baby,” said Anne. “But our passion lies in small towns like Corning. There is a strong sense of community and loyalty here. I’m so excited to be back.”

With a background in events planning, Anne en­joys creating opportunities to interact with customers and offer a unique shopping ex­perience. With their grand opening celebration last week, Carver’s Ridge de­cided to give back to their new community. They are holding a $5 raffle for a large customized boulder. All pro­ceeds from the raffle will be given to Southwest Valley teacher Lisa Konecne, who is battling ovarian cancer. The raffle will continue through the end of business Saturday, Oct. 8.

“I had the opportunity to meet her, she’s a really lovely lady,” said Anne. “The community is really rallying behind her in this fight and we wanted to find a way to offer our support.”

Continuing in the theme of events, Carver’s Ridge will hold an in-store event roughly every two weeks through the rest of the year. Next is ROCKtoberfest on Oct. 15. Both locations will be holding sales specials and live music as well as a gourmet s’mores station.

“It’s really our kick off to the holiday season because of the turn around time re­quired on personalized items,” said Anne. 

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Absentee ballots now available

The Adams County General Election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Absentee ballots are available now at the auditor’s office to be voted through Nov. 7. Those requesting ballots by mail should send requests as soon as possible.

With the impending election, there are many important dates to remember:

Saturday, Oct. 29 — The auditor’s office will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The voter pre-registration deadline to vote for the General Election is 5 p.m. This applies to registration in person or by mail. There is Election Day registration, but specific documentation must be provided. Everyone is encouraged if possible to register before Election Day. The auditor’s office will also be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for absentee voting and other election business.

Friday, Nov. 4 — The auditor’s office will remain open until 5 p.m. The deadline to request an absentee ballot by mail is 5 p.m. However, absentee ballots must be postmarked by Nov. 7. Voters should allow enough time for the request and ballot to be received and returned.

Saturday, Nov. 5 — The auditor’s office will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for absentee voting and other election business.

Monday, Nov. 7 — The auditor’s office will remain open until 5 p.m. for the last day to request and vote an absentee ballot in person at the auditor’s office.

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 8. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The polling places in Adams County are: Corning Community Center, Corning Public Library, Redeemer Lutheran Church, Nodaway Community Center and the Prescott City Hall/Library.
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The Adams County Auditor’s Office is regularly open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. For more information about voter registration, absentee ballots, polling locations or voting, call the auditor’s office at (641) 322-3340 or visit www.adamscountyia.com or www.sos.iowa.gov.

Tourney
​to benefit Corning girl

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

This Saturday, Tori’s An­gels Foundation will host a golf tournament benefit at Happy Hollow Country Club in honor of local child Addi­son Pegg. Four-year-old Ad­dison, the daughter of Cody and Ashley Pegg of Corning, was diagnosed earlier this year with Pulmonary Capil­laritis.

Before her first birthday, Addison had struggled with numerous respiratory infec­tions and colds. In July of 2013, shortly after her first birthday Ashley took her to the doctor for another bad cold. The local doctor diag­nosed Addison with pneu­monia but also took a blood sample before sending her home with antibiotics. Less than an hour later, Ashley received a call from the doctor alerting her that Addi­son’s hemoglobin levels were suspiciously low and advised her to go to Blank Children’s Hospital to be seen by a pulmonologist.

The pulmonologist at Blank performed a test by injecting fluid into Addi­son’s lungs and removing it again. The test determined that the spots showing in Addison’s X-rays was not pneumonia, but rather blood into her lungs. Addison was diagnosed at that time with Idiopathic Pulmonary Hemo­siderosis. Meaning, Addison was bleeding into her lungs, but the doctor’s did not know why.

“The doctor told me that they determine a disease is Idiopathic when they can’t find any reason for what is happening,” said Ashley. “Since they didn’t know what was causing it, they told us that it was likely we wouldn’t get to kindergarten with Addi.”

From the time of her diag­nosis in 2013 to late 2015 when Addison and her fam­ily took a Make a Wish trip to Disneyworld, she bled into her lungs between 10 and 15 times. Each episode requires hospitalization and steroid treatments. She even spent several days of her trip in the hospital receiving treatment for another bleed.

“The steroids pull the blood out of her lungs, but the iron from the blood gets left behind,” said Ashley. “Those iron deposits harden over time, so at this point her lungs have quite a bit of scar tissue in them.”

After returning from their Make a Wish trip, Addison’s pulmonologist recommended that the family travel to Iowa City to see a pediatric rheu­matology expert. In January 2016, Addison underwent a lung biopsy under the care of her new rheumatologist. The biopsy determined that the real cause of her bleeding was Pulmonary Capillaritis.

This extremely rare auto­immune disorder causes the body’s B-cells to attack the capillaries in and surround­ing the lungs. Treatment in­volves at home, daily medi­cations and a course of infu­sions. Addison began the infusions in February of this year. The first round of treatments required four in­fusions clustered closely together. During her second infusion, she experienced an infusion reaction. As a result, her infusions must now be administered very slowly. The IV infusion kills off the B-cells in her immune sys­tem so they stop attacking healthy tissue. After her first course of four infusions, Ad­dison was able to reduce the frequency to every 6-8 months. She had an infusion earlier this month. The hope is that with the infusions, Addison will eventually be able to stop taking the daily oral medication.

“She has to be seen every six months by both an eye doctor and a hearing spe­cialist,” said Ashley. “Among the various side effects of her liquid medicine is a risk of blindness or deaf­ness.”

The infusion treatments, combined with the other medications, have allowed Addison to finally have stretches of good health.

“She’s like a typical kid now. She sometimes gets tired a little more easily than her peers, but she really doesn’t have any limitations anymore,” said Ashley. “She was able to start preschool this year and go back to gymnastics. She’s doing re­ally great. The only real risk she still has is infection, since the treatments kill off her immune system.”

The Pegg family learned of Tori’s Angels last January after Addison’s biopsy.

“A friend threw a card shower for Addison so she would have things to look at and do while we were in the hospital for the biopsy,” said Ashley. “One of her friends, who learned of the shower on Facebook, happens to be another Tori’s Angels mother. She contacted me and suggested that I contact the foundation.”

The application required documentation from Addi­son’s doctors confirming that she has a life threatening condition that requires regu­lar treatment. Tori’s Angels pays all expenses not cov­ered by insurance, including travel expenses for treat­ments (transportation, hotel and meals) as well as medi­cal co-pays and deductibles.

Since beginning in May 2011, Tori’s Angels has sponsored 20 Iowa children fighting life-threatening medical conditions. The foundation is currently spon­soring 14 children as five of the children have passed away and one child has aged out of the program after con­quering brain cancer. One requirement of the families sponsored by Tori’s Angels is to host a benefit in their community to help increase awareness and create contin­ued financial support for the foundation.

“When we talked about what we would like our event to be, we thought it would be fun to host a golf tournament because we are members at the club and a lot of our local support system enjoys golfing,” said Ashley. “The foundation hasn’t ever had a golf tournament be­fore, so they were pretty ex­cited for it.”

Addison and 11-year-old Tori Heckman of Guthrie Center, the foundations original recipient, will tee off with the honorary first shot at 10 a.m. During the tour­nament, a silent auction, featuring a handmade golf club donated by a local craftsman, a golf club clock, a walking golf caddy and a mystery cooler full of gifts will take place in the club­house. There will also be a free will offering lunch of grilled hamburgers, home­made baked beans, pulled pork, chips, cookies and drinks available outside the clubhouse.

The Best Ball Tournament will feature four-person teams for a fee of $160 per team. Golfers may register their team’s participation or get more information by contacting Ashley Pegg at (641) 344-9712 or pegg_ashley@hotmail.com. Teams may also register on site the day of the event.   Business sponsorships are available for $200, which includes the business’ name at one of the nine holes and a team. Anyone wishing to sponsor a hole may contact Ashley Pegg or Lisa Brown at (641) 202-6278. 100 per­cent of the benefit’s proceeds will directly help sponsored children.

“We’ve had a great re­sponse so far, but there is still room for more teams to participate,” said Ashley. “Or if you aren’t a golfer, feel free to come out and enjoy lunch or the auction with us. We’d love to have you.”
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Those interested in making a donation, but are unable to attend the tournament may make a donation in any of the following locations: Midstates Bank in Harlan, Panora State Bank or Guthrie County State Bank in Panora, any USbank loca­tion, or by mail to Bill Ridgley, 4677 Panorama Dr, Panora IA 50216. A secure credit card or PayPal dona­tion may also be made through the Tori’s Angels Foundation Facebook page. Supporters may also “like” the Facebook page for regu­lar updates on the children. To request an application for support, contact Bill Ridgley at (712) 249-6423 or bridgely@netins.net.

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Lillie challenges Johannes for county sheriff

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

In the upcoming general election, Deputy Robert Lil­lie is challenging incumbent Alan Johannes for the posi­tion of Adams County sher­iff.

The Board of Supervisors appointed Johannes to the position in January 2011 when former Sheriff Bill Lyddon retired, then was chosen to remain in office in the 2012 election. Lillie has been with the department as deputy since returning to Iowa in 2009.

In the past few months, there has been division within the Sheriff’s Office. This division is what prompted Lillie to run for election.

“There has been issues in the department for years,” said Lillie. “Several months ago, we had a sit down to talk about the issues and the lies. But nothing has changed. As deputies, we’ve had enough. This is not an attack on Alan’s character, I’m running because I feel the sheriff’s office is lacking in leadership, honesty and ethics.”

According to Johannes, the tensions in the office have cooled the past few weeks.

“Things have calmed down,” he said. “Everyone is working together and things are running smoothly. I feel no tension between myself and Bob, he knows his job and he does it well.”

Johannes and Lillie both grew up in the area. Johan­nes is a 1984 graduate of Corning High School, while Lillie graduated from Lenox in 1987. Both men also served in the Armed forces. Johannes spent four years following high school in the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army. Lillie entered the Army following gradua­tion and served as an Air­borne Ranger, including multiple combat deploy­ments until his retirement in 2007. At the point of retire­ment he was a first sergeant, responsible for 138 men in his infantry unit. Because of his military training, Lillie feels he is qualified to lead the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.

“I led my men by example. As a leader you have to hold yourself morally and ethi­cally to a higher standard than your men,” he said. “I don’t feel that is happening right now. I’m not running for my own benefit, I’m in­terested in being sheriff for the sake of the officers, and I would have gladly stepped aside if any of them had wanted to run.”

Lillie is referring to a situ­ation that the Board of Su­pervisors has been dealing with for the past several months, involving Sheriff Johannes and a member of his staff.

“First and foremost, I be­lieve the department needs to be run by a sheriff who has no personal relationships with any member of the staff that will affect his ability to lead or influence his deci­sions,” said Lillie. “In the current situation, the board is concerned about their liabil­ity in the event of a lawsuit. Without a change in sheriff, the problems that exist can’t be fixed.”

Johannes declined to com­ment on this situation saying, “I prefer not to comment on my personal life.”

He did, however, comment on the recommendations from human resources con­sultant Paul Greufe, hired by the board.

“I won’t follow through with everything that the HR consultant has asked. HR is designed to give suggestions, that doesn’t mean that I have to take them all,” he said. “I will be keeping certain as­pects of the office the same so that they guys are out on the road and answering calls not stuck in the office deal­ing with paperwork all the time. Of course, there are certain duties the deputies have in the jail and paper­work that they must file. But the way I have things set up allows them to spend mini­mal time in the office.”

Johannes declined to com­ment on what recommenda­tions he would and would not implement.
Johannes and Lillie agree that the Sheriff’s Office needs some physical altera­tions to improve the safety and security of the dispatch­ers. In the current set up, an armed assailant has ready access to the dispatch area and could force his way into the jail area or other offices.

“I put in a request with the Board of Supervisors months ago when we did not get a grant from our 911 board to make safety upgrades and improvements to our office area. Currently, there isn’t room in the budget for the upgrades, but the board is considering solutions,” said Johannes. “I would like to replace the existing steel cage window with one that has bullet-proof glass and a tray that slides out for pass­ing of documents — like bank teller windows. I would also replace the wooden doors with security doors that close automatically, as the current doors require some force to close and sometimes don’t get latched. These doors would have key card access locks for addi­tional security.”

Lillie also feels that the of­ficers are in need of some additional safety equipment.

“We should have vests that stop rifle rounds or trauma plates that can be added to our body armor. We should have optic sites for our rifles for nighttime situations and we need to have the MACH (Mobile Architecture for Communications Handling)  system from the DOT (De­partment of Transportation) installed in our vehicles that provides dispatch with tracking information in case we are incapacitated and unable to radio our location in,” he said.

Johannes indicated that while he agrees there is a war against police, this area still feels safer than other regions.

“My goal is that every deputy goes home at the end of every shift,” he said. “We are working to update the vehicles with the MACH system. Currently the dash cameras have a GPS system, that does not provide track­ing data to dispatch but will help in the transition to the MACH system.”

If elected Johannes intends to keep the department func­tioning as it is now.

“I want the public to still be treated with respect and get the same quality of ser­vice they have now,” he said. “We have recently added a new deputy, bringing our department to seven officers. I hope that will decrease the amount of call time our dep­uties have.”

He would also like to in­crease the law enforcement presence in the schools. If not elected, Johannes does intend to apply to the de­partment as a deputy.

As sheriff, Lillie would make a variety of changes to the department.

“I want to establish a func­tional chain of command that holds every member of the department accountable for their actions and treats every person as an equal. The work rotations would be distrib­uted fairly, respecting the need for family time,” he said.

One change he would make in order to accomplish this would be by replacing the current head dispatcher with dispatcher Becky Mann who has years of experience with the department and is very supportive of the depu­ties.

“I would also appoint a training officer who would be responsible to set the schedule for monthly train­ing days and acquire the nec­essary supplies to carry out hands on situational train­ing,” he said. “I would also implement monthly em­ployment counseling. I would meet with the chief deputy and head dispatcher each month and review their performance with them — offering guidance on how to correct any issues that arise. In turn, they would each hold sessions with the other dep­uties or dispatchers. And there would be documenta­tion on everything. I would also hope to improve prob­lem solving. If someone sees a problem, I don’t want them to just tell me there is a problem — I want them to bring me a solution.”

Johannes said, “I’ve never been a great paper pusher, but I am very fortunate to have an excellent chief dep­uty to assist with those ad­ministrative needs. When I get stuck, he helps my find the right way to word things.”

Lillie agrees that the depu­ties in Adams County do great work.

“We have the highest rate of indictable offences in any of our surrounding counties. I’m just afraid that if some­thing doesn’t change, we will start to lose our deputies,” he said. “I want them to be able to come to work and con­centrate on the threat that is in ahead of them, not worry about what’s going on be­hind them.”

Lillie guides himself on advice he received from an Army superior decades ago.
​
“He told me that leading by example means ‘always tak­ing the hard right over the easy wrong.’ I’ve tried to live my life by that ever since,” he shared.
 

New faculty bring new ideas

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Editor’s note: For our final installment of the changes at Southwest Valley Schools, we focus primarily on familiar teachers in new positions. To read about SWV’s new faculty, check out the Aug. 25 and Sept. 1 issues of The Adams County Free Press.

With a total of 11 new faculty and four staff members transitioning to brand new positions, Southwest Valley has undergone a lot of changes this year. Superintendent Willie Stone said, “We’re really excited. This is a great opportunity to bring in new blood and new programs that will enhance the opportunities for our students and our staff.”

One final new faculty member, Rheanna Pettit, joins the staff at Enarson Elementary in Villisca as the fifth-grade teacher. Pettit comes to Villisca from East Union via Graceland University in Lamoni. The combination of having worked with kids in daycare centers and having a love of learning and school made education a logical fit for Pettit.

“I’ve really always wanted to teach,” she said. “I love school, I always have.”

She credits middle school family-consumer science teacher Mrs. Sents as her teaching inspiration.

“She was very understanding of our awkwardness and she made learning fun. She was really passionate and encouraged her students to find something to be passionate about too,” said Pettit. 

Pettit looks forward to bonding with her students.

“Kids at this age finally start to have a grasp of sarcasm. They understand more,” she said. “But at the same time, they still enjoy school and look forward to learning new things.”

Pettit’s favorite part of the school day is math, and she looks forward to the light bulb moments in her students.

“I love watching them find something to be passionate about and their eagerness to learn more,” she said. “I think their biggest challenge will be adjusting to a new teaching style. But these kids had Ms. Templeton last year, so they have had a brand new teacher before and are very patient.”

Liz Timmerman transitioned from the Corning Elementary third grade classroom to a new position as the at-risk coordinator. The position was created in response to the state legislature opening up the available uses for existing at risk funding.

“Districts now have more options for how to spend that money, including using it to pay a person’s salary,” explained Timmerman. “It isn’t new funding, we can just better utilize the money we already had.”

Timmerman will spread her time throughout the district focusing on families at the elementary age level and individual students at the middle and high school levels.

“We’ve kind of combined at risk and dropout prevention into one position,” she said. “I have had a longing for a few years to be able to help more children in ways that I couldn’t in the classroom. When this opportunity came up, there was no hesitation. I just knew this was what I should be doing.”

At the elementary level, Timmerman conducts home visits with children who have issues with attendance.

“I spent the summer creating a plan, researching the at-risk factors and how other schools handle them and making the techniques fit our needs,” said Timmerman.

The at-risk factors include attendance, major illness in the child or their family, divorce or family change — especially when that change is recent and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). She plans to work with families to help their children overcome their obstacles and get the best out of their education.

Beginning with middle school students, Timmerman plans to focus on students — particularly those already not involved in athletics. She plans to create an afterschool program at the middle school on opposite days from the Raising Achievement, Verifying Excellence (RAVE) program that will focus on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), music and art, giving the students another avenue to be involved.

“My two main goals for this first year is to improve attendance — the entire district has latched on to the ‘Strive for less than Five’ motto and to promote academic achievement and student involvement at the upper grade levels,” said Timmerman. “We really didn’t have a high dropout rate, but we do have a fair number of kids who are disconnected. One of our district goals is to have 90 percent of our students participating in at least one extra-curricular activity.”

To help with student achievement, Timmerman has a classroom space in both the middle school and high school where she can pull students in for tutoring or help them get caught up.

Timmerman also hopes to be able to spend more time in the community. Her first major effort in this area will be a health night at Corning Elementary co-sponsored by CHI Health and Corning Elementary PTO.

Two new positions were created thanks to grant funding. The Teacher Leadership Compensation system (TLC) was implemented by the state of Iowa to reward effective teachers with leadership opportunities and foster greater collaboration for all teachers to learn from each other. The philosophy is that improving student learning requires improving the instruction they receive each day. At Southwest Valley, Kristi Miranda is the instructional coach for Enarson and Corning Elementary schools while Andrea Nett serves in the same capacity for the middle school and high school.

Mrs. Nett has been teaching high school English in Corning for more than two decades, and has a wealth of experience to offer her peers.

“I’ve always tried to take a leadership role among my fellow teachers,” she said. “So this opportunity seemed like a good fit and it came at a time when I was ready for a new challenge.”

For this first year of the program, Nett is focused on earning the trust of her fellow teachers.

“I need them to trust me. They need to see me as non-threatening, to know that our conversations are confidential and non-evaluative,” she said. “They also need to be able to trust that if they ask me to help them in some way that I will follow through. If they don’t trust me, they won’t ask for my help.”

One way Nett envisions being able to assist teachers is by freeing up their time to visit other classrooms to see the great work being done by their peers.

“There really isn’t time to visit other teacher’s classrooms, but with this position, I can administer a test so the teacher can get out of the classroom. Or I can team teach a lesson. I can free up a mentoring teacher’s time while they work with new faculty,” said Nett. “I am really excited to share the best things that teachers are doing in their classrooms with their peers. It will allow some teachers to learn a new technique and adapt it to their classes and it will give recognition to the teachers doing great things.”

Nett met with the teachers before the school year began and they brainstormed a list of ways she can support them. The words they came up with are compromise, creativity, trouble-shooting, guidance, help with resources, listening, support, collaboration, enthusiasm, knowledge and follow-through.

“I keep these displayed in both of my classrooms to help me remember what to focus on,” said Nett. “I know how overwhelming it is to teach all day, work on curriculum and lesson plans, transition to standards based grading and keep up with changing technology. My job is to make it all a little less overwhelming.”

Kristi Miranda was new to the district last year, serving as the fifth-grade teacher at Enarson Elementary. She came to SWV to be closer to family and was familiar with the schools and the community, having grown up in Marne and attended school in Walnut. Over her past 13 years as a teacher, Miranda has served as a general education teacher and worked with students on English as a Second Language.

Miranda chose to transition from the classroom to instructional coaching because she felt it was a natural step for her.

“I served as an instructional coach for the 127 teachers I worked with at Marshalltown High School and at another district I served on the multi-tier systems of support core team,” she said. “I know that sometimes the teachers don’t always have the time to do the smaller things. I can free up their time to be able to focus on the kids.”

Miranda has spent time already this school year researching various strategies for her teachers.

“I have been asked to help find strategies for reading interventions for both the highest level readers and the lower level readers that will help advance all students’ skills,” she said. “I’ve also had a teacher ask me to demonstrate a particular strategy and then observe as she attempts it since it is so new to her. My goal is getting the teachers used to having an instructional coach and helping them to utilize me as much as possible. And I love being able to share the great things they are doing with their fellow teachers.”

Erin Wetzel is still in her middle school computers and technology classroom in the mornings, but has also taken on the role of curriculum director throughout the district. In previous years, the curriculum director position was filled by the Corning Elementary principal and was focused only on the elementary level. With this new, expanded focus, Wetzel intends to help teachers align their curriculum horizontally — across grade level and vertically — ensuring that students are prepared for the next level.

“We want to be sure that all of the Iowa Core Standards are being met. That means we need to eliminate a ton of overlap — teaching the same standard in 15 different ways — and missing other standards,” said Wetzel. “We also need to be sure that there are no gaps in a students preparation to transition to the next step.”

One way Wetzel will help teachers achieve this is by holding trainings in which teachers will learn to utilize a standard district-wide template to create instruction units.

“This will help us to make sure that the standards are being taught and the units are asking the essential questions,” said Wetzel. “By using the template, when we have faculty transitions — such as a new teacher or a teacher that shifts grade levels — the basics of the units are already laid out.”

Wetzel will also assist teachers by researching curriculum that will meet the teacher’s goals and presenting them with options of quality curriculum. She will also assist with administering tests and coordinating the data into useful information for teachers.

“I will have the time to sort through the data and find the pieces of information that each teacher needs to best meet the needs of each of their students,” she said. “That way, the teachers have the useful information and still have the time to implement it in their classroom.”

One final area that Wetzel is working on this year is the Infinite Campus system. The current system needs to adapt to the transition to standards based grading so that teachers have the ability to utilize Infinite Campus more effectively.

Wetzel chose to transition into the role of curriculum director because it aligns well with her ultimate goal of becoming a school counselor.
​
“There is a lot of overlap between the two. I’ve also learned that I really like looking at the data. And really, I like helping people and this role allows me to support the teachers so they can better help their students,” she said. “People have asked if it’s difficult to analyze curriculum that isn’t in my specialty areas. The answer is no. I know enough to know that I don’t know everything and that I don’t have to know everything. What I have to know is how to help others find what they need.” 

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — New teachers bring ex¬citement and experience to Southwest Valley High School. Clockwise from front left are Robert Becker, Burl Janzen, Richelle Lane, Rahmana Schooler, Anthony Donahoo and Josh Sussman.

Students see familiar and new faces

Editor’s Note: This is a continuation of our series highlighting the new leader­ship at Southwest Valley Schools. Be sure to read next week to learn about existing faculty who have moved into new leadership roles this year.

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Some of the new teachers at Southwest Valley High School may look familiar while others are brand new to the community.

Burl Janzen returns to his math room full time this year after serving as a long-term substitute last spring. Corn­ing alumni Anthony Do­nahoo, who takes over the physical education depart­ment, and special education teacher Richelle Lane return to the halls. Those from Vil­lisca may recognize history and social studies teacher Josh Sussman. Art instructor Rahmana Schooler and Eng­lish teacher Robert Becker are both recent transplants to the community.

Feeling the pull of children and grandchildren, Janzen moved to the Corning area after retiring as a teacher in Sidney, Neb., where he taught for 41 years.

“My kids like to tease me,” said Janzen. “They call me the Brett Favre of education since I came out of retire­ment to ‘play’ for another team.”

In reality, during his months as substitute for SWV he fell in love with the environment.

“I so enjoyed working with the kids and the staff is great,” said Janzen.

Janzen credits his high school math instructor Mr. Elkins from York, Neb., as his inspiration as a teacher.

“He was really good at breaking the math down and explaining it to kids in a way they could understand,” said Janzen. “That is the kind of teacher that I strive to be. I want my students to have that aha moment where they realize that math isn’t really so terrible.”

Janzen will be teaching al­gebra I, geometry and con­sumer math.

“I am really excited about this new class — consumer math,” he explained. “We will work to link math to current issues and events. I’m looking forward to being able to include more discus­sion and sharing of ideas into a math class. I plan to help the kids make world appli­cations apply locally.”

Anthony Donahoo knew in high school that he wanted to coach, but it wasn’t until college at Northwest Mis­souri State University that he caught the passion for teaching.

“Northwest is really good at putting your feet in the fire right off the bat,” explained Donahoo of his decision. “Once I realized I wanted to teach, PE was a natural fit. I’m a fitness guy, and in PE I can pass that on to students.”

Donahoo, who has taught the past four years at Creston High School, looks forward to smaller class sizes in both PE and health.

“We have really nice facil­ities here with the two gyms and the weight room,” he said. Donahoo looks forward to making an impact on the school and the community. “I am very passionate about what I do, and I hope that passion for health and well­ness will rub off, not just on my students, but their fami­lies, my fellow teachers and the community,” he shared. “I’m also really excited to figure out ways that we can meet the community service district goal in the PE clas­ses.”

Donahoo’s own personal goal is to have a positive impact on students.

“I want to have my stu­dents remember me as a good man who does good in the community. I want to be remembered positively by as least one student — in the same way that I attribute my love of reading to Mrs. Nett or coaching to Coach My­ers.”

Richelle Lane returns to SWV schools after complet­ing her degree last spring at Buena Vista University. Before pursuing her degree, Lane served Corning Schools as a para-educator at Corning Elementary School for six years.

“After I had worked at the elementary for a while, Mrs. Morris encouraged me to pursue education,” said Lane. “It’s been really neat to return to the high school where I graduated. Some of the teachers are still here, they have been very sup­portive.”

The biggest challenge fac­ing Lane in her first year will be in building relationships with her students.

“I only have one to two students at a time, so I can offer my students a lot of one on one support,” she said. “It’s really important that we get to know each other so I can help them reach their goals.”
When looking back at the end of the year, Lane will feel it has been a successful year if she is still excited to work with her fellow teach­ers and her students.

“I want to be a teacher who gives my students what they need to meet their goals but still have times that we still have fun,” said Lane. “We don’t have to take everything so seriously all the time.”

Josh Sussman begins his third year as a teacher in his third district. He spent his first year after graduating from Northwest Missouri State University at South Page teaching all social studies classes for grades 6-12. Last year, he taught sev­enth grade social studies at Red Oak. Sussman decided to transition to Southwest Valley in order to teach in the same district as his wife Marie. He will be teaching freshman social studies, sophomore world history and government.

Sussman became a teacher because he has always been curious about how the world works.

“In history, there is not a simple black and white an­swer,” said Sussman. “As a history teacher I want to give kids the ability to tackle the big questions, not with opinion, but with facts so they can form a legitimate opinion backed by facts.”

In addition, Sussman’s primary focus is on reading comprehension and research skills.

“I’m not really teaching content as much as I am skills,” he said. “Generally, people don’t remember what dynasty ruled China in 500 AD. But they will remember how to sift through massive amounts of information and extract what is useful.”

His favorite part of teach­ing is opening kids’ minds and eyes to things in the world. He strives to guide students to a greater under­standing of the world and wants his students to re­member him as someone who was passionate about what he taught.

“I want them to feel that they are accepted regardless of who they are, that in my class they have value,” he said.

First year art instructor Rahmana Schooler comes to Southwest Valley after grad­uating from Graceland Uni­versity. Growing up in Car­lisle, Iowa, as the daughter of a high school Spanish teacher, Schooler spent a lot of time in the classroom and always felt like education was her calling.

“I’ve worked with kids since I was in high school,” she said. “I started out working at a daycare and I worked as a para educator in Carlisle fifth grade and mid­dle school.”

It was during high school that she fell in love with art and chose her path.

“I’ve always had a passion for making things look nice,” said Schooler. “When I was in high school, I fell in love with art. It was almost like therapy. It made me feel good.”

She wants to pass the same response to art on to her stu­dents.

“I hope to inspire kids to be creative both in and out­side of the art room, to be innovative,” said Schooler. “I want them to be involved in their education and to see them grow personally. I’m here to support them. My goal is that every student shows personal growth and confidence in their abilities.”
In addition to creating their own artworks, Schooler in­tends to focus on art history and the prevalence of art in the world with her students.

“I hope to introduce them to the whole huge art world. There are so many different avenues of art. In today’s world, we use art in our everyday life even if we don’t choose a career as a painter or sculptor,” she said. “I also want my students to be able to recognize famous art works. I feel it is im­portant to know what came before.”

The final new teacher at SWV High School, Robert Becker, fills into the English department. Becker, origi­nally from St. Louis, Mo., is familiar with the region as wife Marie Walsh Becker is from Creston. He and his wife chose Corning for the atmosphere.

“I really liked the com­mitment of the community to the school and the school to the students,” said Becker. “There is a lot of positivity here.”

A graduate of Truman State University in Kirks­ville, Mo., Becker was in­spired to become a teacher by his own high school ex­perience.

“My teachers were hugely influential,” he said. “I was really unsure of myself as a teen. I had some teachers that really let me know that they were there for me per­sonally. They weren’t trying to make me a good test taker — they were helping me become a good person.”

Becker hopes to be the same kind of influence on his students.

“I want them to think of me as someone who tried his best to provide them with a good education and to know that everyone is valued and has a fair shot at success,” he said. “My goal is to help my students become good citi­zens and good people. I hope that together we can make Corning as good of a com­munity as it can be.”

Becker will teacher ninth and 10th grade English clas­ses as well as intro to lit and creative writing dual credit classes with Southwestern Community College.
​
“I’m really excited for the ability to take the learning to a higher level and help pre­pare my students for college and beyond,” he said. “I’m looking forward to getting started and seeing my stu­dents writing and thinking grow and mature through the year. I look for growth and progress on an intellectual and personal level.”

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — New faculty at Corning Elementary are ready to start the year out strong. From left are Hanna Ogburn, Principal Linda Brecht-Kwirant, Michael Robinson and Kathy Sothman.

New faculty, new direc­tions

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Editor’s Note: Over the next three weeks, The Adams County Free Press will be highlighting the new leader­ship at Southwest Valley Schools. The first two weeks will be focused on new fac­ulty in Corning, while the final week will focus not only on Enarson Elementary’s new teacher, but also exist­ing faculty who have moved into new leadership roles this year.

Corning Elementary School students will see some new faces around the building this week. New fac­ulty includes building Prin­cipal Linda Brecht-Kwirant, fifth-grade teacher Hanna Ogburn, third-grade teacher Kathy Sothman and Special Education teacher Michael Robinson.

Brecht-Kwirant or Mrs. BK to her students, comes to Corning from Muscatine, Iowa, where she has spent the past 13 years teaching at both the elementary and high school levels focusing pri­marily on teaching Spanish or English as a second lan­guage.

After completing her first Master’s degree from Morningside College in 2010, Mrs. BK began to take on more leadership responsi­bilities in her building. A natural progression of building leadership and peer mentoring led her to the University of Northern Iowa, where she earned her Mas­ters in Educational Leader­ship in 2015.

BK and her family chose Corning as their home over other opportunities.

“Corning was the first place where I interviewed that just felt like a good fit in every way. I really liked the established leadership team at the school and the com­munity connection,” said BK. “It just felt natural. I’ve learned when that happens, you pay attention.”

Mrs. BK is excited to be a part of the community, both inside and outside the school walls.

“I’m really excited to see all the things that the TLC (Teacher Leadership and Compensation grant) pro­gram will bring to the school and teachers,” she said. “I think it will give them the freedom to try new things. I want them to feel both chal­lenged and supported.”

That feeling flows directly from her leadership philoso­phy of empowering teachers with shared vision and shared leadership throughout the building.

“I want everyone to know that they are heard,” said Mrs. BK.

Corning native Hanna Og­burn is thrilled to have the opportunity to teach at her own elementary school.

“It’s awesome. It was al­ways my goal to get back here, I can’t believe it hap­pened so fast,” she said. “I am really excited that I can give back to the school that gave so much to me.”

Ogburn graduated from Northwest Missouri State University last spring after completing her student teaching at Enarson Ele­mentary in kindergarten and first grade and is excited to finally have her own class­room. Ogburn always knew she would become a teacher.

“I’ve never really wanted to do anything else,” she said. “I have a passion for kids. I want to make a differ­ence in their lives.”

One such teacher who stands out in Ogburn’s memory is her second-grade teacher Mrs. Lundberg.
“Everyday she had a smile on her face, she was ener­getic and ready to go,” she said. “I’m sure she had bad days, but we never saw them. She left all that at home. That is the kind of teacher I want to be.”
In her opinion, one of the biggest challenges ahead is to balance learning with testing.

“The biggest challenge for myself is to balance meeting each student’s needs and helping them prepare for the transition to middle school,” Ogburn said. “Unfortunately, too much is based on test scores and they don’t accu­rately reflect all a student learns.”

To those who have been around for a while, Kathy Sothman (pronounced with a long o) taught third grade in Corning from 1992 to 2000 after graduating from Northwest Missouri State University. Since that time, she has been a substitute and home school supervisor in Creston. Sothman is excited to return to her Corning roots.

“Not only did I start my teaching career here, I grad­uated from here too,” she said. “It’s good to be back.”

Always a teacher at heart, Sothman fondly remembers one of her own seventh-grade teachers.

“Mrs. Richardson taught in an inner city middle school in Dayton, Ohio, and she always made learning fun and made you feel im­portant,” said Sothman. “She seemed to understand that her students had a lot of worries, but in her class­room, no one fell through the cracks. That is the kind of teacher I strive to be. When students walk through my door, we are a family.”

Sothman strives to make students love learning and feels that third grade is a pivotal year in a student’s education.

“Academically, a lot changes in third grade, I feel blessed to have a positive influence on their future,” she said. “Third grade is fun because the kids are becom­ing independent, but they still have tender hearts and are excited to learn.”

Her challenge is to balance the technicalities of educa­tion — things like lesson planning, grading and stand­ardized tests with teaching.

“The biggest struggle for me is that I can’t pour all of my focus directly on the kids.”

Michael Robinson moved to Corning in 2013 when his wife Dr. Linda Robinson opened her family practice at CHI Health. He comes to Corning Elementary with a Master’s degree from the University of Iowa and 25 years of teaching experience in Des Moines. Naturally drawn to helping profes­sions, Robinson turned to education after spending 10 years as a social worker for Catholic Charities in Des Moines. He was particularly drawn to special education.

“It presents an interesting challenge,” said Robinson. “I get to help students do their best work in a wide variety of different ways. And I get to work with great people.”

Mr. Robinson’s classroom is new to Corning Elemen­tary and has the ability to serve students that require an extra level of support.

“There are three tiers when thinking about special edu­cation,” Robinson explained. “Tier one students are fairly independent and require just a few adaptations to succeed. tier two is for students who would be best served with accommodations to help them succeed in a regular, integrated classroom. My classroom is a tier three room. Here I serve students that need a level of support that requires a separate classroom and a person that will design a program to help them individually succeed. The higher the tier, the greater the need for support and accommodations.”

Robinson hopes that the work he does in his class­room will not only benefit his students but will also help others in the building.

“I like to think that what I do will help other people do better too. Everyone, stu­dents, other teachers, even administration,” he said.

Robinson himself was in­spired to teach when looking back on his time with his own teachers.

“I realized later that what they had taught me, really stuck with me and influenced me positively,” he said. “Then the old Sidney Poitier movie ‘To Sir, with Love’ really sparked in me the no­bility of teaching.”

Corning Elementary is ready to start of the year in new directions, guided by the new district motto “At Southwest Valley: Commu­nity Matters. Education Matters. We Matter. I Mat­ter!”

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Retired Red Raider basket¬ball coach Percy Stielow and some of his players gathered around the monument that serves as the nameplate at the Corning Sport Court during the dedication July 30.

Stielow Court honors Red Raider coach

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Another generation of Corning youth will now con­nect the name Percy Stielow to the game of basketball.

On July 30, during Corn­ing’s Lazy Days celebration, the new sport court on the Corning Elementary campus was dedicated to Coach Stielow in recognition of his leadership and success.

Stielow came to Corning High School in 1970 after teaching and coaching for five years in Coleridge, Neb.

“Coleridge is a community of about 600 people. After having some success on the court there, it was time to move up,” he said. “We had certain requirements when considering where to move. We wanted a town that had a doctor, a dentist and a clean­ers. We were tired of having to drive for basic services.”

When Stielow and his family first arrived in Corn­ing, the plan was to coach here for five years and then move on to a larger school somewhere else in Iowa.

“Before the end of that five years came, I realized that I couldn’t think of a single team in the state that had better talent than we did,” said Stielow. “The kids here worked hard and put in the time to make us successful.”

During Coach Stielow’s 16 seasons as the Red Raider’s head boys basketball coach, the players achieved tremen­dous success. Over a 10-year period, the record was 190 wins to only 38 losses.

“After we won a couple of back to back conference championships, I decided to set the goal of taking every class from kindergarten to the senior class and make them conference champs,” said Stielow. “We only missed it by two. It took the state champs from across the state in a parochial school to take us out of the tournament three years in a row.”

At the end of his 11 in 13 year run, Stielow decided to hang up his coach’s whistle because he didn’t feel pre­pared to commit to another 13-year run. But Stielow’s influence on Corning stu­dents extended beyond the court and into the classroom. As a math teacher, Stielow also coached competition math teams of sophomores, juniors and seniors that be­tween the years of 1978 and 2003 had at least one team in the top three at competition.

“Coaching basketball play­ers and coaching math teams really wasn’t that different,” said Stielow. “I just had to keep the kids on the task at hand and convince them that if they put in the time they could be successful.”

Stielow feels that extra time is exactly what made his players so successful. At the dedication he shared a story of a player from an­other school who requested to practice with the Raiders.

“We had beaten this player three times in one season, so he asked if he could come practice with us. I am sure he went home thinking we didn’t do much different in drills than his coach did. What he didn’t see was the time players spent shooting in the off-season, on week­ends during the season and after I blew the whistle and said practice was officially over.”

More than 60 people — former players and their families attended the dedica­tion. Several traveled from out of state, some as far as California, Texas or Michi­gan. After making some opening statements four-year player Mark Jones unveiled a large rock, etched to com­memorate Coach Stielow’s success. Coach was then called forward to make some comments.

“I don’t know which hon­ors me more — my name attached to the facility, that fact that it was built with donated money or that you are all here. As usual, my award is not what I did but what my teams achieved,” he said. “It is very fitting that our accomplishments are remembered here for it was a similar court, outside the junior high, that played a major role in our success. It had a blacktop surface, metal backboards and chain nets and many hours were spent in the off-season shooting there. It was where younger players learned from older ones. It was where no matter the age or ability, everyone got to play in pickup games. You cannot reach your po­tential if you wait for the season to shoot. I encourage players of all ages to take advantage of this great facil­ity.”

Stielow also credits the success of his teams to the support they received from the community, “The com­munity and student body showed up in large numbers to intimidate our opponents. Families ate late suppers and gave up vacation time. My wife washed uniforms twice a week so they were all the same color. Mothers made and served pre-game meals. The Booster Club provided us with red blazers that we wore to every game to get us in the right mind set and fur­nished our equipment. The school administrators, fac­ulty and all the staff sup­ported us. All of these con­tributions together made us feel like we were really part of a first class program. Our success would not have been possible without the tremen­dous support we received from the community.”
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Continually humbled by the success of his players and teams, Stielow noted, “I hope I played a small part in your success and in reaching your potential.” 

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SWV athletes see new faces

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

To kick off the fall sports season, Southwest Valley High School athletes began official practices Aug. 8 un­der the direction of two new head coaches. Southwest Valley also boasts a familiar face in a new role.

As the new high school athletic director (AD), Jason Wetzel has coached in Corning for 18 years and is excited to make a positive effect on the forward pro­gress of SWV athletic pro­grams, and more im­portantly, a positive effect on SWV student athletes.

“One thing we are going to focus on is changing our attitudes. We need opti­mism,” said Wetzel. “We need to get it out of our heads that a team is unbeata­ble. If we think that way, we’ve lost the game before it starts. I think over time a change in attitude for our athletes will breed a change in attitude for our commu­nity. I’d love to have the stands full at every event. I’d love to see non-parent com­munity events travel to away games.”

At this early stage, Wetzel is very optimistic about the upcoming season.

“I think good things are going to happen,” he said. “There have been more stu­dent hours dedicated over this summer than there have been in the past three sum­mers. These kids are moti­vated and excited and so are their coaches.”

As AD, Wetzel would cer­tainly like to see success on the field. But ultimately, he wants to help shape well rounded students.

“I encourage kids to be ac­tive in multiple areas — athletics, arts and clubs,” he shared. “I think that high school athletics provides a place where kids can learn to be a part of a team and whether they are a star or a support player, they will learn skills that they can carry with them for the rest of their lives. Unfortunately a lot of kids feel lost in high school and being in athletics gives them something to be a part of, gives them a sense of belonging. That’s what I want.”

Wetzel shared that he was told during his training that the AD is the face and the voice of the athletic program, that they are in the limelight.

“I don’t need that. There is a lot of behind the scenes work that goes into being AD, and I’m OK with that,” he said. “I want the kids to be the ones in the spotlight. They are the ones putting in the hard work.”

Wetzel will oversee and support all head coaches, with the exception of himself for wrestling and his wife, head volleyball coach Lind­sey Wetzel. Their evalua­tions will be handled by the building principal.
Coach Anthony Donahoo learned the love of the game and a fire for coaching from late Corning Coach Bob My­ers.

“I always liked all sports. I played football and tennis in high school,” said Donahoo. “I really started on the path to coaching my sophomore year when Bob Myers told me that I’d never be a colle­giate athlete. He told me that I was done growing and would never have what it takes at that level, but that I would make an amazing coach. I’m not going to lie, it was harsh and it was tough to hear. But after that, we had a lot of really great talks and he set me on the path to coaching. He saw something in me that I hadn’t seen in myself yet.”

Though this is Donahoo’s first season as a head coach, it is his 10th season coaching football. He got his start in Corning as an assistant to Coach Dave Walter while he was a college freshman. From there he has held the role of defensive coordinator at West Nodaway High School in Burlington Junc­tion, Mo., graduate assistant at Northwest Missouri State University and the past three years as an assistant at Creston High School.

“I learned a lot from each of these coaching positions. I’ve always wanted to be a head coach, but I truly be­lieve that I wasn’t ready until now,” said Donahoo. “And moving back here to Corning has always been my goal. This is my dream job. I re­ally feel like so much has happened in the last year. Since Coach Myers passed I have felt him pushing me to this, I have felt him with me. It’s all been very emotional.”

Coach Donahoo has re­cruited a large coaching staff to ensure that the team of more than 50 student athletes can be broken up into small groups and get more focused coaching attention.

“I have tried to surround myself with the best we have to offer in the community for these kids,” said Donahoo. “We have Coach [Willie] Stone who is the best O-line coach around. Coach [Kee­gan] Longabaugh has played Shrine Bowl and college. Coach [Andy] Timmerman is a two-time national cham­pion with the Bearcats. Most importantly, I chose coaches of great character. They live what we preach, which is positivity — all the time.”

Donahoo watched game film from previous seasons to get a feel for his new team before the season.
“I could tell that these kids had the athletic ability, there was just something else that wasn’t there,” he said. “I focus on the game, but more than that, my job is getting these boys ready to be men. That means learning to be polite and respectful of oth­ers and respectful of them­selves. We teach football skills and life skills.”

The focus on polite and re­spectful is required of every member of the program, players and coaches alike. There is team accountability. Anyone cussing on the field or in practice is penalized with extra push-ups. Anyone late for practice runs extra. Accountability also carries over beyond the field. Any student who is academically ineligible will not travel with the team and will spend their practice time in tutoring ses­sions with a coach.

A final adjustment Coach Donahoo has made to the SWV football program is unifying all levels to one playbook. Early in July he hosted an optional two-day coaching clinic.

“Every single middle school and junior padded coach attended the clinic,” he said. “The idea of stream­lining the program is not new — these coaches wanted it. I just created the opportunity.”

The last new coach of the fall season may be a familiar face to some. Coach Josh Sussman has been a Villisca resident since 2008 and did his student teaching at SWV. For Sussman, the move to SWV was family motivated.

“My wife, the art teacher in Villisca, and I just had a son. I wanted to move to the dis­trict that Liam is going to grow up in. I wanted a stake in his school district,” he said.

Sussman began his com­petitive running career as a third-grader in New Jersey. Through high school he con­tinued to run cross-country and track as well as play basketball and competed on the cross-country team for one season at a Division III college in Rhode Island be­fore moving to Iowa. His love of the sport is what has kept him motivated to con­tinue putting in the miles.

“I love that anyone, re­gardless of natural athletic ability, can do well as long as they put in the work,” he said. “You can be a solid athlete and competitor if you commit. I also love that cross-country attracts such a wide range of kids. The cross-country family comes from all different social groups across the school.”

As a coach, Sussman feels he has the help to the kids improve their performance through more than just put­ting more miles on their legs and basic weight training.

“A lot of running, espe­cially distance running, is mental. I can teach these kids to push themselves past what they think their limits are,” he said. “There are a lot of parallels of running with life. If you can push through a tough run, you can have the mental strength to push through life struggles.”

Sussman approaches coaching as “we’re helping to shape people first, stu­dents second and then ath­letes,” he said. “If they aren’t students, they aren’t athletes and even more importantly, we need to be focused on who they will be as people.”

With this in mind, Sussman holds his athletes to a high academic standard — re­quiring a minimum 2.5 GPA. He will also be in regular communication with teachers to hold kids accountable for their classroom behavior and participation as well as their grades.

Sussman feels that the strength of this year’s team is the number of senior ath­letes.

“We have a really strong bunch of seniors that are developing into great lead­ers,” he said. “They are ma­ture and enthusiastic. They are showing the younger kids how to train and how to be­have as a team. The whole group is great; they are com­passionate and empathetic. I can tell they genuinely care about each other.”

The team has two weak spots, one of which is en­tirely mental.
​
“I have to get these kids to believe they can compete and actually do well,” said Coach Sussman. “Also, we have low numbers on the girls team. I’m actively re­cruiting anyone who is not involved in another sport. There is room for all types; all kids are welcome. And I want them with us.”

Corning working on two NSP properties

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

During the July 26 meet­ing, the Corning City Coun­cil held a public hearing on the progress of the Neigh­borhood Stabilization Pro­gram (NSP).

Since beginning with the program in 2009, Corning has completed seven projects including the demolition of four properties, rehabilitation of two older homes and con­struction of one new home.
The city is currently working on obtaining two additional blighted properties for demolition. The proper­ties in consideration are 703 Ninth St. and 903 Adams St. It is anticipated that the pro­ject will be completed by the end of the year. The ex­pected expense of acquisition and demolition is approxi­mately $40,000 and will be funded with program in­come.

The city has spent ap­proximately $30,000 in Community Development Block Grants funding and $15,000 in local funding and expended approximately $58,575 in program income.
One rehabilitated home, at 302 Sixth St., is still on the market and available for a low, moderate or middle-income buyer. 
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Anyone with comments or questions concerning the NSP should contact Jeremy Rounds at the Southern Iowa Council of Governments at (641) 782-8491 or the City of Corning at (641) 322-4230.

Lazy Days kick off July 29

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Now that RAGBRAI has come and gone, Corning has shifted focus to the Lazy Days of Summer.
Beginning at dawn Friday, Corning and the rest of Ad­ams County will be the site of Corning Center for the Fine Arts’ (CCFA) annual En Plein Air painting com­petition. Eight painters will create artworks throughout the competition for judging Saturday afternoon. The top three paintings will each be awarded a cash prize and the paintings will then remain on display in the CCFA until the end of September.

This year’s judge for En Plein Air is artist John Pres­ton of Fairfield. Preston has been creating landscape paintings of particular loca­tions — mostly in Jefferson and Van Buren counties — against a backdrop of weather events from obser­vation, memory and where necessary, imagination since 1984. He has exhibited na­tionally and in many collec­tions — both public and pri­vate including the Olson Larsen Gallery, Iowa State University, John Deere and the Chicago Federal Reserve.

CCFA will host the Adams Community Chamber Coffee at 10 a.m. July 29 and will also hold a beer tasting from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday prior to the awards cere­mony. Also from 1 to 3, Dr. Patricia Tice will be signing her book “Agri Manners” at CCFA. 

Friday evening the Battle of the BBQ opens up for all you can eat wings and the People’s Choice Wing Con­test. Gates open at 5 p.m. for the beer garden and music from DJ Randy and Holly Cooper. Cookers will start serving wings at 7 and con­tinue until they run out 2,000 pounds later. The street dance with live music from Kelly Blue Band runs from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. Gate admis­sion is $10.

Runners and walkers will fill the city streets Saturday morning for the 17th annual Doctor’s Dash sponsored by CHI Health Mercy Corning Community Wellness and Mercy Health Care Founda­tion. Participants have the option to walk a one-mile course, walk or run 3.1 miles or run the 6.4-mile route that loops out and around Lake Binder and back into town. Proceeds fund Community Wellness children’s pro­grams to ensure that local children have access to qual­ity health programming at no cost. Race registration begins at 6:30 a.m. July 30.

After the race, the Corning Rotary will serve pancakes at the south end of Central Park from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Pro­ceeds go to the fight against polio.

From 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Main Street Corning’s Events and Marketing will host the Lazy Days of Sum­mer festival featuring a tod­dler bounce house, an all-ages inflatable obstacle course and giant sized yard games. There will also be a vendor show in Central Park.

Starting at 9:30 a.m. the Johnny Carson Car Show will line Davis Avenue with all makes and models of cars. Proceeds will benefit the Johnny Carson Birth­place Society. Awards will be presented at 2:30.
The Battle of the BBQ will offer lunch from noon to 2 p.m. for $7. Beef brisket, pork butt, baked beans and chips will be served at the south end of Central Park. Barbecue awards will be presented at 1:45 p.m.

The House of History, R&S Collectables, The French Icarian Village, Southwest Valley High School and the Johnny Car­son Birthplace will all be open for tours on Saturday. Pick up a schedule at the Lauvstad Center, 710 Davis Ave., for times.

Throughout the weekend, seven classes will hold their class reunions in town. Be sure to look for familiar faces from Corning High Schools classes of 1951, 1971, 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991 and 2001.
Cap off the weekend at Corning American Theater to see “The Secret Life of Pets” or at the Adams County Speedway for Chat Mobility Hobby Stocks King of the Hill competition and the Kids’ Money Grab.

This map shows the cyclists' route through Corning. Intersections marked in red will be closed with a barrier in place, those marked orange will be closed, but accessible for emergencies and green intersections will be restricted. Traffic control volunteers will man all affected intersections.

Corning ready to welcome RAGBRAI

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

RAGBRAI will be in Corning on Monday, July 25.

Local residents are re­minded that travel through town will be complicated due to street closings and the influx of both riders and support teams.

“Grove Avenue is going to be the key to getting around the community,” said Corn­ing RAGBRAI co-chair Donna Hogan. “We expect the majority of the riders to be in town between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.”

Local residents are being asked to cross the route at Sixth Street and Grove Ave­nue, rather than drive along the route wherever possible. All closed intersections will be manned with traffic con­trol volunteers between the hours of 10 and 3 Monday. Additionally, beginning at 1 p.m. on Sunday, there will be no parking in the downtown areas between Adams and Benton.

“We hope that residents will come downtown and enjoy the entertainment and the experience,” said Corn­ing RAGBRAI co-chair Betsy Akin. “We have a me­chanical bull, Meltdown, giant games and shows from Corning Gymnastics and the SWV Cheerleaders.”

The RAGBRAI committee has worked intentionally to create an atmosphere where cyclists will want to relax and stay awhile. In addition to the entertainment offer­ings and photo opportunities, the committee has arranged for more than 70 picnic ta­bles to be brought downtown as well as approximately 60 large wooden boxes that serve dual purpose as seating or stand-up table space. The Central Park pavilion will house the “Relaxation Sta­tion,” a shady place to relax and get a massage.

“We are anticipating a very hot day, if anyone has a pop-up tent they would be willing to share for the day to pro­vide extra shade we’d appre­ciate it,” said Akin.

In connection with the theme of Recharge in Corn­ing, there will be 30 power strips that can charge up to six phones or tablets at once.

“Everyone has a phone, and most of the riders are camping at night and riding all day,” said logistics chair Doug Oldenkamp. “These will give them the oppor­tunity to plug in and recharge their phone while they re­charge their bodies.”

Hogan expressed her ap­preciation for the many vol­unteers and emergency man­agement professionals who have given their time to make RAGBRAI run smoothly.

“We can’t compliment enough, the core group we’ve been working with. They have made it so easy,” she said. “The amount of volunteers stepping forward has been amazing. We would happily take more.”

Volunteers for clean up after RAGBRAI will meet at 5:30 p.m. in the Central Park pavilion. 

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — A trio of Cycle of Hope riders prepares to leave Corning the morning of July 6. Cycle of Hope rides 1,000 miles in two weeks to support their local chapter of Habitat for Humanity in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

Canadian cyclists bring hope

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Since 1994, Cycle of Hope a cyclist group from Winni­peg, Manitoba, Canada has taken a 1,000-mile journey to support the building of a home for a local family. Each year, the group selects a starting destination in the United States where they will begin their journey back home.

This year, the 32 partici­pating cyclists began their two-week trek in Kansas City, Mo. The caravan left Winnipeg on July 1 to begin the trip. The cyclists were in Corning as an early morning lunch stop July 6 en route from Bedford to their over­night lodging in Atlantic.

In order to be eligible for the ride, each cyclist must raise a minimum of $3,000 and pay their own registra­tion and outfitting expenses. All of the funds raised are given to the Winnipeg chap­ter of Habitat for Humanity. Since the rides began, Cycle of Hope has raised enough funds to build 23 homes — averaging one complete house each year. The first year, the group was at its smallest with only 12 riders and raised enough money to build the foundations of four homes. Since then the group has grown exponentially, having accommodated 60 riders in past years.

Olenka Antymniuk has participated in all 23 rides. She shared that the ride be­gan when Winnipeg hosted the Jimmy Carter Work Project.

“When we had our orien­tation for the Jimmy Carter Work Project, we heard from a group called Cycle 500. They did what we do, they raised money by cycling to build houses. One of my dear friends said to me at orienta­tion, ‘Olenka, we need to do this.’ I told her to plan it and I would do whatever I needed to help. The next year, we took our first ride,” she said. “Originally, we would ride to wherever the Jimmy Carter Work Project was taking place. The first year we rode 600 miles to Eagle Butte, South Dakota. After five years, we decided that it was much more ex­citing to cycle home rather than away.”

When the cyclists return to Winnipeg, they are met at the city limits by a police escort and travel through the city to the Habitat family’s build site and the cyclists’ families are there to greet them.
“This is my second ride,” said Charlie Onyske. “It has been life changing for me. I can’t imagine not doing it again. Something along the way changed in me last year. I look forward to continuing for many more years.”

While the minimum fund­raising amount is $3,000 most of the riders are able to exceed that expectation.

“After the three or four year mark, people started to ask me ‘where are you going this year?’ before I even had a chance to ask for their sup­port,” said six-time rider Ed Janzen.

Fellow rider Gordon Steinder agreed, saying that at this point, the fundraising is the easy part. “This is my 19th ride. Each year it gets easier and easier to find peo­ple who are excited to sup­port me.”
Antymniuk shared that at least two of the riders raised more than four times their required amount.
“Some of our riders go door-to-door in their neigh­borhoods, others hold events. But I think the reason people are so eager to donate is that the money stays in our com­munity, a donation to Habitat for Humanity is tangible. They can know that their money helped purchase win­dows or doorknobs,” she said. “Professionally, I am an interior designer, I work with families to design $100,000 homes. And I ask every one of my clients to support my ride so that together we can have a part in breaking the cycle of poverty for a family and their children. I see my­self as the conduit between the two.”

The riders have a support team that closely monitors them all along the route. There are several rest spots along each daily journey where they rehydrate, rest their legs or have a snack. Also along the way they will stop in small communities like Corning for a longer meal break. At the end of each day, the riders stay in a community where they have made arrangements to camp out in a church basement or high school gymnasium. They ask the hosting com­munity to provide them with shelter and an evening meal to keep their registration expenses low.

“The incredible generosity and hospitality of small communities is really won­derful,” said Janzen. “Just this morning the ladies from the lawyers office across the street came to visit and learn about us, then brought us some amazing freshly baked donuts as a welcome.”

Steinder shared that the ride the previous day was the most difficult he had ever endured.

“For the first time in 19 years, I had to ride a bit of the distance in the van. I knew I was in a bit of trouble when I didn’t want to eat or even drink, I just wanted to sit in the air conditioning,” he said. “The extreme heat combined with the Missouri hills and two washed out bridges that added to our daily mileage was just a bit too much.”

Luckily for the riders, the journey through Southwest Iowa involved fewer miles and much cooler tempera­tures. The earliest riders pulled into Corning for their mid-day break by 9 a.m. and the final riders left Central Park before noon.

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Weather dampens July 4 celebrations

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Friday’s clear, sunny skies darkened into continuous showers on Saturday forcing a cancellation of events at the Adams County Speedway.

Sunday was dry, but cool with heavy cloud cover. Despite the threat of rain, Lake Icaria was full of revelers. Three teams braved the chilly water to participate in the sand-sculpting contest — creating a castle with moat, a giant sea turtle and a colorful flip-flop.

Before the sun went down, dozens of children scoured the end of the beach to find their share of the $120 in coins buried beneath the sand. The evening was capped off with a fireworks display over the lake.

A heavy ceiling of clouds put a damper on the Adams Community Chamber’s Annual Flight Breakfast as only one plane braved the conditions to come in. The cloud cover didn’t stop the Adams Community though. More than 250 people drove out to the airport to partake of the pancake breakfast and look at the airplanes parked outside the hangar.

July 4 weekend filled with activities
By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

The Adams County community is gearing up for a big weekend full of celebrations.

First up is July’s Adams Community Chamber First Friday Barbecue sponsored by the Adams Community Foundation. The Foundation is celebrating their 30th Anniversary of giving back to the community by hosting the free meal in Central Park as well as awarding the final 2016 grants. With these awards, the foundation will reach the milestone of $1 million invested in Adams County. Serving for lunch begins at 11:30 on Friday, July 1 in Central Park.

Friday night, head over to Prescott for a freewill donation fundraiser dinner at the Prescott Eagles Nest, formerly Prescott School. The Adams County Cattlemen will be serving steak sandwiches with baked potatoes and salads from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. with a dance to follow. All proceeds will go to building repairs and purchasing tables and chairs to turn the building into a reception hall available for a wide variety of community events.

Saturday night at the conclusion of the races, the Adams County Speedway will “Light up the Night” with a full fireworks display.

Lake Icaria is the place to be Sunday. The day starts off at 9 a.m. with a sand volleyball tournament on the beach. At 5:30 p.m. get registered for the sand-sculpting contest. This year’s barbecue will be hosted by Lake Icaria Concessions at the beach from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Also from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Bobber’s Down Marina is giving free pontoon boat rides. Youngsters have the chance to find buried treasure on the beach starting at 7 p.m. with the Adams Community Chamber Kids Scavenger Hunt. DJ Randy Cooper will set up in the main shelter area beginning at 7 p.m. and play through the fireworks. Fireworks will begin at dark.
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Finally, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday the Adams Community Chamber is hosting the 57th Annual Flight Breakfast at the Corning airport. The chamber will serve pancakes, sausage, eggs and drinks.

Helping hometown gives Boswell satisfaction
By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

After years of traveling an eight county area for her work in the field of drug and alcohol abuse prevention, Wendi Boswell decided to change gears and serve her community in another way. In April 2014, Boswell became the Adams Community Chamber and Main Street Corning executive director.

“I wanted to be able to focus on my home county, the place where I grew up,” said Boswell. “With two young sons at home, I wanted to be closer to home if they need me.”

Now, instead of spending the bulk of her day travelling, Boswell’s days begin in her office at 8 answering emails and phone messages before sending out Chamber and Main Street marketing blasts. Most days wrap up around 4 p.m., except for the once monthly board meeting days. September through May, the Chamber and Main Street boards meet back to back beginning at 4:45 p.m. During the summer months, in recognition of hectic summer schedules, the Chamber Board meets over the lunch hour and the Main Street Board shuffles its meeting to 4 p.m. This adjustment not only benefits Boswell, whose 10-year-old son is actively involved in a variety of activities, but keeps in mind that board members are all volunteers who also have additional summer activities filling their schedule.

I sat with Boswell last week so that I could get an idea of some of her busier, typical office days. That day began early, like everyday, but instead of beginning in the office, her day started with a trip to Lake Icaria to collect the Chamber Coffee supplies from the week before and deliver them to Corning’s City Hall. After finishing with email, Boswell turned her attention to preparing for the 11 a.m. Chamber Board meeting. She answered messages and questions about the agenda, upcoming events and scheduling changes. Boswell said that though she sends out copies of all documents to be discussed at meetings, she prints out several copies to have on hand as well in case someone has forgotten or had trouble accessing theirs.

“When I create the agendas, I typically start by looking at the corresponding agenda from last year,” said Boswell. “That way I can be sure that we don’t forget any of the details of the events we are working on.”

On this day, the Chamber Board focused on detail planning of their upcoming event, the annual Flight Breakfast, followed closely by the annual pedal pull at the Adams County Fair. After nailing down the details of those events, focus shifted to the early stages of planning for the annual Chamber Golf Tournament in early August. Adams Community Chamber, unlike Main Street Corning, is not made up of several committees that report to the board of directors. This year, to help lighten the burden on Chamber Board members and keep communication flowing more smoothly, the board has arranged themselves in teams. Each team of two or three members focus on one event, such as Sample Corning, Flight Breakfast or the annual banquet. Each member participates on several teams.

Following the Chamber Board meeting, Boswell cancelled a meeting with Main Street Corning’s Economic Vitality committee, as she was feeling ill. After a remote doctor’s visit thanks to CHI Health’s Virtual Health service, Boswell had antibiotics to treat the early stages of strep throat and went back to her full day.

After lunch, Boswell met with a volunteer at the Chamber/Main Street storage space in the old armory. This volunteer is painting some photo opportunities for RAGBRAI and needed to get the supplies and discuss expectations. Upon returning to the Lauvstad Center, Boswell had an impromptu meeting with the advertising sales representative from KMA to plan out any summer advertising needs.

Changing gears again Boswell began preparing for the monthly Main Street Corning Board meeting. The Main Street Board members are encouraged to participate in one of the four committees, so during the board meeting the representative of each committee shares an update on what their committee is currently focused on and what has happened since the last board meeting, as well as reports from the secretary and treasurer.

One of Boswell’s primary roles is to keep communication flowing freely between the various Main Street Committees as well as between Main Street and Chamber. Each organization hosts several community activities, trainings and events, some events, like homecoming or the Make a Difference Volunteer recruitment event overlap, but most do not. Boswell needs to ensure that the calendar of events runs smoothly and that each group is aware of and supporting each other’s projects.

The most difficult piece of the transition from prevention and human services has been the increased demands on her schedule. In addition to regular night meetings, there are several out of town overnight conferences required for Main Street each year and the wide variety of both Chamber and Main Street Corning events that happen take place on nights and weekends.
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“With my two boys, being so active and involved, the night and weekend commitments has been the biggest adjustment,” said Boswell. “Sometimes the schedule has been frustrating, but the boards are really good about making sure that I can recoup that time in other ways. My favorite part of my job is that I get to work right alongside the people from my hometown, and we do things that matter.”
 

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DON GROVES/Free Press — Sandra Damewood and Jeff Hiatt put the finishing touches on a bench June 7 honoring the soldiers from the Iowa National Guard Armory in Corning for their deployment to Iraq.

Guard benches join Freedom Rock

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Those traveling along Sixth Street last week may have seen workers and a crane in the Memorial Rock Park.

These workers were moving two black marble benches from their previous home at the Corning National Guard Armory to their new resting place.

The benches were donated to the Corning National Guard Armory by the Family Readiness Group during the 2006-2007 deployment. During this deployment, local soldiers were attached to a unit from the 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry based out of Iowa Falls. Two men from that unit, Sgt. Kampha Sourivong of Iowa City and Sgt. 1st Class Scott E. Nisely of Marshalltown, lost their lives on Sept. 30 when their vehicle received small-arms fire during security operations near Asad, Iraq.

When the National Guard decided last fall to close the Corning Armory, the decision was made to move the benches into the city park.

“Everybody thought they should stay with the community. We decided the best place for them would be here at the Freedom Rock,” said Sandra Damewood, coordinator of the Family Readiness Group for Corning Guard during Iraqi Freedom.

Sgt. John Stewart received approval from the Corning City Council to relocate the benches in November. The benches from the Armory replace benches donated by Adams County Cattlemen Association, which were moved to Central Park.

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RAGBRAI crew tests Corning route

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

In just over six weeks, Corning will be filled to the brim with bicyclists and their support teams as RAGBRAI rolls through town.

Corning RAGBRAI core committee co-chairs Donna Hogan and Betsy Akin stopped into the Free Press last week to share an update on the committee’s plans and preparations.

“It has really been a joy working on putting things together,” said Akin. “Everyone just has such a willingness to cooperate and really do our best to showcase the community.”

“The community meeting last week was pretty well attended and resulted in a few more vendors,” said Hogan. “We have a really good variety of vendors already signed up. A little of everything — food, accessories, jewelry, tattoos and clothing.”

The committee has also recently unveiled the theme shirts, which are available for purchase from Graphic Ideas.

The exciting news is the RAGBRAI pre-inspection ride. The crew of about 30 riders is riding the full week’s route as a sort of practice run to identify any concerns that need to be addressed and to meet with the communities along the course. Among this group are several travel writers who will highlight various points of interest in the communities they visit in an effort to encourage riders to take the time to enjoy the sights.

As the riders entered Corning, RAGBRAI logistics committee chair Doug Oldenkamp joined them to answer questions and guide them on the route through town. Once downtown, they were treated to lunch during a question and answer time with the core committee. The Corning Opera House, Johnny Carson Birthplace and Adams County Speedway were all open for tours.

Hogan and Akin both expressed how eager everyone is to highlight Corning.

“There has been great support from the Main Street businesses,” said Akin. “People seem to really be getting excited.”

As always, Hogan reiterated that more volunteers are welcome.

“We have a great list already, with a lot of volunteers,” she said. “We’ve started trying to assign people to different jobs and make contact with people so they know what they will be doing to help out. Then we will know better what we still need.”

Anyone who wants to volunteer is encouraged to contact Wendi Boswell at the Chamber office at (641) 322-3243 or acmsc@adamscountyiowa.com.

Those interested in more information can find regular updates on the RAGBRAI Corning Facebook page. 

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Adams County becomes the 39th HBI Community

Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Adams County has achieved the Home Base Iowa (HBI) Community designation.

Adams County is the 39th community in the state to achieve this recognition. The designation was unveiled May 31 at the Adams County Freedom Rock. Members of the community, local veterans, along with community and business leaders were on hand to celebrate.

“As we travel around the state, we hear from our businesses that they need skilled workers,” Gov. Terry Branstad said. “Veterans and transitioning military members are exactly the kind of employees our companies need. They show up equipped with skills including teamwork, dedication, a strong work ethic and problem-solving abilities that have been tested in some of the toughest situations imaginable.”

“It is such an honor to add another Home Base Iowa community to the list,” Reynolds said. “Iowa counties and cities are really stepping up to support the Home Base Iowa effort. We are so proud to offer such a warm welcome to veterans and transitioning service members.”

In 2014, Iowa passed legislation with military-focused benefits to aid veterans and their families as they relocate to Iowa. Known as the Home Base Iowa Act, it eliminates state taxes on military pensions, allows for automatic in-state tuition for veterans and dependents, provides $5,000 home ownership assistance using the Iowa Finance Authority program and permits preferential veteran hiring practices.

While benefitting U.S. veterans, Home Base Iowa also helps Iowa businesses. By recruiting the nation’s best and brightest, HBI assists Iowa employers in connecting experienced veterans who already possess highly sought-after skills — leadership, critical thinking, problem solving and time management, to name a few. The overall program vision is to make Iowa the state of choice for veterans leaving active military service.

“I signed the bill on Memorial Day two years ago,” Gov. Branstad said. “Since it took effect, we have helped over 1,000 veterans find employment in Iowa communities.”

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Submitted photo — Chad White, his mother and brother Jason.

Answers are few in ’93 murder

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Sometimes anniversaries are a joy to celebrate. We gather to acknowledge some sort of togetherness. But not all anniversaries are joyous.

For Jason White, May 21, the day that his brother Chad’s life was cut short, is not only a day to remember the older brother, it brings along a sharp sting. Twenty-three years after his brother’s murder, Jason is still without answers. He doesn’t know why his brother was killed, or by whom.

“At this point, unfortunately I don’t think it will ever be solved. There wasn’t the kind of evidence collected then. There’s just no real clues. We need people to come forward with what they know,” Jason White said. “I can’t help but think that in such a small town, somebody, somewhere knows what happened. My only hope is that they come forward so we can finally put this to rest.”

What happened that night May 21, 1993, one day after their engagement announcement had run in the Adams County Free Press, Chad White and his fiancée Dixie Kinser returned to their home on Davis Avenue in Corning. Kinser and White had last been seen riding Chad’s motorcycle around town and visiting friends that evening. Shortly after they are believed to have arrived at home; a neighbor with an open window reported hearing what sounded like at least one gunshot and seconds later Kinser crying for help.

Chad was shot as he entered their darkened home. Dixie screamed and turned to run back outside. As she was attempting to flee, she was shot once in the back, sustaining serious injuries.
Jason remembers driving towards his brother’s home en route to his girlfriend’s house and being passed by a Corning police officer.

“As we came over the hill, I noticed the cop was stopped in front of Chad’s house,” he said. “I pulled up behind him to see the officer run out of the house, gun drawn, and run around to the back. I walked into the yard and saw Dixie lying face down with her Casey’s jacket all torn and covered in blood. She was having trouble breathing. I tried to go in the house, but a neighbor wouldn’t let me in. The officer came back around and I asked him what had happened. All he would tell me was that they had been shot. He wouldn’t tell me if Chad was dead or alive. I watched the ambulance arrive and take Dixie and I noticed that they didn’t take my brother.”

Autopsy reports later show that Chad had died of a single gunshot wound to the head. The weapon used was a 20-gauge shotgun.

Jason remembers taking his girlfriend home then going to his aunt’s house to call his parents. His dad, who lived in Illinois, was on his way to Corning for his high school graduation that coming Sunday. Jason remembers his dad showed up to find out that his oldest son had been murdered.
Suddenly, instead of celebrating a Saturday bridal shower and Sunday graduation, the Whites found themselves planning a funeral and in fear for Dixie’s safety. Kinser was later released from an Omaha, Neb., hospital.

Investigation
As the weeks stretched into months, authorities were still at a loss for a motive in the case. Following the murder, Iowa’s Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI) worked with Corning Police to conduct interviews. An article in the Aug. 30, 1993, issue of the Creston News Advertiser quotes the then Corning Police Chief Roger Ruchti as saying, “We’ve had 12 officers working on this and we’ve interviewed at least 270 people. Somewhere, sometime it will all fall together.”

At that point, the Adams County Crime Stoppers were offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction. By June 1, 1995, more than two years after the attack, the reward had grown to $5,000, yet still no information came forward. As of June 1995, Ruchti reported that he was still working with DCI on a weekly basis and by that time had interviewed more than 300 individuals. At that time, Ruchti sited that his biggest frustration was that local residents were not offering any information about the events that could help them narrow the investigation.

Immediately following the attack, early speculation of motive revolved around one of two or three possibilities. There was a possibility that drugs were involved, though neither Kinser nor Chad White were involved in drug use. Some speculated that there may have been a love triangle, a theory that was ruled out by law enforcement. Finally, it’s possible that it was a case of mistaken address. The assailant was already in the White-Kinser home when the residents returned for the evening. Chad White entered the house without turning on any lights, and it is possible that the shooter did not see Chad’s face.

Jason feels that one possible reason no one came forward with any information regarding his brother’s murder is his own drug related arrest two months later, while the investigation was still fresh.

“I think people saw that [my arrest] and just assumed that since the brother was arrested for possession, that Chad was also into drugs. I think they just wrote us off, but Chad had nothing to do with my issues. I do think it hurt the case though,” said Jason.

Aftermath
May 27, 1994, just over one year after Chad’s death, Gerald White, Chad and Jason’s father, took his own life.

“Dad had struggled with mental illness, but I think losing his son and having no answers about why was just the last straw,” said Jason. “I feel like not only did I lose my brother that day, but I lost my dad too. He never did recover.”

“That whole night in burned into my brain. I’ve told the story so many times, and I remember it so clearly. It took me several years to feel safe walking into my own home. I would have to psych myself up to walk through my front door and then I would have to check the whole house before I felt at ease,” said Jason.

 Now, 23 years later, Chad White’s murder has gone unsolved for longer than his 21 years alive. And it will remain that way unless someone with information regarding the circumstances of that night contacts the Iowa DCI.

“I spoke with an officer at the DCI a couple of years ago and learned that because they don’t have the money, cold cases don’t get continuously investigated. New information or clues will be investigated, but they don’t actively try to solve cold cases,” said Jason. “It’s frustrating because in a town the size of Corning, someone has to know something. I can’t help but think that if it had been one of the pillars of society, it would have been solved right away. But my brother was just an ordinary, average person. Somebody somewhere knows what happened. My only hope is that they come forward so we can finally put it to rest.”
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Any individual with information regarding the death of Chad White on May 21, 1993, can contact the Adams County Sheriff’s Office at (641) 322-4444 and will be directed to the proper individual at the DCI.

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Okey Vernon to shift ownership

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Pending regulatory approval, June 30 will be the last day that the Okey Vernon First National Bank conducts business in Corning. Going forward, Okey Vernon will be a Treynor State Bank (TS Bank) branch.

While most changes, including the transition of signage and computer system will be more gradual, customers will notice one major immediate change. Jim Whitmore, president and owner of Okey Vernon, will retire when the merger is complete.

“I’ll miss the people, my staff has been wonderful to work with and the customers have been great,” said Whitmore. “It’s been a pleasure to be a banker in Corning.”

Jim and his wife JoAnne intend to remain in Corning, though look forward to the freedom of travel that comes with retirement. That desire to retire, accompanied by several other unrelated factors, spurred the decision to find a buyer for Okey Vernon.

“One concern we had was without an heir to pass on the business, we needed to find someone to purchase it so we could provide a future for the employees,” said JoAnne. “TS Bank offers similar products, reaches similar client groups, and has a commitment to community involvement that made them a good fit.”

Customers will notice changes in the available banking products, but the familiar faces of Okey Vernon employees will stay the same.

“Staff from TS Bank will come to train the local staff,” said Jim. “Their roles may or may not shift a bit, but the bank staff is staying.”

A statement released by TS Bank echoes the same saying, “‘Okey-Vernon First National Bank shares mane of the same qualities and values of the TS Banking Group, which makes this a great fit for both organizations,’ commented Joshua M. Guttau, TS Banking Group CEO. ‘The bank has been well-run with good credit quality, supportive of the community, and has a team of experienced local employees — something that is very important to us!’”

TS Bank offers innovative banking products and a history of expertise.

“They have a lot of agricultural lending expertise,” said Jim, “a service that is so necessary in a community like Corning and Adams County.”

TS Bank is also committed to reinvesting in the local community in the form of sponsorships, donations to local non-profits, and support of the local schools through the TS Institute — a financial literacy program for K-12 students.

More information on TS Bank’s products and services, including Wealth Management and Trust services can be found on their website at tsbank.com.

Submitted photo — Main Street Corning se¬lected Don-na Hogan for the Lifetime of Support honor. Hogan is pictured receiving her award April 29 with Gov. Terry Branstad, Main Street Corn-ing director Wendi Boswell and Iowa Economic Devel-opment Authority director Debi Durham.

Main Street Iowa cele­brates 30 years

Main Street Iowa cele­brated 30 years of commit­ment to downtown and commercial district revitali­zation during an awards cel­ebration April 29 in down­town Des Moines.

Attended by approximately 450 individuals representing communities across the state, the event recognized local Main Street innovation, leaders, entrepreneurship, private investments and the catalytic power of Main Street.

Gov. Terry E. Branstad and Debi Durham, Iowa Eco­nomic Development Author­ity director, presented the honors.

“We knew from the very beginning that Main Street was not a quick-fix solution but rather an incremental approach to fostering posi­tive change. It has had far greater impact than we ever could have imagined in 1985,” Branstad said. “Main Street Iowa’s 30th anniver­sary is an opportunity to re­flect on challenges over­come, the successes and the areas of opportunity that exist on the horizon.”

Since 1986, local Main Street programs have made a significant impact on Iowa’s economy realizing a net gain of nearly 13,000 new jobs, 11,000 new businesses and more than $1.6 billion pri­vate invested into local Main Street districts. As a grass­roots program, Main Street communities have contrib­uted more than 2.8 million volunteer hours in local re­vitalization efforts.

“These numbers are only half the story,” Michael Wagler, Main Street Iowa State coordinator, said. “Each number has a real business, entrepreneur, de­veloper, personality and partnership behind it. And most importantly, none of these milestones were reached at once; it has taken years of incremental impact to get this point.”

“Healthy, historic commer­cial districts are a key de­ciding factor for industrial and business recruitment. Main Street brings jobs, in­vestment and new businesses to our downtowns and his­toric commercial neighbor­hoods,” Durham said. “Tax­payers are certainly getting their money’s worth. In FY15, for every dollar the state of Iowa invested in op­erating the state Main Street program, the private sector in those communities invested $54 into building improve­ments and acquisitions.”

In 1985, the Iowa Legisla­ture adopted the National Main Street Center's Four Point Approach to district revitalization by establishing Main Street Iowa within the agency that is now the Iowa Economic Development Authority. Since inception, the state program and its communities have been con­sidered examples of excel­lence in the national effort to revitalize historic commer­cial districts across the country. 

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RAGBRAI riders encouraged
to Recharge in Corning

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

RAGBRAI riders entering Corning July 25 will be greeted with a wide variety of options for food, rest and entertainment.

Corning’s RAGBRAI central committee this week announced the theme: Recharge in Corning.
As the meeting town on the longest and steepest ride of the week, Corning is anticipating having riders and their support teams spend a large chunk of time in town.

At this point in the planning process, the route through town has not yet been approved by RAGBRAI, but the local committee does not anticipate any issues and the proposed route was approved April 25 by the Corning City Council.

“We want local residents to be aware that getting around town on that Monday will be inconvenient,” central committee co-chair Donna Hogan said. “It won’t be impossible, but it would be best to plan ahead.”

Riders will enter Corning from the west on old Highway 34 and travel south on Hull Street to Sixth Street. They will continue east on Sixth to Davis Avenue where they will be routed north through town to 13th Street. As they leave Corning, riders will travel east on 13th to John Street (they will have to cross Highway 148) where they will then travel north to 210th Street on their travel to Prescott.

Betsy Akin, co-coordinator of the central committee said, “Local residents should also remember that we are selling our community. Be informed. Be prepared to answer questions about Corning.”

A vendor information meeting was held last week with a turnout that represented 36 groups interested in participating as vendors. Those interested should visit the Adams Community website under the Chamber Main Street tab www.adamscountyiowa.com for vendor information, including the requirements for a temporary food license from the state food inspector. Still to come is a community meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 24, in the Corning Community Building. This meeting will give more information to the community and to prospective vendors. Anyone interested in volunteering with Corning’s RAGBRAI efforts is encouraged to attend.

“We anticipate that we will need at least 100 volunteers over the three days,” Akin said. “We will need the majority of them on Sunday for set-up and Monday for the actual event and need a few more volunteers Tuesday for the clean-up efforts.”

In addition to setting up on Sunday, the central committee is considering sending some people to Shenandoah on Sunday night to promote Corning’s festivities and build excitement among the riders.

“We also want to remind locals that even if they aren’t volunteering, they are more than welcome to come downtown and join in the celebration,” Hogan said.

Those interested in volunteering can get signed up to help by contacting Wendi Boswell at the Chamber/Main Street office by calling 322-3243.

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Monthly siren testing to begin

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Corning City Council has recently updated and repaired Corning’s siren alert system.

In order to prevent future issues related to the battery life of the sirens, it was decided that the best plan of action is to test the sirens monthly to allow the batteries to drain and recharge.

“Conducting regular tests will ensure that the batteries get the exercise they need to stay fresh and allow us to diagnose any problems with the system when there is not an emergency situation,” said councilman Bert Peckham.

The date and time of the monthly tests will be voted on and approved at the May 9 city council meeting.

Also discussed at the April 25 city council meeting was the Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Jeremy Rounds of Southern Iowa Council of Governments discussed some options and changes made to the NSP process. Perhaps most importantly for Corning, the Iowa Economic Development Authority (IEDA) has authorized widening the market of potential buyers for the home the city owns at 302 Sixth St. Previously, buyers for the home were required to fall into 50 percent of the area median income (AMI). Under the new guidelines, buyers up to 120 percent AMI (making up to 20 percent more than the area median income) are eligible for purchase through the program. 

SWV fills leadership positions

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

More changes are ahead for Southwest Valley. At the April 18 board meeting of the Corning Community School District, contracts were awarded for teacher leadership positions.

High school history teacher Jason Wetzel will add the role of athletic director to his schedule, which also includes head wrestling coach and mentor to fellow teachers beginning July 1. Liz Timmerman will transition from teaching third grade at Corning Elementary to the high school to fill the new position of high school drop out prevention coordinator.

Contracts were also awarded to a handful of teachers who will serve on the lead team for their building next year. A complete list will be available in the weeks to come.

The board also approved changing the policy concerning graduation credit requirements. Beginning with the 2016-2017 school year, seniors will be required to have obtained a total of 56 credits to graduate. This lowers the requirement from 60.

Board president Scott Shuey said, “With a 60 credit requirement, if a student fails a single class, they are not eligible to graduate, because there just isn’t space in four years to take more classes to make up for it. Lowering the requirement will give the students a little bit of grace.”

The State of Iowa requires students have a minimum of 48 credits to be eligible for graduation, so the 56-credit requirement is still well above the minimum.

One additional matter discussed by the board was approving a bid for asbestos removal from the old junior high building. Removal is set to take place during the summer while school is not in session.

JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — The American Legion building, under the new ownership of Kreg James, has undergone intensive repairs, but the iconic eagle from the historic mural remains.

Legion hall sees repairs

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

The former American Legion hall has gotten a face-lift.

Kreg James purchased the building from the Legion last October.

“I feel like it has a lot of potential and the location there across from the park is amazing,” said James. “The building also has a lot of history and it needed to be saved.”

James has done extensive cleaning and repairs to the interior through the winter months. One major interior project was building a new wall in the second story to shore up sagging roof joists to ensure the integrity of the roof was not compromised.

With the onset of warmer weather, James and his crew have now turned their attention to the exterior. The deteriorating north wall has been repaired through a process of replacing damaged, crumbling bricks with new concrete block. When that was finished, the majority of the wall was coated in a concrete mortar to even out the surface.

A prominent feature of the structure has always been the mural painted on the north wall. Much of the mural sustained intense damage due to the deterioration of the brick. One piece however, the eagle, was painted where the building was surfaced in concrete as opposed to the stucco covering most of the wall. Because of this more solid base, the eagle sustained very little damage.

“I had several people ask if I would keep the eagle,” said James. “The only part of it that was damaged was the end of the ribbon that used to say ‘For God and Country.’ We decided to keep the eagle and just painted over the words on the banner so it looks complete.”

With the final stages of repairs coming to completion, James is now looking for potential renters. The lower level will be rented out as retail space and the upper level is available for an apartment.
“The front half of the second story is ready as an apartment. Eventually I will have the whole floor complete and rent it as one large loft apartment,” said James. 

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Deb Frazee and Riann vanDyk present Erin Wetzel with a check as winner of the I.O.W.A. STEM Teacher Award on April 4 at the second annual STEM festival.

SWV teachers showcase STEM strengths

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Nearly 400 people filled the Southwest Valley Middle School gymnasium for the second annual STEM festival April 4.

The festival is open for students, family and community members to see demonstrations or participate in activities of science, technology, engineering and math. Students from each school showed off some of their favorite STEM projects from this year, including an animal x-ray match game, a pinball arcade, jet-propelled balloon cars and demonstrations of erosion, heat and pressure.

In addition to student presentations, a variety of area businesses also offered demonstrations and activities. The Villisca Public Library booth was a big hit with its experiments including elephant toothpaste and color changing milk. Deb Karwal with the Anderson Conservation Area had animal furs and skeletons for the children to touch, allowing youngsters to feel animals they wouldn’t otherwise have access to such as fox, raccoon, kangaroo and chinchilla. Montgomery County 4-H helped youngsters build balloon and straw rockets and one 4-H club had a live petting zoo set up outside.

Additionally as part of the festival Deb Frazee of the Governor’s STEM Advisory Council gave a short presentation before awarding the I.O.W.A. STEM Teacher Award. Each year, school districts nominate innovative teachers that inspire students to develop a passion for STEM beyond the classroom. This year, 100 nominations were submitted. The field of finalists was narrowed to between 50 and 60 teachers before one teacher is selected as winner from each of the six Iowa STEM regions. Southwest Valley Schools submitted four nominations, and all four teachers were finalists for the award: Kelsie Bruce — Talented and Gifted teacher at Southwest Valley Middle School, Heidi Lumbard — Project Lead the Way teacher at Southwest Valley High School, Tabatha Klopp — Talented and Gifted and STEM teacher at Corning Elementary, and Erin Wetzel — Project Lead the Way teacher at Southwest Valley Middle School. Wetzel received the award for the Southwest Iowa region.

“Never in the history of this award have we had one district have four finalists throughout the entire state,” said Frazee. “It’s a testament to the wonderful things happening here.”

The I.O.W.A. STEM Teacher Award is sponsored by Kemin Industries, a global company dedicated to using science to improve quality of life for people and animals around the world. The senior vice president of marketing and strategy for Kemin Industries, Riann vanDyk was on hand to present Wetzel with a check for $3,000. One half of that money is a cash award that Wetzel intends to use for tuition for the Master’s Degree program she is currently enrolled in. The other half is for Wetzel’s Project Lead the Way program classroom at the middle school.

“I had no idea I had won,” said Wetzel. “I’m really so honored and surprised.”

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RAGBRAI headed to Corning July 25

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

RAGBRAI will officially come through Corning on Monday, July 25. While no details are yet in place, much work has already been done by co-chairs Donna Hogan and Betsy Akin and the core committee.
Akin and Hogan signed on to co-chair the event to ensure that RAGBRAI would in fact, come through Corning.

“We want to showcase Corning,” said Hogan. “It’s a great opportunity for us.” Akin echoed the sentiment saying, “We have a lot of great volunteers in our community and we want this whole experience to be fun for everyone involved.”

In addition to Hogan, Akin, and Main Street and Chamber director Wendi Boswell, the core committee is made up of 11 members who chair six sub-committees. Representatives from this core group will attend a workshop meeting for pass-through communities April 2 in Osceola. At this workshop meeting, the committee will submit its proposal for the route through town.

“There isn’t a lot of specific information just yet,” said Akin. “But we would like everyone to know that the process is moving along and our core committee has had great cooperation with all of our local officials. Fire, Sheriff, Emergency Management and EMS — we are all working together to make this a great, fun and safe experience for everyone.”

Hogan and Akin are planning a community meeting, likely to be held in May, that will give residents a lot of general information, vendor information and will include a presentation from the state food inspector for the vendors. More information will be available in the Free Press as this meeting approaches.

Akin and Hogan encourage anyone interested in volunteering with RAGBRAI to contact the Chamber office.

“If you want to serve on a committee or even just volunteer for the day of, we have room for everyone,” said Hogan.

JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Morgan Shuey, left, and Haley Thomas present their first place Physical Science project testing commercial ice melt products March 16 at the Southwest Valley Science Fair.

Science, engineering
strong at SWV fair

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

The Southwest Valley High School science department held its 11th annual science and engineering fair March 16.

Students in physical science, biology, chemistry, engineering and physics select and present their own projects.

“We don’t limit them in any way,” said teacher Heidi Lumbard. “It’s their idea and their project.”
Judging of the 67 total entries is divided into two categories and awards are given to the top three projects as well as honorable mention in each category.

First place in the life science category was given to MaKayla McMann for “Testing the Extremes,” a project studying how the temperature of the room will affect how the brain functions. Second place was awarded to Mazene Laughlin and Lacy Goodnight who tested the results of aspirin water on plant germination and growth for their project “Pain Killers and Plants.” Kiara Roberts and Katie Taylor earned third place for their project “Burning Calories.”

Honorable mention was awarded to Abby Fleharty and Kennedy Moore for “Rotten Teeth? Rethink What You Drink,” Elizabeth Fuller and Quinton Scott for “Blast Those Blemishes,” and Katie Hoerman and Carlie Breaud for “Music and Emotions.”

Hailey Thomas and Morgan Shuey earned top honors in physical science for their project “Ice-Ice Baby,” which tested the difference in effectiveness of different brands of commercial ice melt. Second place was awarded to Kaitlyn Richey who attempted to answer the question “Does The Ocean Freeze?” Kylie McBride and Cody Birt tested how taste is affected by soaking in different liquids for their third place project “Yummy Gummy Bears Lab.”

Honorable mention awards for physical science were given to “Wingderful Aerodynamics” presented by Connor Shipley and Hunter Poston, “Burn-in Up” by Brittney Westlake and Molly Oglesbee and “Crazy Crystals” submitted by Erin Fleharty, Joey Kernen and Macy Burgess.

“I was very happy with the effort and amount of work that the majority of the students put into their projects,” said science teacher Jason Hults.

The top three awardees in each category were invited to share their projects March 21 at the student showcase event at the Corning Center for the Fine Arts.

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Dozens of Corning residents attended the City Council meeting March 14 for the discussion of nuisance properties.

Nuisance properties talk draws crowd

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Approximately 90 individuals attended the March 14 Corning City Council meeting to address the issue of nuisance properties and the way the city is dealing with them.

The City of Corning created a process for abating nuisance properties with the assistance of city attorney Andrew Zimmerman in 2015. Initially the city decided to proceed cautiously to determine the effectiveness of the system. Since the time the process was developed, the four properties have been addressed. These properties were identified as some of the most immediate concerns.

Corning resident and business owner Scott Shepherd requested to be on the agenda for the March 14 council meeting to address the nuisance properties. Knowing the topic was to be addressed, Mayor Guy Brace, Clerk Iona Allen and Zimmerman toured the city and photographed properties they found to be in violation of one or more ordinances.

“These properties may be in egregious violation or have minor infractions such as a brush pile or a single tire in the yard,” said Zimmerman.

All properties were documented and the specific ordinance was cited. Following the tour a list of properties evaluated was generated and placed in full on the agenda for the March 14 meeting. When the agenda was released by email, one of the recipients posted a copy to social media, which garnered a lot of attention. The post has since been removed.

The council meeting was moved from council chambers to the community building in anticipation of a large community turn out. Some attendees were there merely as observers, while others spoke up. Of those who addressed the council, some were adamantly in support of cleaning up the nuisance properties and appreciated the council’s action.

Deb Goldsmith, president of CHI Health Mercy Corning, spoke in favor of cleaning up the community.
“We are having a great deal of difficulty recruiting good quality physicians and staff who want to live here,” said Goldsmith. “It is vital for us to make the community appealing so that we can continue to provide high quality care.”

Corning Meat Market owner Dave Walter shared his disappointment at the reality that because of the state of neighboring properties, his late mother’s home sold for thousands less than the annual taxes.
Shepherd said, “I want this community to look like it did years ago. I don’t want to be embarrassed. I want us to work together to fix things.”

Others who spoke out were upset by the list and confused as to why certain properties were included while others were left off. Some of the properties in question that did not appear on the list are those currently in the abatement process.

Jimmy Gray, who is trying to sell a property that appeared among those listed, said, “I never got a letter, call or visit. This shouldn’t have been made public before we were notified.”

Councilman Adam Goodvin replied to Gray, “I haven’t seen the photograph or the citation, but I do believe that your home is wrongly on the list.”

Resident and owner of Adams County Electric, Clark Jones, stated that he felt the list being released in the manner that it was is unacceptable.

“When these addresses were put on the agenda, it felt like people were being bullied,” said Jones.
In response attorney Zimmerman stated, “As a matter of law, for the city council to get together and discuss these properties, due to the sunshine laws, it is required that they are placed on the agenda before any discussion take place.”

Resident Brent Mullen stated that he feels the ordinances need to be made more readily available.
“When I moved into town, I came to see the ordinances, so I could be informed,” said Mullen. “I was told that I could read them in council chambers during city hours or that I would have to pay so much per page for a copy. I feel like people could better comply with ordinances if they knew what they were.”

Ultimately, the council voted to table further discussion or action on any properties on the list until each council member has had adequate time to review the photographs and documentation of ordinance violations until the March 28 meeting. At that time, council will select which properties they will address. The first step will then be to send a letter advising property owners of the infraction(s) and giving a 30-day timeline to abate the nuisance. At the end of that time period, any properties still not in compliance with city ordinances will receive notice from the city attorney that they have 90-days to abate the nuisance before charges will be filed in court.

Also tabled for further discussion at the next meeting is the issue of citywide clean up. The council will discuss options available through Waste Management for the disposal of bulk items and a timeline for clean up. Residents currently wishing to dispose of items may contact Waste Management or city clerk Allen to schedule pick up. The current agreement with Waste Management is that residents may schedule one item for pick up alongside their regular trash as long as it has been scheduled in advance.

Along with discussing nuisance properties, the council heard from resident Dan Ahrens and Department of Natural Resources employee Andy Kellner in regards to the population of turkey vultures that have taken up residence in the Chat Mobility cell tower. Council gave approval for Chat Mobility to move forward with DNR approved methods of deterring the birds. 

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Showcase Night 
to highlight student work

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Students in the arts and sciences classes at Southwest Valley High School will have a new venue to share their talents with the community this month. March 21, beginning at 6 p.m. at Corning Center for the Fine Arts (CCFA) and moving to the Corning Opera House at 7:30, Southwest Valley will present the High School Showcase Night.

Under the coordination of art teacher Sandy Winter and family and consumer science teacher Lisa Konecne, students from across the school are collecting works to present during the showcase.
“Unlike contest or the secondary art show that is held each year at the art center, this event is not about competition,” Winter said. “This is not a juried show. This is an opportunity for students to show their work.”

The art center will house a variety of visual arts including painting, drawing and sculpture. It will also house wood and perhaps metal work projects from industrial technology classes; pieces from Konecne’s fashion design class and vision boards from the family relationships class; a few selections from the science fair and a live demonstration of the robots created and programmed by the engineering students.

Following the presentations at the art center, students will perform on the Opera House stage. Performances begin with a pair of movies, one from the digital art class and a second that was entered and earned a Division I rating at the state large group speech contest. Following the films, there will be live performances by band, choir and individual speech students. Band students are scheduled to  perform a variety of selections.

Three choir students will perform following the band. Brittney Westlake will perform a solo and Elizabeth Fuller and Quinton Scott will also present a selection of their choosing.

“I trust these kids to work something up independently,” vocal director Mindy Docker said. “I thought it would be fun for them to choose what they wanted to sing instead of the other way around.”

The final performances of the night will be selections from the individual speech contest students.

“I will have a variety of selections, based on time availability,” speech coach Pete Nett said. “If we have any all-staters, I would ask them first, then the seniors, then on down until I had a number that fit what we were looking at for time constraints, since it is a weeknight.”

These students will present pieces that they have been performing for competition.

One other feature at the Opera House will be a cookie competition. Seven pairs of students from one of Konecne’s classes are modifying a basic cookie recipe and baking bite size samples of their cookies for the patrons of the Opera House. Taste testers will vote for their favorite cookie. A final feature in the works is a display of the state competition projects from the FCCLA students.

“We are really excited about this event,” said Konecne. “Not only will we get to spotlight a really wide variety of student work in front of a wider audience, we can also highlight some of our community’s beautiful downtown facilities.”

Winter, who serves on the CCFA board felt that using the art center to house the display portion of the showcase was a natural choice.

“Some of our students aren’t even aware that the art center exists,” she said. “It’s always great to take events off school grounds, to be in the community.”
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Konecne agreed, “We want to bring students, parents and community members into these great facilities and make them aware of what they have to offer.”

JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Corning city clerk Iona Allen keeps notes during the Feb. 22 council meeting.

Variety marks city clerk’s duties

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

A Monday morning with no urgent voicemail messages is rare for Corning city clerk Iona Allen.
Beginning such a week at 8 a.m. seemed a welcome relief to Allen as she began preparing for the long and busy Monday I spent with her.

Checking messages, answering residents’ concerns, and working with local and state officials, are daily duties but this Monday, Feb. 22, included preparing for the evening’s City Council meeting as well.

When Allen began her tenure as Corning city clerk 10 years ago, she had no idea the wide variety of tasks she would encounter each day. A typical day is divided between her administrative duties to City Council and various committees, accounting, payroll, assisting the mayor and providing customer service to Corning’s residents.

While there were no voicemails our Monday morning together one email, however, presented the need for some research to find the contact information for a resident who holds a city contract that requires inspection by a state official.

In the middle of her research, Allen was interrupted by a visit from a resident. Switching gears into customer service mode, she provided a detailed explanation of the city ordinance concerning the construction of a fence, gave instruction on how to complete the building permit form and when to expect response from the city on whether the requested permit was approved or denied. I asked how she manages to get anything done with the phone continually ringing.

“I deal with the interruption of phone calls and visitors many times a day,” said Allen. “But I really enjoy the citizens. The office gets kind of lonely without them and I wouldn’t have a job without them.”

Then she completed her research for the state inspector. Mere moments after the information was sent out, another knock came at the door. It was time for a morning conference with Mayor Guy Brace. They discussed the agenda for the day, any items needing the mayor’s immediate attention and the warrants for his approval and signature.

In a rare moment of downtime, Allen joked that in order to get a real, accurate picture of her job, I would need to stay for a week or more. I won’t disagree, while I witnessed many different tasks throughout the day, there are many more on the three-page detailed description of her job that I did not see. A short time later, Mayor Brace returned. He was having difficulty logging into his email, he did not have access on his office computer or remotely, which he would need for a planned week out of the office. Allen attempted to access his email from her computer, and failing, fixed the password in an attempt to rectify the issue. When that also did not succeed, she had to call the Internet service provider for the city to report and trouble shoot the situation.

Once the mayor had regained access, Allen turned her attention to research that was requested by the Corning Title Company regarding a city ordinance. All the old record books, dating to the original incorporation of the city are kept in a locked storage room, not much larger than a closet, in the clerk’s office. The storage room also houses the safe and over 100 file boxes of city records, all of which must be kept for varying periods of time according to state and federal law.

“I’m embarrassed to show you this room because it looks like such a mess. But I’m out of room to store all the records I need to keep,” said Allen. “I would like to move some of the ones that we don’t need regularly to storage at the street department, there is enough space there. But the process will take a weekend worth of work, or some really slow week here in the office. It looks worse today than usual, since we just had an audit last week.”

Once the ordinance was in question was located in a hardbound book created and bound decades ago, it was photocopied, scanned and emailed.

Each year, the city undergoes a financial examination, but since the city received more than $500,000 in federal monies in 2015 with the United States Department of Agriculture grant for the fire station, law dictates that a full audit was required. The audit itself took one full workday, and several hours out of another day to prepare for in advance.

While sorting the mail that was just delivered, a resident dropped off a request for the mayor to make a proclamation and another came in with a permit application for work he was planning to complete that day. Unfortunately, Allen had to explain that a curb-cut driveway permit, the type requested, required council approval and could not be put before the council until its next scheduled meeting, the second Monday of March. Items requiring a council vote must be on the posted agenda a minimum of 24 hours prior to the meeting. The proclamation did not require a vote, so Mayor Brace was able to discuss the matter with council that evening during the time designated for “other” on the agenda.

Back to the day’s email, Allen assisted Parks and Recreation Board chairperson Betsy Akin with questions concerning a grant application to the Iowa West Foundation for repairs to the Central Park fountain and set reminders for herself later in the week to prepare for the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System audit that would take place in a week.

Finished with email, she turned her attention to the evening’s city council meeting. Preparations include generating agendas for all council members and copies to be available to residents attending the meeting, creating and numbering the necessary resolutions and finalizing her clerk’s report.
“I keep a clerk’s report as I go along, so nothing gets forgotten and finish it the day of the meeting,” said Allen.

In the midst of preparations, a call came in from a company needing to know the city’s federal tax identification number so that they can make a donation to the repair of the Central Park fountain.
A phone call about a loose dog and a visit from a resident wondering about a summer job with the city both needed to be addressed before lunch. After an hour lunch break, City Councilman Dick Blazek came by to visit and ask questions about specific items within the agenda and the warrants before the council meeting that night. Most questions were straightforward items needing clarification. One or two items required a bit of research from Allen, but were both answered to Blazek’s satisfaction before he left.

City Council meets the second and fourth Mondays of each month. The warrants must be prepared and checks made out in advance of the meeting so they may be mailed out right away on Tuesday. To enter the warrants, print the checks, sort them alphabetically for council and for future audits, sign and obtain mayor signature, and prepare for mailing requires two to four hours depending on the time of the month. In addition to the warrants, completing and posting the agenda and preparing resolutions take a chunk of time. Factoring in all components, preparations for and wrap-up after council meetings take roughly an entire workday not including the time spent in council meetings themselves.

On top of her duties to the city, Allen is a member of the Southwest Iowa Clerk Administrators Association (SWICAA).

“The clerks and administrators of 67 communities are involved in the association,” said Allen. “I was elected president of the association this past year. It was a real honor to be selected by my peers to serve in that role.”

Monthly meetings for SWICAA provide opportunities for Allen and her peers to network with one another, ask and answer each other’s questions and learn from experts about new laws and regulations.

“I think my favorite part of the job is that every day is different,” said Allen. “I may do the same types of tasks over and over again, my days are filled with similar tasks, but the details are always different.”

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Community members congratulate Justin and Laura Cooper on their winning bid at the Feb. 17 Prescott School property auction.

Coopers win Prescott bid

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

A feeling of sentiment and nostalgia ran high as the classroom at Prescott Elementary filled beyond capacity. More than 60 people came to witness or bid in the auction for the century old property.

Some were potential bidders, most were simply tied to the school as alumni or parents of former Prescott Eagles. Many were eager to know what would happen as the auction got under way the morning of Feb. 17.

In response to why the school board chose to auction the property, Superintendent Steve McDermott said, “it was primarily to have everything out in the open and give everyone a fair chance. The auction is more transparent than sealed bids or putting the property up for sale through a realtor. It’s not about the money, we’re hoping, and confident we’ll have a buyer, and we’re hoping the new owner will be a good neighbor to the community.”

Tim West, a Prescott alumnus of the class of 1982, wanted to know what would happen to the building, but was also interested in bidding if the price was right.

“It depends on what it starts out at. I think it would make great apartments and a storage building,” West said.

Creston native Carl Thatcher, who had no ties to the school or the community of Prescott, said, “I’m here because I’m just curious to see what happens. I want to see someone keep it in the community.”

“I drove in from Omaha today, I took the day to see my old school one more time. I went here K-12,” said 1968 grad Susan Brentnall. “It’s sad to see, but it happens to small towns. I didn’t know about the auction this summer, I wish I had, I would have loved to have a piece of memorabilia. I have the best memories here. It still feels like coming home.”

At 10:30 Jack Kretzinger of Kretzinger Auction opened the sale with some procedural comments, which included the terms of the sale, and the items excluded. During a call for questions, auction goers asked if certain items were also excluded, there aren’t, if there was an estimate to the cost of needed roof repairs, no estimates had been gathered, and if the city had any restrictions on the use of the property. The only restriction Jack or auctioneer Dan Kretzinger were aware of was that as the property is within city limits, there is to be no livestock.

As all questions were satisfied, Dan opened the bidding at $10,000. In all, four bidders vied for the right to the property, most bids coming from two bidders. One from Phoenix, Ariz., who declined to share his name, but stated that he intended to move the usable pieces of the property elsewhere in the community, demolish the rest and build “the nicest house you’ve ever seen in all of Missouri.” The other bidder, and eventual winner, was Justin Cooper.

Cooper was a fifth generation Prescott student and his children attended the school until it’s closing last spring.

“There is a lot of people in the community that want to see it stay. It’s not just my family, we have a lot of silent partners,” he said.

In fact, during a brief recess in the sale after bids began to plateau at $43,000, an anonymous Prescott community member approached Cooper and offered him an additional $2,000 “from my vacation fund” to assist him in the purchase.

Cooper plans to use the gym and part of the 102-year-old brick structure as a reception hall and the smaller building as a community center.

“The hope is to move some of the city offices into the building to help them out,” he said. “We want it to be all about the community.”

Laura Cooper, Justin’s wife said, “We have our LLC, ‘Prescott Eagles Nest’ being formed. We have big plans and our main goal is to offer the community a place to have receptions, reunions, and meetings.”

“Today isn’t about the money, it’s about the sentiment and what this place means to the community. There’s a lot of history here,” said Lisa Brown, Cooper’s mother.

As Dan Kretzinger announced “You’ve just bought a school,” a cheer went up among the crowd and Cooper was greeted with hi-fives, handshakes and hugs.

Cooper’s winning bid of $50,000 will be approved and accepted by the school board at an upcoming meeting. Following that meeting, closing will take place April 13.

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SWV staff changes coming

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

At the February board meeting for the Corning Community School District, the board made several decisions regarding faculty and staff for next school year.

Corning Elementary fifth grade teacher Allison Thomas updated the board about the state of the fifth grade and petitioned the board to hire a second fifth grade teacher for next school year. Currently, the fifth grade class is in one large section of 29 students with Thomas and one full-time paraprofessional, Katie Rhamy. Due to the class size and the varied needs of the students, Thomas cannot meet every student’s needs every day.

The class size has also posed difficulties for special classes such as art and P.E. There is often not space or equipment enough to accommodate that many students at one time. The upcoming classes are all as large as or larger than the current fifth grade class, so the issues that have arisen this year would continue in the years to come. The board approved the hiring of an additional teacher and splitting fifth grade into an additional section next school year.

Also discussed was a resignation from Lisa Dolph, high school math teacher, who will be moving out of the area, the dismissal and need to hire a new high school head football coach, and the creation and hiring of two instructional coaches. The board will also be hiring a part-time curriculum director, separating that responsibility from the Corning Elementary principal to eliminate the burden on her time allowing her to spend more time in the classroom. The board will also find replacements for Mat Beu, current athletic director and high school social studies teacher who has accepted a job with another district, and both the head baseball and softball coaches.

The new position of instructional coach will be two individuals: one shared between the two elementary schools and one for the middle school and high school. The instructional coach will work with teachers both in their Professional Learning Communities and on an individual basis to improve skills and develop new teaching strategies.

“Every teacher has a toolbox of teaching strategies that they use,” said Superintendent Willie Stone. “Our goal with the instructional coach is to broaden that toolbox as well as give them someone to bounce ideas off of. Work with the coach is not about evaluation, it is only about improving their skills.”

Additionally, the board is advertising for a teacher for a Level II/III learning disabilities special education for a new program at Corning Elementary. According to Stone, Corning has never had such a program and instead has contracted with other districts to meet the needs of students requiring such services. Southwest Valley currently has a need for such a program and anticipates additional students within the district that will need these services in the years to come. Also, the district would be able to open the program to other districts to enroll their students. The board is hoping that this program will better meet the needs of local students as well as eliminate the expense and time of transporting students each day to other districts.

Dedication, fun guide SWV principal

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

A typical workday for Jamie Craig, Southwest Valley High School principal, begins at 7:30. But the morning of Feb. 4, Craig arrived at 6:30 to finalize last minute details needed for his 7 a.m. meeting with the high school’s lead team. On this day, the lead team had to prepare plans for the morning session of the Feb. 15 professional development day.

On days without morning meetings, Craig circulates the building, checking in with each member of the faculty before the day begins. Mr. Craig stands in the hallway outside the office, “holding up the wall,” to greet students as they filter into the building.

“You have to do your best to relate to everyone,” said Craig. “That means all 200 students and the 30 staff members.”

These informal moments in the morning, or with the occasional random student popping her head into his office throughout the day, help him to accomplish that goal.

Mr. Craig performs three types of observations throughout the building each week. The first, and least invasive type, begins soon after the first bell has rung in the morning. The students describe it as Craig being “on the prowl.” He walks the entire building, beginning closest to the main office with gym class, and peeks in through the windows or open doors. This is simply to make his presence known, to see that everyone is where they belong and to offer any necessary support to the staff. As we made the morning rounds, Mr. Craig noticed that there was a substitute teacher in geometry, and made sure to enter the room and speak with her to be sure she was doing okay and see if she had any questions or concerns about the day.

The second type of observation that occurs is a short teacher evaluation. The goal is to complete at least five of these types of observations each week, though in a typical week he is able to complete more than that minimum. During these evaluations, Mr. Craig observes a class for a short period of time, generally less than a half hour, to fill in a form that scores instructional practice, technology use, the district goal of reading strategies and characteristics of effective instruction. While these evaluations are performed routinely for all teachers, Mr. Craig makes more frequent visits to newer faculty who may need the extra feedback and support.

Finally, the third type of observation is part of the formal evaluation process that every teacher must, by state mandate, participate in once every three years. This process involves a pre-observation meeting, observation including full documentation of an entire class period and a written summary from the principal of what was observed, a post-observation meeting. The staff can file a rebuttal to the written summary if they feel that is necessary. All documentation from these observations, including rebuttals, are then filed in the staff member’s confidential file, only accessible to the principal and the district superintendent. Following the observation, the teacher must also update their professional portfolio that contains their plan and documentation of how they meet the eight standards and 42 criteria set by the government for professional licensing. During a teacher’s first two years out of college, they must complete this process three times.

“It’s really pretty intense for both the teacher and myself,” said Craig. “There is a lot to go through and a lot of paperwork.”

During the walk-through, Mr. Craig explained that since all the teachers and students have Google email addresses through the school, to streamline communications they utilize a variety of Google applications throughout the building.

“The computer lab in the library is scheduled using the Google calendar,” said Craig. “That way everyone in the building knows that it will be occupied during this time block by this teacher and can plan accordingly.”

Mr. Craig became a teacher to share his love of music with the next generation, but it was through his years as a teacher that he realized that while he could build great relationships and make an impact on the band students, he was limited as a band director. As principal, he is able to have the same type of impact on the entire population of a school.

“I wanted to create a workplace that I would want to be in,” he said. “I realized that you can only do that from this chair. I wanted to work with students and adults throughout the entire building.”

Craig explained to me that his administrative style is that of a servant leader. “It’s my job to offer support and guide the educational process. I’m not the expert in math or science or art, the teachers are. It’s not my job to get in their way. It’s my job to help improve student achievement and change the culture of apathy. If consequences of late and missing assignments are real, apathy dwindles away, work gets done and turned in.”

To help combat this apathy, Craig is beginning a new program that got its start during our day together. He called a meeting of select freshmen in the cafeteria. During this meeting, he assured these students that they weren’t in trouble, but they were missing at least one assignment so far this quarter. Beginning the following day, these students will spend their seminar period (similar to homeroom) with Mr. Craig in an unused classroom, completing the missing assignments. Once the assignments are all turned in, they are excused from this special time. While this is currently only for freshmen, Craig intends to expand the program in the coming weeks.

The staff is also experiencing some changes under Craig’s guidance. For starters, the entire district is transitioning from traditional grading to standards based grading.

“This is going to be a long process for us,” said Craig. “First we have to discover where and how this will change teaching. Then we have to create the set of standards for each class and determine what performance is considered meeting or exceeding those standards and what isn’t.”

This is all being discussed using the consensus process, which allows the group to discuss issues and things that need to be worked on. The group then comes to agreement in different categories or ready to proceed, willing to proceed pending certain questions and not ready to proceed. Once at least 90 percent of the group is in the first or second category, the entire group may proceed. This process ensures that everyone has input, but they also don’t need 100 percent agreement to proceed. The group can come to an agreement without chaos.

“There are some parts of working in education that are not easy and they are not really fun, but I try to live by the motto that ‘If you’re not having fun, you’re doing it wrong,’” said Craig.

I can assure you, that was entirely my experience of a day in the life of a high school principal. I observed through the window as he met privately with teachers, the school secretary and a student, all who needed his time, attention and a listening ear. I watched him joke with a senior student returning from class off campus and show concern for another who was injured. I listened as he talked about the many requirements of a school administrator and heard the many dings of incoming email messages that must be tended to. I understand that the long nights attending school functions that take him away from his wife and young daughters can’t be always enjoyable. Yet there is an ever-present smile and witty comment to accompany each moment of his day. 

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Clinton, Cruz Adams County caucus winners

Iowa caucuses were held Feb. 1 in all precincts. Adams County is divided into five precincts. Across the 10 caucuses, a total 300 voters braved the impending storm to support their candidates.

Republican Precincts 4 and 5 were overwhelmingly in favor of Ted Cruz, while Precinct 1 favored Donald Trump. Marco Rubio edged out Cruz in Precinct 2 and Precinct 3 resulted in a three-way tie between Cruz, Trump and Ben Carson.  Throughout the county, Cruz earned a total of 81 votes, Trump garnered 24.9 percent of the votes with 68, Rubio earned 47, Carson claimed 30 and Carly Fiorina won 16. The remaining votes were spread among the rest of the field.

Hillary Clinton edged out competitor Bernie Sanders in Democratic Precincts 2 and 3 and in Precinct 5 by a coin toss. Precincts 1 and 4 resulted in an equal number of delegates for each candidate heading to the county convention in March. The number of delegates per precinct is determined by past voter turn out in the precinct. Precinct 5 was determined by coin toss for the last delegate as there was an equal number of votes per candidate and an odd number of delegates available for selection. Clinton claimed 70 total votes to Sanders’ 60.

Statewide, Clinton finished with 49.86 percent (22 delegates) and Sanders finished with 49.57 percent (21 delegates). Cruz finished with 27.65 percent (eight delegates), Trump with 24.31 percent (seven delegates), Rubio with 23.1 percent (seven delegates) and Carson 9.3 percent (three delegates).

JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Southwest Valley sent 33 high school students to participate in district Large Group Speech contest Jan. 23 in Shenandoah. Six of the seven entries earned division I ratings and will advance to state competition Feb. 6.

SWV speech finishes strong

Southwest Valley took seven events to district group speech at Shenandoah Jan. 23. Six groups received division I ratings and advanced to state group Feb. 6 at Waukee.

Division I ratings were:

Short Film “Good Cop, Brad Cop” by Trevor Holbrook, Duncan Roberts, Jesse Houser, DJ Maeder, Bryce Newton and Tom Wilson;

Group Improvisation with Hunter Pontius, Trevor Holbrook and Tom Wilson;

Radio Broadcasting “102.7 Gossip Girls” by Kelsey Steinbach and Halee Olson;

Ensemble Acting “The Tarrantino Variation” by Alex Holste, Kaylea Wiechman and Ashley Boswell;

Choral Reading “Everything and a Kite” featuring Hunter Pontius, DJ Maeder, Mazene Laughlin, Alex Holste, Chloe Casagrande, Ashley Boswell, Halee Olson, Kelsey Steinbach, Kaylea Wiechman, MaKenna Boysen, Danielle Wetzel, Abby Fleharty, Elizabeth Herzberg, Kendra Top, and Elizabeth Fuller; and

Ninth grade Choral Reading “Family Vacation” with Evan Davis, Anthony Bynam, Connor Shipley, Katie Hoerman, Kaitlyn Richey, Danica Drake, Carlie Breaud and Mazzy Hummel.

Receiving a Division II rating was Readers Theater “The Department of Redundancy Department” by Alex Synacek, Elizabeth Herzberg, Kendra Top, Renee Williams, Emily Campbell and Miah Hummel.

“All in all we had a pretty good day,” said coach Pete Nett. “Of course we had the usual problems with the technology in one of our taped events, but it just wouldn’t truly be district contest if something like that didn’t happen.”

The Southwest Valley Speech group home show will be at 5 p.m. Feb. 4 in the SWV auditorium in Corning. The time has been changed because of the rescheduled basketball game.

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Ride gives insight into deputy’s day

Editor’s note: In the weeks and months to come, the Adams County Free Press will feature a series of “a day in the life” stories. These stories will focus on the rich variety of careers and talent in our community.

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Last week, I spent the better part of my Thursday with Adams County Sheriff’s Deputy Rich Miller. As chief deputy, Miller primarily works the day shift with the department.

Among his many duties, Miller is the jail’s grievance officer. His days begin in the jailhouse taking reports from inmates who wish to file a grievance, and then investigating to determine if there is merit to the complaint. After that is finished, or on days like Thursday when there are no complaints to follow up, Miller turns to his paperwork for the day. In addition to being the grievance officer, Miller is also the deputy in charge of sex offender registry compliance. Our ride along began with visiting a new, temporary resident to Adams County to update his information in the county and statewide registry. After checking in with dispatch to alert them of his location and his destination, officer safety protocol each time a deputy stops or resumes travel while on duty, Miller had to serve a protective order to a subject in the county. Following the protective order, we attempted to serve some civil court papers, but were called back to the jail to deal an inmate who was causing a disturbance.

Upon arriving back at the jail, Miller learned from dispatcher Kandi Wichman that the inmate in question, who had previously been moved to “the pink room,” the holding cell for his disruptive behavior, had been jumping around in his cell, yelling and agitating inmates in other cells. Miller entered the jail and spoke with the inmate through the opening in the door while Wichman and I watched on the surveillance cameras. After a few moments of talking, the inmate settled and we were able to resume our day.

While in the jail, Miller learned that there was an inmate being released from prison that was intending to move to Adams County following his release. This particular individual is serving a sentence for a felony conviction, which requires that he is not to have contact with drugs, alcohol or firearms. Before the inmate can be released, local law enforcement must verify that the home he has listed as his residence is free of all such items. So we conducted a home inspection, a quick walk-through of the residence in question.

Miller explained, “after doing this for a while, you learn to spot who is hiding something and who isn’t. He was very forthcoming and open about the items he needed to remove from his home before the inmate arrives. It’s clear that he wasn’t trying to hide anything from me.”

Miller has been a sheriff’s deputy in Adams County since July 2008, before which he was a law enforcement officer for the United States Navy. With more than a decade of experience, Miller says, “Nothing is a surprise any more. I think I’ve seen it all.”

After calling in with the results of the home inspection, we began patrol. “I like to visit each of the small towns in the county at least once during my day, we spend a fair amount of time in Corning during the day and our nights are spent primarily on the back roads in the county, once the town has sort of shut down for the night.”

Miller splits his patrols fairly evenly between highways and county gravel roads. “The highways are the artery for individuals moving drugs across county or state lines, since they aren’t as heavily patrolled as the interstates. But if someone is trying to get away with something in the county, they usually stick to the back roads thinking they won’t get caught,” he explained.

During our patrol, we located and tagged an abandoned car on a gravel road and made two consecutive traffic stops on Highway 148 north of Corning. The first driver, who had a clear driving record, was released with a warning and the second was given a ticket for having an expired proof of insurance in her vehicle. “You always know it was a good stop when they thank you after getting a ticket,” said Miller.

Before patrol could continue, we were called to return to the jail immediately. The upset inmate from earlier in the day was agitated again, had attempted to climb through the surveillance camera window and punched the wall, injuring himself. Miller and head jailer/dispatcher Rhonda Russell entered the cell to attempt to calm the inmate and evaluate his injuries. It was clear that his hand was broken. The ambulance was called to transport the inmate to the emergency room for x-rays and treatment. Miller explained that any time an inmate is out of their cell, a deputy is required for both safety and transparency. Russell accompanied the inmate in the ambulance while Miller and I followed behind. Everywhere the inmate was moved in the hospital, Miller, or another deputy, was required to stay with him. After a preliminary examination from the emergency room doctor, it was confirmed that at least one bone in the inmate’s hand was indeed broken. Miller and Russell both carried on conversation with the inmate in an attempt to calm him down, as he was still agitated and in a great deal of pain.

“If you can get things calm, you can deescalate just about any situation,” explained Russell. When it appeared the hospital stay could drag on for quite some time, since treatment could not be administered until he was calm, Miller called Sheriff Alan Johannes to relieve him at the hospital so I could be transported back to my own vehicle.

“There’s no real reason for you to be stuck here all afternoon,” said Miller. Though he let me know later that if I had stayed the remainder of his shift included assistance in a man down, CPR in progress call. One of the first questions I asked during our time together was about his favorite and least favorite parts of his job. I got first-hand experience with two of his three answers through the course of the day.

“My favorite thing is that you never know when you leave home what you are going to encounter in the course of the day. Each day is different, I’m a little bit of an adrenaline junky and I enjoy the slight chaos and uncertainty of the job. One of the most uncomfortable parts of the job is dealing with mental health issues. When there is a call for a committal, you spend much of your shift sitting in the hospital waiting for the first available bed in a treatment facility anywhere in the state to open up, then you have to transport the individual. It can get really tedious, and sometimes, if the subject has had a violent outburst, facilities won’t accept them. Which means they end up in jail, which is honestly, not at all the place they belong,” explained Miller.

Thankfully, we did not have any fatalities during our day, his most hated portion of his job. “Fatalities are always hard, especially those involving children. Actually any call involving children are hard, I can’t help but put my kids’ faces on the kids involved.”

Throughout the course of the day, we spent a fair amount of time on the road, allowing for a lot of conversation. I asked about the most interesting experience, anything that really stands out clearly in his memory, he’s had in law enforcement.

“The calls that stand out most in my mind are not things you’d want to print in the paper. I remember the terrible calls. But one of the most interesting happened when we were called to give mutual aid to Montgomery County,” he explained. “Sometimes cattle get out of their fields and onto the roadway, when that happens, we are usually called in to help get them off the road. Late one night, we were called to help move a herd of buffalo off the road. Buffalo don’t move like cattle, they just look at you and push back against the truck. We spent more than an hour trying to move these stubborn buffalo off the road.”

I also asked why did he decide to become a law enforcement officer and did he have any advice for young people interested in following the same path.

“I went on a ride along with the Corning Police chief when I was in high school and I really thought it was interesting. I never really considered doing anything else. I would remind any kid thinking about a law enforcement career to stay out of trouble, because things like an MIP [minor in possession] follow you into your adult years and any department looking to hire you is going to find it. Go on a ride along, pick someone’s brain. That is the best way to know if this is for you, talk to those with a lot of experience.”

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SWV teams share robotic skills

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Three local teams of talented robotics students competed during the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) event hosted at Southwest Valley High School Jan. 9. The competition was a league championship tournament with 10 teams participating. Teams came from high schools and one 4-H club in the region.

Each team designed, built and programmed their robot to fit within competition guidelines using materials purchased from FIRST. Teams may augment their design with additional materials, but these materials must also adhere to competition guidelines. Each year, the challenge is different. This year, the game is titled Res-Q!, and is played on a 12 foot by 12 foot field with 14 “climbers” — represented by yellow peg figures and 80 items of debris — balls and blocks. The debris are scattered on the field randomly at the start of each round.

The tournament is executed in several rounds. There are two qualification rounds, during which teams are paired to work cooperatively with another team, these pairings are referred to as an alliance. Each two and a half minute round consists of three portions — autonomous, driver controlled and end game. During the autonomous portion, robots operate themselves according to the programming created by the students. During this period, teams can earn points if their robot successfully achieves scoring tasks such as moving debris into a goal, rescuing a climber or parking on the mountain or floor goal.

Following the autonomous period, teams manually drive their robots with game controllers. Scoring during this period, drivers may move up to five pieces of debris at a time into scoring goals, release climbers on a zip line, and place climbers into shelters. The last 30 seconds of the driver-controlled period is the end game. During this period, teams attempt to park their robots on the “mountain.” Scores for this period are determined upon how far up the mountain a robot is parked and range from five points for being partially on the mountain and also touching the floor, all the way to 80 points if a robot is only supported by the pull-up bar at the top-most vertical section of the mountain. During the end game, teams in an alliance may assist each other in getting parked higher on the mountain.

Following the two qualifying rounds, the top qualifying teams select teams to join them in an alliance for the semi-final rounds. The top four qualifying teams each have the opportunity to select a team, but if one top four team selects another top four team, the fifth ranked team becomes eligible to select a team and so forth until there are four alliances. The semi-final round is a best of three competition, scored in the same manner as qualifiers. The winners of each of the two rounds move on to finals, which is also a best of three. The captain (team that selected the alliance) of the winning team automatically advances to the state competition.

During the tournament, teams must meet and talk with judges concerning their process and details of their program. These meetings are the criteria that judges use to determine the winners of various awards. The Inspire award, the most prestigious award in the FTC program, is given to the team who “embodies the FTC Challenge and serves as an inspiration as to what the FTC program is about.” The winner of the Inspire award also automatically qualifies to move on to the state competition.

The Southwest Valley teams had a good day in competition. At the end of the qualifying rounds, the middle school team — Rock-em, Sock-em, Lobos finished second and one of the high school teams K.I.S.S. (Keep It Super Simple) finished in fourth. Team K.I.S.S. partnered with first place team, MECanism from Murray High School and finished in second place in the finals round. Rock-em, Sock-em, Lobos and their alliance team MECattack, also of Murray High School fell in their semi-final rounds.

For awards, K.I.S.S. brought home the Control Award for programming and one of the Finalist Alliance awards. The team was chosen to advance to State FTC for being nominated as the runner up for the Inspire Award. Members of the team include Jeffrey Walton, Michael Lauer, Rebekah Queener, Mark Colwell, Steven Jennings, Benjamen Dolph, and Connor Shipley.

Annihil8ors of SWV claimed the Connect Award for community involvement/community service and won the Wildcard Spot for another competition. Team members include D.J. Maeder, Tom Wilson, Duncan Roberts, Bryce Newton, Paige Garland, Allie Williams, Nic Frede, Hayden Bayles, Ryan Maeder, and Joseph Weston. The Annihil8ors chose to give up their wild card spot to the middle school team Rock-em, Sock-em, Lobos for their performance throughout the day. Rock-em, Sock-em, Lobos consists of team members Aubrey Boswell, Kaitlyn Bruce, Marah Larsen, Sydney Davies, Aspen Lundquist, Blaine Venteicher.
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The wild card tournament will be held in Iowa City Feb. 27 and the Iowa Championship — State Finals will be March 4-5.

Accountability key to fitness success

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

The most popular resolutions for the New Year revolve around diet and fitness. Some are specific, involving a particular amount of weight loss, number of glasses of water consumed or total days in the gym.

The problem with many resolutions is that after the initial excitement wanes, the dedication fades and most are forgotten by the end of February. One of the best ways to stay motivated is by having a system that builds in accountability.

The CHI Health Wellness Center in Corning is available to assist in meeting fitness goals. As a branch of the CHI Health system, the Wellness Center operates in connection with the CHI Health Mercy Hospital and Clinic. The Wellness center features a variety of cardio and weight training equipment including a walking track, rowing machines, bikes, NuStep Physical Therapy machines, treadmills, arc trainers and weight machines to work each muscle group. There is also a section of the center devoted to free weights and the TRX system, which uses body weight as resistance. Unlike most gyms and health clubs, the Wellness Center focuses on total wellness, not just physical, but also the mental, social and emotional aspects.

“It’s always best to workout with a buddy,” said Cena Danielson, CHI Health Wellness Center director. “When you are accountable to someone else, you are more likely to stick to it.”

The Wellness Center offers a variety of classes that cater to different needs and interests. A new feature for classes is a 10-class punch card. These cards are designed for individuals who may be interested in trying a class, but can’t commit to a full six weeks or aren’t sure what style of class to try. The cards are $25 for members and $35 for non-members and are good for a full six months. The punch cards are only eligible for classes taught by Wellness Center staff, classes taught by private individuals, such as Insanity or Yoga do not qualify for the punch card.

“People tend to have the most success sticking with it if they begin with a routine of cardio,” said Danielson. “A great way to find out what you like is to try a class. If you’re not sure about a particular class, you can take one session for free.”

According to Danielson, the most important thing about these New Year’s resolutions is making goals attainable.

“Don’t push too hard or too fast,” she said. “Most people think they are capable of more than their body is really ready for. That can lead to injuries and most of all, it just isn’t any fun and you aren’t going to stick with it if you don’t enjoy it.”

When first beginning to workout, it is especially important to remember to focus on proper technique and give your body adequate rest. New members to the Wellness Center need to sign up with Danielson or Kris Peterson for an orientation session. This 30 minute session gives an overview of each piece of equipment, teaching the individual how to adjust the machine for proper fit and getting a feel for the proper body mechanics required by each. The sessions are available for a one-time fee of $25 and are required for new members.

“I suggest people call ahead to set up their orientation time so they can fill out their membership paperwork and have their orientation the same day,” Danielson said.

Another feature of the Wellness Center is personal training. Individuals can sign up for solo or small group sessions with trainer Chris King or specialized rowing sessions with trainer Kris Peterson. Also available is a personalized nutrition consultation with CHI Health dietician Megan King.
For more information or to arrange an appointment, contact CHI Health Wellness Center at (641) 322-4471.

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Sewer line is being installed along Highway 148 into Corning amid muddy conditions on Dec. 22.

Weather slows lake improvements

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

The Adams County Conservation Board (ACCB) undertook a multi-million dollar project to renovate and update the facilities at Lake Icaria this year.

The $2.8 million project includes installation of a new sewer line from the lake into Corning, the addition of 12 new camper sites at the Timber Ridge campground, leveling the campsites at Timber Ridge, upgrading the electrical at all Timber Ridge camper sites, adding restrooms to three cabins and installing two new shower house restrooms at the Lake View campground.

Due to the extremely wet conditions this year, construction began behind schedule and has remained behind ever since.

“Because of all the summer rain, the contractors were late getting here from another job,” ACCB director Dan Carl said. “Then because of all the fall rain, they are still behind.”

At this point each project, with the exception of the cabin additions, is approximately half completed. Nishna Valley Builders have the cabins near completion, with the exception of some finishing touches and landscaping that cannot be completed until this spring. With some additional funding, the ACCB will soon begin the process of bidding the addition of restrooms to two more cabins.

The first major project at Timber Ridge was to bring in dirt to level out the campsites. This process took about a month, dirt was moved from another location within the Lake Icaria grounds to Timber Ridge. At this point in time, work has stalled at Timber Ridge in favor of completing the sewer installation.

“Without the sewer, we can’t open anything,” Carl said. “We need to focus on finishing that project as soon as possible.”

In ideal conditions, the sewer project should have taken approximately a week to finish, completing nearly 5,000 feet each day. With as wet as the ground is, the machinery gets stuck in the mud and workers are only able to install about 1,000 feet each day. The project is approximately half finished, one of the two lift stations has been installed, and all the pipe that must be installed under roads and driveways is already in, but the whole line has yet to be connected in a continuous string. If the ground were to freeze, the process would go much more quickly and create far less mess.

In addition to the cabin upgrades at Lake View campground, two shower house restrooms have been installed. One is a modified traditional shower house that has men’s and women’s restrooms with sinks and toilet stalls. The showers in this restroom are four individually locking stalls on the back of the building. The second shower house is composed of four individually locking full service “family style” restrooms that each have a toilet, shower and sink.

The wet weather has caused issues with the park in addition to stalling the renovations. The water level in the lake has risen approximately three feet this fall and winter.

“In 28 years here, this is the highest winter level I’ve ever seen,” Carl said.

The only bright side is that the lake is not busy this time of year. This abundance of water would create a whole host of problems in the summer months. 

The Lake Icaria website, www.mycountyparks.com, will open for camping reservations on Jan. 5. The official start date for the camping season, at this point in time, is July 1. If the renovations are completed before July 1, camping will be opened as soon as the sites are ready. The board set July 1 as a start date to ensure that reservations do not need to be cancelled due to projects not being complete. The website will be updated as progress is made, also the ACCB has a Facebook page, Lake Icaria, Adams County, where updates and photos are posted weekly.

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Christmas memories last for ages

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

The very act of sharing memories bonds people together. I recently had the opportunity to bond with some people who spend their days at Vintage Park or Corning Specialty.

More than simply the Christmas memories that I asked for, I learned about small pieces of people’s lives. I felt connected to a time and a place that was not my own. These short visits impacted me profoundly and in ways I had not anticipated. I look forward to visiting with my new found companions again soon.

I asked Paul Winkler, 88, to tell me about his most memorable Christmas experience and heard this story.

“I think it was 1961, we had a huge snowstorm on Dec. 20. We hadn’t been to town to get groceries for several days; we made it work just eating the last of what we had. By Christmas day we were out of food. About mid-day the snowplow came through so we were finally able to get out or there would have been no Christmas dinner.”

Paul also remembered going to his Grandma Neill’s house for Christmas dinner every year as a child and one Christmas the best gift was a sled.

Seventy-one-year-old Phyllis Brokaw told me that her favorite part of Christmas through the years has been sharing memories and stories of the past to keep old traditions alive. In later years, Phyllis would hold family Christmas in her home for nearly 75 family members including her three kids and her grandkids.

Phyllis also shared with me fond memories of helping the Sunday school children decorate the church.

“We would use the heirloom ornaments, but the kids also made ornaments each year. We would get together and plan out a theme for the year and then have fun of pulling it all together. All the kids had their own ideas, so we worked together every year to make a plan and make things a little different every year.”

Rosena Fife, 89, remembered that as a little girl her family had no electricity. They would make ornaments for their tree with red and green pipe cleaners. Rosena shared with me that one Christmas when she was somewhere around 10 to 12 years old she received a special gift.

“I didn’t want anyone to know that I wanted a doll. I thought I was too old to play with a doll. But I really did want one. And I played with that doll so much, I loved her, but only when no one else was around. I didn’t want them to know.”

I felt sadness along with Rosena as she thought of last Christmas and how it was likely to be the last time in her life that she would host Christmas for her family in her home.

I spent a lovely bit of time chatting with Beverly Davis Campbell, 86. We laughed over her memories of making peanut butter and chocolate fudge and peanut clusters with her daughters when they were little, and about her daughter Diana getting a motorcycle from her father, “because he was afraid she’d wreck the neighbor’s.” I smiled with her as she remembered with fondness her first husband Don and the many wonderful years they had together. We shed tears together as she remembered and shared every detail of the day he passed, which seemed like an ordinary day until it wasn’t.

Beverly had many memories of Christmas with Don and the girls. Some of years spent at home in Iowa and the nine winters they spent in Texas because they were on the road for Don’s job. But due to a recent surgery, many of her memories were fuzzy, she couldn’t put them in order and it took time for her to formulate the stories. So instead of asking her questions about specific holiday memories, I asked her to tell me about her husband, her daughters and her grandchildren. The love she holds for her family bubbled out with every word she spoke.

Another day, I had the pleasure of visiting with Mary Hoffman, 92, who lives at Vintage Park in Lenox. I already have a relationship with Mary as a member of our church. In fact, Mary is currently the member with the longest standing membership in our congregation, a fact of which she is very proud. Mary can no longer attend services, but Andrew makes trips to visit her regularly and on occasion the girls and I have had the opportunity to tag along.

I talked with Mary about Christmas as a child during the Depression.

“You were lucky to get one toy and have apples or oranges and nuts in your stocking. We were really lucky and always got a new smock for school.”

She smiled as she remembered how much simpler life was then.

“We would string popcorn and cranberries, two kernels of popcorn and one cranberry over and over again for the tree. And we made paper chains from red and green construction paper.”

Christmas was about family being together. Mary remembered Christmas when she was 8 years old, her family rode their horse and buggy from their house in town to her grandmother’s house outside of Kent.

“We could see Grandma’s house, but the road was so full of snow that the buggy couldn’t get through, we had to turn around and head back home.”

Mary remembered that food was sometimes scarce, but that her mother always told her “I don’t care what we have to eat, if you present it well, it will feel like a feast.” Even during times of sugar rationing, Mary and her mother would make fudge and divinity. She smiled as she remembered how wonderful those candies tasted after her mother’s diligent work in the kitchen.

Mary’s faith was always an important part of her Christmas experience. As a youth, she participated with the Methodist Youth Fellowship caroling and Christmas programs at the church. As a young mother, it was Mary’s joy to dress her three boys in their finest and watch them sing and act in the church Christmas pageants. And her favorite holiday tradition was that during their holiday gatherings, Mary’s family would take turns reading the Christmas story from scripture.

JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Danica Sunderman and Donna Mullen help Zaina Harvey select a gift at Mullen’s store, Randomness during Kid’s Shopping Day.

Children shop with Y-Teens

Main Street Corning’s Promotions Committee has been holding Kid’s Shopping Day since 2006. Each year families are invited to bring their elementary aged children to the program to complete their holiday shopping.

Each child is paired with a Southwest Valley Y-Teen who escorts two to three children around the downtown-shopping district and aids in selecting gift items for each of their family members. Parents send the child with money, shopping lists and a budget that the Y-Teens can use as a guide. The children also make a craft, visit Santa in Central Park, wrap their gifts and enjoy a cookie from Sweet Desires before heading home.

This year, 22 children and 15 Y-Teens participated in the event.

“The Y-Teens always do such a great job with the kids,” said Ray Reynolds, clerk at Hy-Vee McMahon Drug Store. “They keep the kids happy and engaged and are a joy to work with.”

The Promotions Committee hosts a variety of special events each year designed to highlight Corning’s Commercial Historic District in various ways. Unique from other events, Kid’s Shopping Day is a day dedicated to helping the next generation of community leaders learn the value of shopping locally.

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Home Base Iowa participants sought

Adams County businesses and organizations are invited to an organizational event from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. Dec. 9 at the Corning Community Center to discuss Home Base Iowa — Adams County.
Snacks will be served at the event. The committee will be on hand to answer questions. A short presentation will take place at 5:45 p.m.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors and the City of Corning both passed resolutions in the last 30 days to support the Adams County Home Base Iowa Initiative. Led by a group of local citizens, the Adams Community Economic Development Corporation (ACEDC) has gathered a leadership team that has been meeting monthly to move the project forward.

“With our industries and businesses looking to expand over 80 jobs in the next five years and a declining population, we need more workforce in our community,” ACEDC president Donna Hogan said. “We need additional skilled individuals with a good work ethic who want to live and participate in our community.”

“We also need community support to welcome new people into the community and invite them to become part of the social networks, so they feel at home in our hometowns in Adams County,” ACEDC executive director Beth Waddle said. “We know the quality of veterans we have living in and contributing to our communities already. We appreciate who they are and the work they are doing already. While we can’t go back and help each of them, individually, we can choose to move forward and invite other veterans to choose Adams County as their new home base to work and live alongside all of us.”

ACEDC’s next initiative is to ask local businesses and industries to sign on as Iowa Base businesses.

“We need a minimum of 15 local businesses to sign on for Adams County and the city of Corning to be accepted into the state of Iowa program,” said Chris Cole of Echco Concrete. “We were the first local business to sign up and encourage others to join. It’s a win-win situation. Our businesses pledges to hire veterans by Dec. 31, 2018, and veterans who are looking for work, see that we respect the work and service they have given our country and can receive incentives for choosing Adams County to live and work. “

Local government, businesses and organizations are also developing the local incentive package that can work together with the state of Iowa package and other regional incentives. Businesses and organizations that would like to learn more about joining in on incentives should contact Waddle at the ACEDC office at 710 Davis Ave. or calling her at (641) 322-5229. She can also arrange to have a team member come to a place of business to share information and help a business sign up. Business applications are available upon request by e-mailing acedc@adamscountyiowa.com.

Submitted photo — Area businesses are gearing up for Small Business Saturday, held annually the Saturday following Thanksgiving. Shoppers can find unique gift ideas and special deals in many of Corning’s downtown shops.

Corning preps for 19th annual parade

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

The Adams Community Chamber will hold the 19th annual Light Up the Night holiday lighted parade this Saturday at 7 p.m. Beginning at 6 p.m. and continuing through the parade, Santa will be in his house in Central Park. The Santa house closes at 8 p.m.

The Chamber sponsored parade is open to participants in three categories: families and individuals, civic organizations and non-profits, and business and commercial. The top three entries in each category will win Chamber gift certificates. Brian Peterson will act as emcee again this year.

The grand marshals for the parade this year are John and Kathy Bozwell. “John and Kathy have volunteered for many different community events and organizations through the years,” said Chamber director Wendi Boswell. “Kathy just recently retired following many years of service on the Chamber board of directors.” The Bozwells will lead the parade escorted by Weldon Cooney.

Each year spectators anticipate entries from the Za Ga Zig Shriners, the Peckham family and POET Biorefining. This year is no different. The Shriners will delight viewers with their stunt maneuvers in mini-cars, go-karts, trikes and more. Poet is entering its Christmas Express in the commercial category. And the Peckham family returns this year with an entry they have titled Run Run Rudolph.
Bert Peckham said that his family has participated in the parade since they moved back to the area from Nebraska. They work together to create a theme and a parade float they will use for several years before redesigning. This year’s float is brand new. Al and Jean and Brian and Nancy have been working on the creation of the float since sometime mid-summer.

“It’s a nice family tradition,” said Bert. “We get together for a family meal that Saturday evening at Alan’s, then go in for the parade, then back to celebrate my wife’s birthday.” Four generations of the Peckham family help create and ride on the float, including Bert’s siblings and their spouses. “It seems like each year it gets bigger and more elaborate,” said Peckham.

The entry deadline has been extended to noon Nov. 27. “People are welcome to enter the day of the parade, but they will be added to the end of the lineup and not be announced by the emcee,” said Boswell.

Participants will be able to hear emcee Peterson more clearly than in years past thanks to a brand new sound system installed last week. The new system, donated by POET, is an upgrade to be compatible with new technologies that were not readily accessible at the time the previous system was installed.

With this new system, sound will now be broadcast on Davis Street from the courthouse all the way to R&S Auto. The system will also allow for expansion to Benton Street in the future. This new system is a Wi-Fi PA that can play Internet radio, which will allow for more variety. Community announcements will be broadcast twice weekly, and the microphone for announcements and events can be located anywhere within the range of the system from the courthouse to the bottom of Davis Street rather than being confined to the main broadcast location at the Lauvstad Center.

To encourage people to shop small Boswell has created displays in the windows of the Lauvstad Center that highlight some of the many gift options available locally. “We hope that people will visit the businesses in downtown during Small Business Saturday and then stick around for the parade,” said Boswell.

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Veterans Day

JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — U.S. Rep. David Young looks on as Corning Elementary School students present National Guard veteran Delmar Chafa with cards of appreciation during the Veterans Day program Nov. 11.

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Fiorina addresses Adams County voters

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina held a town hall campaign stop Nov. 13  at the Corning Opera House.

Fiorina addressed the full auditorium audience and outlined her platform consisting of rolling back political mandates and funding, encouraging the American people to put pressure on the House and Senate to act on bills and restoring the United States’ international position and reputation.

After her opening remarks, Fiorina fielded questions from the audience on topics ranging from education and socialism to immigration and renewable fuels. Fiorina stated that she would do away with many of the political mandates concerning education and government involvement in price setting. Fiorina also stated that she would pressure Congress to vote on bills already sitting on the floor that would deal with issues that have been discussed for decades. As for illegal immigration, Fiorina stated that she believes those guilty of immigrating illegally, while they may be eligible for work visas, should be permanently barred from gaining citizenship as a consequence of not following the proper procedures.

Fiorina stated her belief that the United States needs to “have the strongest military on the face of the earth,” and that “everyone else needs to know it.” On her first day in office, she would assure Israel that the U.S. now and forever stands with Israel and would cut off the flow of money both into and out of the nation of Iran.

Fiorina was spurred to run for office in response to a comment from a gentleman following a speech she gave to business leaders.

“He said that he no longer feels that the United States is a nation of unlimited possibility,” said Fiorina. “I feel I have the leadership skills to make America believe that again.”

She also believes that she makes the best candidate for the Republican nomination because she has the skills required to be president.

“I understand the economy, I understand how the world works, I understand bureaucracy, I understand leadership and I understand how to use technology,” said Fiorina. “And, I can beat Hillary.”

Fiorina believes that the biggest challenge facing America is that the citizens need to take the government back from the career political class to restore prosperity and possibilities.

City discusses use of NSP funds

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

During the Nov. 9 Corning City Council meeting, the council discussed plans for how to use funds from the Neighborhood Stabilization Program in order to be in compliance with state and federal guidelines.

Corning became involved with the NSP in 2010 and to date has used the funds for six properties in Corning. These properties include a home on 10th Street that was rehabbed and sold, a second home on Sixth Street that remains on the market, and four properties that were purchased and the homes on them demolished. Of the four, two adjacent lots on the north end of Adams Street remain vacant, one property was used to build the “Iowa House” and the last property, following demolition, was used to create Memorial Rock Park.

At this time, the state of Iowa has given the city a Nov. 15 deadline to create a plan to use its program income. Program income is money that the city has received as a result of the spending of NSP funds; for example, money the city would have received for selling properties once they completed the rehabilitation or demolition. At least 25 percent of these funds must, by rules of the grant, be spent on housing developments for families that qualify as 50 percent low and moderate-income families.

These funds may be spent for properties that are either for rental or home ownership; properties to create more green space, like Memorial Rock Park, do not qualify for this 25 percent requirement.
The council discussed several options with Jeremy Rounds from Southern Iowa Council of Governments presented and determined that more information is required before they can come up with a concrete plan.

The council also discussed plans for how to fill the Ward 2 city council seat that will be vacated in January when Guy Brace becomes mayor. The council has decided to fill the vacancy by appointment as allowed by the Iowa Code. The vacancy will be advertised in the coming weeks and an appointment will be made in January.

Corning armory to close

As a result of force structure and stationing study findings, the Iowa National Guard will permanently close its Corning armory, located at 1925 210th St.

The unit currently assigned to the Corning armory, Detachment 1, Company B, 1st Battalion, 168th Infantry, will move to Camp Dodge in Johnston, Iowa, in 2016 and consolidate with the main body of Company B. Approximately 80 soldiers are affected by the closure and move.

The Iowa National Guard has a long history in Corning dating back to 1892 with the initial stationing of Company K, 3rd Regiment. Soldiers from the Corning armory have fought in the Spanish-American War, World War I, and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.

Constructed in 1993, the 20,598-square foot Corning armory is the 13th armory to be closed in Iowa as the result of a statewide consolidation and facilities upgrade program initiated in 2000 by the Iowa National Guard. The armory will be offered to the public for sale in the near future.

“It was a very difficult decision to make as an organization, but with the fiscally-constrained environment all Department of Defense entities face today, consolidating this unit and closing the Corning armory was the best course of action for responsible stewardship of taxpayer resources and for future readiness of our soldiers,” said Maj. Gen. Tim Orr, adjutant general for the Iowa National Guard. “We are incredibly grateful for the strong support of the Corning community for nearly 125 years.”

Since 2000, as part of the Iowa National Guard plan to relocate military units into higher demographic areas, close outdated armories, consolidate units on a regional concept to better utilize training resources, and upgrade existing facilities through renovation and new construction, the Iowa National Guard has consolidated units and closed armories in Sioux Center, Villisca, Mapleton, Atlantic, Clarinda, Glenwood, Hampton, Jefferson, Chariton, Newton, Eagle Grove and Centerville.
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For more information about the operations, training and activities of the Iowa Army and Air National Guard, contact Col. Greg Hapgood, Iowa National Guard Public Affairs officer by email at gregory.o.hapgood.mil@mail.mil or (515) 252-4582 (office) or (515) 971-6385 (cell), or contact Master Sgt. Duff E. McFadden at duff.e.mcfadden.mil@mail.mil or (515) 252-4666 (office), or (515) 480-7647 (cell).

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Submitted photo — Members of the Southwest Valley Y-Teens club went to Y-Teens fall conference Oct. 7 at Des Moines Area Community College to learn about how to combat girl against girl bullying.

Y-Teens changing lives
for nearly 100 years

By Kelsey Steinbach
Free Press

The month of October is bullying prevention month, and the week of Oct. 19 is Stand Up For Others Week.

In light of this time, the members of the Southwest Valley High School Y-Teens all sported the shirts they received at this year’s fall leadership conference for Y-Teens, held at DMCC. But these are not ordinary shirts, written across the front is, “You CAN sit with us,” mocking a popular line, “You can’t sit with us,” from the infamous movie Mean Girls. Although these shirts speak loudly about bully prevention, they speak even louder about the true meaning of Y-Teens.

In 1916 the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) began creating a group for young women, between the ages 12 and 18, to develop a well-balanced personality and to create future leaders for women of all ethnicities, religions, or other backgrounds, all while building opportunities for success out of high school. By 1919 Girl Reserves had been adapted in many schools nationwide.

Norma Frey, the first president of Girl Reserves at Villisca High School in 1941, said, “Girl Reserves was a friendly, happy get together where we met, sang, and worked on projects.” Some of these projects included charitable events, parties, and their biggest moneymaker — selling the Firemen’s Ball tickets. If a girl sold at least 10 tickets, she would receive a free ticket to attend the dance.
“A free ticket was important because during the depression we could not afford to buy one and everyone did like to go to the dance,” Frey said.

And if the members were to sell a certain number of tickets as an entire chapter, their sponsor held a special dinner for them, “Sometimes even when we didn’t sell enough we still got the special meal,” Frey admitted. After World War II the name was changed from Girl Reserves to Y-Teens.

Though much about the club has changed over the years, the values it was founded on remain the same. Y-Teens have meetings, host charitable events and hold blood drives. This year they plan on adopting a family for Christmas. Each year before the homecoming coronation they hold a cake auction to raise money for the chapter to cover the expenses of different conferences they attend. Some of their upcoming projects include their annual rake and run, where they rake the yards of the elderly all over Corning and Villisca and trick-or-treating for UNICEF.

Lisa Vanderhoof, former Y-Teens member and one of the current sponsors at Southwest Valley’s chapter, said she always enjoyed the club for their volunteering events.

“Being able to volunteer gives a sense of pride and humbleness knowing you have helped someone,” Vanderhoof said. “This could be your next door neighbor or someone across the country by trick-or-treating for UNICEF.”

She also said being a part of the group gave her opportunities she would not have gotten without the young girl’s club.

“Each year that I went to a conference, I came home with something to work towards and momentum to help me to strive to be a better person better for my community and myself,” Vanderhoof said. “Even this year, as my first year as a sponsor of Y-Teens, I took away some lessons from the fall conference we attended two weeks ago that focused on the bullying situation between women.”

After speaking with the current president of the Southwest Valley’s chapter, Renee Williams, it is increasingly obvious this group means more to the young girls involved than one would think.
“I only became president because of how much it had an affect on me my first few years of high school,” Williams said. “I love being a senior and having a freshman little sister, and helping them begin high school knowing they have someone to talk to and count on because those things are important for young women. We all just want to know we have someone who wants the best for us, which is the point of Y-Teens.”

Williams also noted that in 2013 Corning and Villisca were two of only three schools in Iowa that offer this program for young women, and the numbers don’t seem to be increasing due to different budget cuts taken in schools.
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It is important to recognize that even though the smallest groups may go unnoticed, they are making some of the biggest differences in the lives of the members in their schools and in their communities. People may not bundle up every Friday night to go out and watch a Y-Teens game, or travel an hour to see them compete in a regional tournament, but they are very important. Y-Teens has been changing the lives of young girls for almost 100 years now, and hopefully will continue to do so in Southwest Valley.

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Candidates outline positions ahead of election

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

The Adams County Free Press in cooperation with the Adams Community Ambassadors held the annual candidate forum Oct. 13 at the Corning Community Building.

Moderator Tim Ostrovsky from the Southern Iowa Council of Governments opened the evening with a few procedural remarks before turning the floor over to the candidates to make their introductory statements. During opening statements, mayoral candidate Guy Brace said, “I think that I can provide some leadership while we look at our issues and try to grow the community.” His opponent Warren Blaisure said, “I want to hear from you, what your issues are and what your ideas are to help change Corning to make it even better than it is.”

Following the introductions, Ostrovsky asked for questions from the assembled audience of about 30 Corning residents. Since no brave souls were ready to speak up and ask their questions, Ostrovsky asked the candidates to share what they feel is their top priority in the next two years.

In response, councilman Wayne Moore (incumbent Ward 1) said, “I think No. 1 for me is to hold down the costs. Still get our job done, but not overspend.”

Adam Goodvin (candidate for Ward 3) expressed a desire to build on the amenities at Lake Binder. “Lake Icaria gets a lot of business and a lot of revenue from outside the community. Binder is all that much closer to Corning. And if we make it more appealing or offer more camping and we could get some of those numbers here, it would be great for our small businesses.”

Brace echoed the sentiments of many of the candidates who expressed a desire to continue on the path to mediating the issues with nuisance properties, but also expressed his feeling that the city needs to research and help homeowners acquire funding from various government programs to improve existing housing.

“If we’re not careful, pretty soon, we’ll need to be working on those houses and tearing them down,” Brace said. “So I think we need to divide our attention a bit to help those people keep their houses up so we don’t end up with more blighted houses.”

A member of the audience asked Brace and Blaisure as mayoral candidates why they think they can accomplish more as mayor than they could as councilmember since both have served in that capacity. Blaisure responded, “As a councilmember, you are concerned with the business of running the city, as mayor, I see it more as public relations officer. It’s the mayor’s job to bring new ideas to the council and help guide them to make decisions and help them find answers.”

Brace agreed with Blaisure that one role of mayor is to prepare items for the council to consider, but also discussed how important it is for the mayor to represent the city at other meetings and functions regionally and throughout the state.

Ostrovsky modified the question for the city council candidates to answer as well, asking, “is it more important as council to react to the items the mayor brings to you, or do you see it as your role to bring issues to the mayor and have him act on them as well?”

Goodvin responded that he feels that the role of a council member is primarily to be a solution finder rather than a problem finder. “Since the council member is going to have to be the one to put forward the motion to vote, I feel that it is more important for the council member to find the solution to issues rather than just bringing forward issues.”

Renae Nicholson (candidate for council at large) countered by saying, “the reason there are multiple council members is so that the city can have multiple points of view and so that the citizens have a variety of people to approach with their concerns.”

Since several of the candidates had mentioned the blighted houses in their opening statements or in response to previous questions, one resident wanted to know what the plan was for the properties as they are cleaned up or demolished. Brace explained the process that is currently being followed by the city seeks to avoid the city becoming responsible for the property.

Bert Peckham (incumbent council at large) expressed that the city does not want to take ownership of the properties and indicated that the solution ultimately needs to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. “A lot of them are on a 50-foot lot, they aren’t big enough to build another house on. In some cases, maybe a neighbor would like to buy the lot to have a bigger yard or garden. But others we don’t know.”

The candidates were also asked about the local option sales tax, to which Peckham said, “When the initial decision to have that tax was made, it was decided that half of it would go to the city to be used how they see fit, part of that went to the library. The other half was to be used for the aquatic center. We have done a good job and have the aquatic center paid off. We can’t use that money for anything else, unless you people tell us we can. With that money in a short amount of time we can get the fire station paid off. After that we have some street projects we’d like to do and could use the sales tax money to do that without having to go to the property tax coffers.”

The final questions had to do with sharing services with the county and the possibility of countywide government. All candidates stated that they were in favor of continuing to share services with the county for law enforcement, due to the expense of having a city police force and the high turn over that the city experienced with police officers leaving for higher paying positions after they were trained. Peckham did suggest that the city look into reevaluating the current contract with the Sheriff’s Office and clearly outlining the expectations and responsibilities. None of the candidates were ready to make a full switch to one single county government.

“To be very honest with you, I’ve never even considered the possibility, because we have been doing a very good job on our own,” Blaisure said. “I’ve been to a lot of cities across the United States and I have not seen the cooperation, nor have I seen the participation that I see in this community. The projects that have been accomplished since I first came to Corning are staggering. I don’t think we need to county, I think we’ve got a good system here.”

Election day is Nov. 3. Polls open at noon and will remain open until 8 p.m. Voters may also cast ballots now at the Adams County Auditor’s Office between 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Auditor’s Office will be open for voting until 11 a.m. on Election Day.

Rep. Jack Drake 
​dies at 81

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

State Rep. Jack Drake, a Republican from Griswold, who has served in the State Legislature since 1992, died early Sunday morning. Rep. Drake was 81.

At the time of his death, he was serving on the Agriculture, Appropriations and State Government committees as well as the chairperson of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Budget committee.
In a statement released Monday morning, Jeff Kaufmann, chairperson of the Republican Party of Iowa said, “I had the honor of sitting beside Jack in the Iowa House, and I learned he was a man of great integrity and a strong advocate for Iowa agriculture. I will miss him, the Iowa House will miss him, and our great state will miss his capable and steady hands.”

Rep. Drake, the longest tenured Republican in the Iowa House, advocated for smaller, simpler government during his time in office. At the candidate forum held by the Free Press in 2014 he said, “We have unnecessary rules and regulations that are obsolete and we don’t need them. We need to review those at all times because they can just create more problems. I like to keep the government simple.”

Sen. Joni Ernst also issued a statement Monday saying, “Jack was a phenomenal voice for our agricultural community and our great state. I was honored to serve with Jack in the state legislature and always valued his hard work and in-depth knowledge on the issues most important to Iowans. Jack was a good friend and he will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Shirley and their family during this difficult time.”

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, at the Griswold United Methodist Church with burial to follow at Griswold Cemetery. Surviving family includes his wife Shirley, their four children, 11 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

A special election will be held to fill the seat vacated by Drake’s passing. The date of this election will be announced by Gov. Branstad by Friday. Check future issues of the Free Press for further details. 

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Fourth grader Ethan James shares his essay about respect during the Character Counts assembly. He said, “I show re-spect by not being loud while my dad is on the phone in the house.”

Character Counts at Corning Elementary

By Jacki Bardole
Free Press

Corning Elementary School kicked off their program focused on developing character at an assembly Oct. 2.

The Character Counts curriculum encourages teachers and students to focus on the six pillars of good character: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship. The pillar for the month of October is Respect. Guidance counselor Cynthia Bachman chose to begin with respect because the theme for this year’s Red Ribbon Week (Oct. 23-31) is “Respect yourself. Be drug free.” Bachman said, “it just connects so nicely and I thought it would be a good way to start out our program for the year.”

The assembly included presentations from principal Melissa Schad, the Southwest Valley cheerleaders and representatives of the SWV football team. Eight fourth or fifth grade students read short essays about what respect means to them and a time that they felt respected or showed respect to others from a recent guidance class assignment.

The month of October also brings a community outreach project to Corning Elementary. This will be the school’s second annual Socktober sock drive. Inspired by Kid President, who reminds kids that “you’re never too small to make a difference,” the elementary staff challenged students to bring in new socks during the month of October. At the end of the drive last year, Corning Elementary donated 423 pairs of socks to the MATURA community outreach center to be given to individuals in need. Kindergarten teacher Heather Avila challenged the youngsters to exceed last year’s donation during this Socktober. 

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Denise Case, manager of Post Office Operations for Area 7, officially installs Paula Sink as postmaster of the Corning Post Office during a Sept. 24 ceremony.

Sink enjoys time back in Corning

By Jacki Bardole

​Paula Sink, originally of Lenox, began her postal career in 1994 in Corning as a temporary employee clerk.

Three years later, in March she became a part-time flexible clerk. Her next move was to step up and serve as the official in charge at the Villisca Post Office in March 2009, she became the postmaster there in July 2010. In April of this year, Sink was awarded the historical title of postmaster at the Corning Post Office.

When Sink first began with the postal service, like many city and rural carriers and clerks, she was not considered a career employee, meaning that she did not earn retirement benefits. One of her fondest moments came in 1997 when she was made a career employee. Sink served many years under the direction of former Corning Postmaster Doug Leonard, who she credits with preparing her to accept the official in charge position in Villisca. Sink enjoys being back in the Corning office where she began her career. As postmaster, she supervises both the Corning and Prescott offices and manages 13 employees.

“It’s a good job,” said Sink of working for the United States Postal Service. “And unlike a few years ago, I believe there is a future in it.”

The biggest change in the postal service over the past 19 years has also been the biggest improvement. Following the implementation of the rural 911 system, which gave every resident a street address the USPS implemented the Delivery Point Sequence system. With this system, the majority of the mail that comes into the post office from the central processing offices is already sorted in order, eliminating the need for postal employees to hand sort all the mail coming into the office for delivery.
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Sink spends her time away from work reading, walking, visiting with friends and spending time with her family and boyfriend Steve Kitzman. Sink’s family includes daughters Philicia (Nathan) Hancock, Shonda (Brant) McCuen and Jayme (Kyle) Newman and grandsons Landry, Nash and Hayden.
Sink’s fondest memories of the past 19 years in postal service come from working with the other employees at the Corning and Villisca Post Offices.

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City referendum on Nov. 3 ballot

Adams County Auditor Becky Bissell has released a list of individuals campaigning for election to various local government positions in the Nov. 3 election.

The list includes mayor and city council for the communities of Corning, Prescott, Carbon and Nodaway. A complete list of candidates can be found below.

In addition to the offices, the City of Corning has a referendum on the ballot. Resolution 53-15 passed the Corning City Council on June 22, 2015, with three votes in favor and two absences. This resolution concerns the 1 percent local option sales tax. Currently, the funds from the sales tax are divided: 50 percent for the city’s general budget and the other 50 percent for the building and payment of debt for the Aquatic Center. The resolution states “100% is to be allocated for any lawful purpose the city sees need.” With this wording the entirety of the money collected by the city from the local option sales tax will be put into the city’s general fund. The change would take effect on Jan. 1, 2016. City officials estimate that the current debt for the Aquatic Center will be paid off by February 2016.

“We’re going to collect the money anyway,” said councilman Bert Peckham. “But we can’t use it without the citizens telling us what to use it for. We’d like to use it for debt retirement to relieve the burden on the taxpayer.”

Councilman Guy Brace explained that the city intends to continue to split the funds equally, putting half toward debt repayment.

“First would involve paying down the $500,000 loan, which we were required to obtain from the USDA in order to access the grant for the fire station,” said Brace.

The reason that the resolution is stated as 100 percent to city use is to avoid needing similar resolutions in the future. By stating that the money can be used for any lawful purpose as the city determines, the council may use the funds to pay off the fire station debt, then change the use of funds to paying for street repairs, city employee benefits or other needs that would normally have to be paid using property taxes.

“We need to utilize the funds in the best interest of Corning,” said councilman Wayne Moore. “With the change, we can use it to pay down our debt.”

Absentee voting for this election begins Sept. 23. Absentee ballots can be submitted in person at the county auditor’s office or by mail. To request an absentee ballot by mail, call 322-3340 to have an official request form mailed or visit the Adams County website at adamscounty.com or the Secretary of State website sos.iowa.gov. Once the request form has been received by the auditor’s office, an official ballot will be mailed. Oct. 30 is the last day to request a ballot by mail. Ballots must have a postmark of Nov. 2 or before and be received by Nov. 6, in order to be counted.

On Nov. 3, individuals may vote in the auditor’s office between 8 and 11 a.m. Local polling locations will be open from noon to 8 p.m. Carbon votes at the Carbon Community Center; Corning votes at the Corning Community Building; Nodaway votes at the Nodaway Community Building and Prescott votes at the Prescott City Hall/Library.

Carbon Mayor — Larry E. Johnson* (Vote for 1)

Carbon At-Large — Jerry Anderson*, Marlene Lee*, Edward E Harlow*, Donna Rochau*, Mike Kempton (Vote for 5)

Corning Mayor — Warren Blaisure and Guy Brace (Vote for 1)

Corning At-Large — Bert Peckham* and Ranae Nicholson (Vote for 1)

Corning Ward 1 — Wayne D. Moore* (Vote for 1)

Corning Ward 3 — Adam Goodvin (Vote for 1)

Nodaway Mayor — Patricia A. Shipley* (Vote for 1)

Nodaway Council At-Large – Christine Dunn*, Gary Poen*, Becky Poen*, Hartford Cooper*, Becky Dunn (Vote for 5)

Prescott Mayor — No candidates  (Vote for 1)

Prescott Council – No candidates (Vote for 2)

Prescott Council (to fill a vacancy) — April Damewood* (Vote for 1)

*Incumbent

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By J. Wilson, author of the Diary of a Part-time Monk

Homecoming Royalty

JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Southwest Valley’s 2015 homecoming king Tony Klocke and queen Halee Olson were crowned during the Sept. 17 pep rally in the high school auditorium.

CCFA marks 10 years of art, culture

By Jacki Bardole

The Corning Center for the Fine Arts (CCFA) celebrates 10 years of bringing art and culture to Corning and Adams County during this year’s homecoming celebration.

CCFA, housed in the renovated and repurposed Hardware Hank building at 706 Davis Ave., opened it doors on Sept. 30, 2005.

The Corning Artist Committee of Linda Shearer, Marty Olive, Pat Getter, Sandy Winter, Rhonda Millhollin, Donna Hogan and Doug Sickler recognized that every small community needs a niche and desired to make fine arts a niche industry in Corning and Southwest Iowa. They also wanted to ensure that the newly empty storefront on Davis was occupied for years to come.

“The community did not want an empty building on Main Street,” said Shearer. “And we wanted to make Corning a cultural destination.”

CCFA’s studio and gallery space were modeled after the advice of the University of Iowa, Graceland University and the Bemis Center of Omaha, Neb., in order to create an attractive environment for its artist in residence program. Only 40 artist residency programs exist in the United States and CCFA is the only one in the state of Iowa. The art center has two fully renovated and functional second story apartments utilized for the residency program. Artists live in the apartment for $100 per month in rent plus 50 percent of the profits from their artwork sales. Some residents stay in Corning for a few short months, while others make their stay significantly longer. The second resident artist, Rachel Simms, spent 16 months in Corning while Denise Downard was only in residence through the summer months.

Shearer explains the residency program as a way for artists to learn about the business end of art as well as offering the space and time to create.

“Meeting the public, learning how to price their work, dealing with the day-to-day business of customers … that is part of their internship here,” she said.

Since 2006, the art center has been home to 16 artists, most recently from as far away as Seoul, South Korea.

The first exhibits housed in CCFA’s gallery was selected by Russ Nordman and Jody Boyer of Council Bluffs and featured the art of working artists: bronze sculptor Rusty Fritz, glass sculptor Kelly Shatto and painter Michael Wilson.

Another regular feature of the CCFA is the annual student art shows. The first show was held in March 2006 and showcased 99 total pieces of student art from 13 area schools. The art was separated into four divisions based on student age for judging. Students from kindergarten through high school had the opportunity to have their art on exhibit in the gallery and attend a reception for those awarded ribbons. The second year instead of just one show the art center expanded to two. The artists participating in the elementary art show keep their pieces on display for one month, followed by one month of art from the secondary (7-12 grades) show.

“Hosting the area secondary and elementary student art shows allows us to showcase the area talent and to promote the arts in southwest Iowa,” said Shearer.

The En Plein Air competition began in July 2006 with seven artists producing outdoor paintings throughout the weekend. Art created through the weekend is submitted for judging and remains on display and for sale through homecoming weekend the following year.

August 2007 brought expansion to the CCFA with the addition of a pottery education center. The project, which features a state of the art kiln and other pottery equipment, was funded in part by a grant from the Iowa West Foundation.

CCFA is open extended hours this homecoming weekend: Friday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday noon-4 p.m. Regular hours are Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, call Linda Shearer at (641) 322-4549 or online at corningfinearts.org.

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — Corning Nursing and Rehab administrator Bo Conard and assistant administrator Gwen Larsen assist residents Shorty and Vera Kimball down the hall of the facility.

New team steps in at Corning Nursing

By Jacki Bardole

Corning Nursing and Rehab has undergone several changes in recent months, the most significant of which is the new administrative team of Bo Conard and her assistant Gwen Larsen.

Conard, who earned a Master’s Degree in Health Care Administration from University of Phoenix, began her position as administrator in Corning on July 1. She is also the administrator of Care Initiatives facility in Bedford, splitting her time each day between the two facilities.

“I am very involved, because, ultimately, I am the one held responsible,” said Conard. “I like to know what is happening in each place every day.”

The position of administrator encompasses all areas of the nursing home. Conard and Larsen are responsible for the day-to-day operations, being sure that all departments run as smoothly as possible.

Conard, who lives in Creston and commutes to Corning and Bedford each day, has previous experience in nursing and nursing home administration as well as teaching. Most recently before accepting the position with Care Initiatives, Conard taught Health Information Technology courses at Southwestern Community College.

“I started off in nursing, but after watching my great-grandmother progress through the continuum of care, I thought I could make it easier for others when they had to place their loved ones in a facility,” said Conard.

The biggest challenges of the position have involved the amount of change at the facility. Conard and her staff are working hard to make changes necessary to make Corning Nursing and Rehab a better place for residents to live and employees to work.

“The residents are very comfortable coming to Bo with their concerns and know that she will make the changes needed on their behalf,” said Larsen.

Conard said the highlight of a career in nursing home care is the residents themselves.

“Each one has a story, I love getting to know them. The more you know them, the better you can care for them,” Conrad said. 

Larsen left her position at CHI Wellness Center in August and began at Corning Nursing and Rehab the following week.

“There comes a point when you have to decide, ‘is this what I want to do forever?’” said Larsen. “I told Tim about a year ago that I really thought I would like to go back to school and someday run a nursing home.”

Larsen began school to earn a Master’s in Health Care Administration in January of 2015 and will finish her degree in June of next year. In order to be a nursing home administrator, one must have at minimum a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Care and 720 practicum hours. She was earning her practicum hours on days off at the Care Initiatives facility in Creston before making the career change.

“The timing was just right, both for me and for my family,” said Larsen about the change.

Conard and Larsen are trying to change the community image of the nursing home, “right now we are holding more resident based events for residents and their families,” said Conard. In the near future they will be holding more community events to allow visitors the opportunity to see the facility in action. The first such event is the Chamber Coffee held this Friday in the front hall. 

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Santorum’s Corning visit one of 99

By Don Groves

Vowing a commitment to Iowa voters, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum spoke with more than two-dozen people Sept. 1 at the Corning Opera House.

The Republican presidential candidate plans to visit all 99 counties of Iowa in much the same way U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley and Gov. Terry Brandstad tour the state each year.

Santorum, the winner of the 2012 Iowa Republican caucus, said if the same support he received in Iowa would have been there in Republican primaries the United States would be a much different nation than it is today.

Santorum said when he began this campaign he did so to “make America the No. 1 Manufacturer in the world.” He said one way he would do is by creating a flat tax that would allow businesses to expense new equipment or buildings as deductions the year they are purchased instead of being depreciated or amortized over years.

“It’s an incentive to grow,” he said.

A flat tax, Santorum said, would benefit smaller communities such as Corning by encouraging businesses to build new plants and factories domestically and therefore bring more people back to smaller towns.

Blue-collar workers are too often ignored by both major political parties, Santorum said. He said the last presidential election was decided because blue-collar voters thought neither of the top two candidates had anything to offer them so they did not go to the polls.

“We won Adams County four years ago and we would love to do so again,” he said.

Santorum said his message has not change from his 2012 campaign. He said he trusts the people of Iowa and is looking forward to getting reacquainted with them.

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Prescott discusses
property options

By Jacki Bardole

The Prescott school board met Aug. 19 to discuss possible courses of action regarding the decommissioned buildings.

Board president Randy Cooper opened the floor for suggestions and questions from the people assembled at the public meeting.

One individual questioned if the property could be sold in pieces or if it must stay together. Superintendent Steve McDermott indicated that the property may be portioned out for sale if a buyer is only interested in certain pieces. The property in question includes the two school buildings, the gymnasium, the bus barn and all the green space. Another attendee asked how much it would cost for demolition. McDermott shared that a rough estimate is $200,000 for the demolition of the 100-year-old school house.

Cooper shared with the gathered crowd that the board had already taken action, using pebble funds already in their coffers, to install heat and air conditioning units in the smaller school building.

“These were funds we already had from the Prescott tax payers and if we didn’t use them, they would go into the new district’s accounts. We felt that it was a wise choice to make the building more attractive to a potential buyer by having that project completed before sale,” said Cooper.

Justin Cooper spoke up and indicated that the Cooper family would be interested in buying the property and turning the gym into a reception hall and using the newer school building to be rented out as office space.

“We want it to be a community thing, but we want it to be their option. The last thing we want to see is for it to all be torn down,” said Cooper.

One additional consideration mentioned by McDermott is “if [the board] choose to sell, how do we sell? Do we list with a realtor? What are the property taxes? As a school district, the property was always exempt from taxes.”

The board is not hard pressed to make an immediate decision and is open to more community input. A decision needs to be made by June 30, 2016, before the Prescott school board is officially dissolved. 

Alumni pay it back to current students

By Jacki Bardole

Southwest Valley students in both Corning and Villisca have the benefit of caring alumni who offer their support.

The Villisca Alumni and Friends Association (VAFA) and the Corning Education Foundation (CEF) are both involved in ensuring that Southwest Valley students have access to a top-notch education. Each board has an executive board comprised of volunteers passionate about their hometown and their school. However, the way that each organization supports the school is very different. One organization’s primary focus is on K-12 students; the other focuses its energy on offering support for continuing education.

Villisca’s VAFA, established in 2006, has board members representing each decade from 1940 to the 2000s as well as seven members at large who are representatives from any decade in Villisca High School history. VAFA board president Elzene Gourley summed up the group’s mission saying, “VAFA is committed to enhancing and supporting education and other programs and opportunities in the Villisca community.”

VAFA accomplishes this mission in two major ways. The first is by assisting with field trip funding, such as sending Enarson Elementary fourth graders to Anderson Conservation last spring or assisting Erin Fleharty and Macy Burgess with the expenses incurred from their trip to Washington, D.C., for the Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) national competition. The FCCLA girls represent both the Villisca and Corning communities.

“We wanted to support them and their trip,” said Gourley. “The geographical location of the school doesn’t matter.”

The other way that VAFA supports the local schools is with the Teacher Wishlist. Teachers in both Villisca schools request items to supplement the education in their classrooms to the principal, who then submits the list to VAFA. During their quarterly meetings, VAFA reviews the list and chooses which items it will purchase or partially fund. The requests are for items ranging from technology needs like iPads and flash drives to educational videos for the school counselor and instruments for the music department. Acknowledging that without groups like VAFA, many of these types of items are must purchased by the teacher or gone without, founding board member Susie Enarson said, “We feel it’s our job to provide things the kids wouldn’t have otherwise.” Since 2013, the funds given to the Villisca schools for field trips and wish list items total more than $19,500.

VAFA funds these projects through annual or lifetime dues from members of the organization. Membership is not limited to Villisca Alumni (hence “and friends”) and costs $25 annually or $500 for an individual lifetime membership ($750 for a married couple). Anyone interested in learning more about VAFA and its activities is encouraged to visit villiscaalumni.org or find the VAFA on Facebook as Villisca Alumni and Friends Association.

The Corning Education Foundation, first established in 1994, was inactive until it was reestablished in 2004. The board of trustees for the CEF is made up of individuals in the Corning community who care about the continued education of the students. Each year since 2007, the CEF has awarded eight $1,000 scholarships to graduating seniors. These scholarships are paid out in two disbursements, the second semester of both the first and second year of a student’s higher education.

“We wanted to be sure that we spread the support into the second year because that is when a lot of students drop out of college because the money has run out,” said CEF secretary Linda Shearer.

Additionally, when funding allows, the foundation also grants an advanced scholarship to either a college junior or senior or a non-traditional student — a college student who is not beginning college immediately following high school. These scholarships offer local students the support they so often need to finish their education.

“We hope that it reminds them that their hometown cares for them and helps get them thinking about coming home,” Shearer said.

Since the foundation began awarding scholarships in 2007, a total of $82,000 has been distributed. Since the two districts began the whole grade sharing, seven of the 16 scholarships awarded have been given to students from Villisca.

“We don’t care where the student is from, we want to award the most qualified applicants,” Shearer said.

Another aspect that both groups have in common is a desire to preserve the history of their school and community through communication with alumni. VAFA distributes a newsletter annually to alumni to keep them informed about what projects are happening. The Corning Alumni Association, a sub-group of the CEF, distributes an alumni newsletter three times each year that highlights information about the community as well as includes items of a nostalgic nature. Wayne Ryan, Corning class of 1945, had the idea to produce a newsletter as a way to communicate current happenings and renew an interest in the hometown for many alumni who have moved away from the area.

More information can be found on the Corning Education Foundation and the Corning Alumni Association by emailing alumni director Linda Shearer at corningalumni@frontiernet.net.

Prescott, Creston transition continues

By Steve McDermott

Superintendent of Schools

Saturday was a somber occasion for the Prescott School District and all Prescott Eagles.

A school auction was held to offer the public an opportunity to purchase items remaining in the school buildings. Of course the school’s inventory had already been sorted through prior to the auction. Many pieces of equipment, nice furniture, shelving, learning tools and materials, etc. were loaded and moved to the school facilities in Creston. Thanks to the help of a dozen football boys and several adults, the move was managed.

At one point one of our Prescott patrons made a comment about this to Prescott Board President Randy Cooper. That person grumbled, “Creston took all of our good stuff.” Randy’s reply was respectful, accurate, and direct. Randy said, “No, the best ‘stuff’ was taken to the new combined school district and the kids will still get to use it.” Yes, this transition and time of processing is difficult, but a new school district has been created to serve our area youngsters for a long time into the future.

As I mentioned, the sale represented a weird mix of emotions. The crowd was outstanding, the Kretzinger Auction Company ran a smooth and efficient sale, and many people left with mementos from the school.

There was a reunion feel to the day as well, with many former Prescott students returning to see family, friends, and former teachers and to spend one more day in the school. On the other hand, there was a certain level of sadness surrounding the whole situation. This was one more step in the district’s transition forward and one more goodbye to the good old days.

The Prescott Board still has a few decisions to make, the largest being what to do with the school buildings. Should the 1914 structure be demolished? Should items of salvage value be sold including all the old hardwood flooring, car siding, the signature knotty pine in the gym and iron from the large fire escapes? Is demolition the most responsible thing to do, thus protecting the old building from becoming one more abandoned school building carcass, home to pigeons, sparrows, rats, and raccoons? Should the building be sold and creatively repurposed?

What about the “new building” that was constructed in 1962? What about the gym? What is the real estate and property really worth? These and other questions will be answered.

The board will also hold a public hearing at 6 p.m. Aug. 19 at the Prescott School to receive input from patrons about all of this before decisions are made in the months to come.

As I’ve mentioned before, the original 1914 building must have been an absolute castle in its day! The architecture was first class and the site on the hill overlooking the Nodaway River and the railroad line was truly a scene from a storybook. Though the building shows its age and will no longer house students, with all due respect to its iconic image, it has been and is a building. Of course it’s a long-standing symbol of pride and dignity for a community, but it is a building.

Saturday at the sale I heard many stories, some new ones and others I’d heard many times before. But other than the occasional fire-escape chute story or talk of the old underground bomb shelter shaft, the vast majority of the stories involved classmates, teachers, staff members, and parents. It really struck me that the experiences, learning, memories, and educations delivered and received over 100 years in that main building were all generated by people that cared for each other. The building housed all these activities, but people interacting with people made all this happen over the years.

When I started my career as an educator in Prescott in 1981, I was hoping to quickly learn how to teach school. What I learned from a handful of very special co-workers was that I was there to teach kids, not to “teach school.” That was an extremely valuable lesson I have used every single day since. The best schools are about people, relationships, and learning.

Through the Farm Crisis of the ’80s, many of us had to face the harsh reality that farm ground, machinery, livestock, and farmsteads were not truly members of our families even though it sure felt like they were. Those hard days forced us to remember that people, families, and relationships should be prioritized above material things.

I love the old quote from Buck Ramsey, “We are what we do and not the stuff we lay claim to.” This applies to our circumstances now with our area school districts. The Prescott Community School District will no longer operate independently and the property and school facilities will never be the same, but the experiences, the learning, the educations, the friendships, and the lifetime memories will remain strong and will be cherished for many years to come. Most importantly, learning will continue for our local youngsters in the new Creston Community School District with a renewed emphasis on “community.”

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Support pours out following tornado

By Jacki Bardole

Sunday evening at Sharon Walter’s Williamson home at 110th and Sycamore started out peacefully with four of her grandchildren and their friends doing various outdoor activities when Walter noticed a funnel cloud heading their way.

“It was really skinny and I couldn’t see the bottom of it,” said Walter. “But as I watched it just kept getting bigger. It moved so slowly.”

Walter urged the eight kids ages 12-22 to take shelter in her home’s crawl space.

“I was just praying it wouldn’t take the house and suck us out with it,” she said.

The tornado, according the National Weather Service out of Des Moines, was an EF-1, reaching peek speeds of 100 miles per hour and lasting approximately 25 minutes. In that time, the storm cut a path four miles long and up to 350 yards wide.

From the shelter of the basement, Walter and the kids could hear the damage happening outside.

“It roared so loud, my grandson said he could hear trees and glass breaking,” she said. “I thought we must have lost the roof, it sounded so loud.”

While the storm raged over her home, Sharon’s mother Lola Blazek called to report that her power had gone out.

“I told her ‘Mom, we have a tornado going over the house right now. Get in the basement.’ As she was taking shelter, she could hear glass begin breaking in her home,” said Walter.

Walter’s home sustained some significant roof damage, including a hole 8-10 inches in diameter in over the kitchen.

“My sunroom is a mess,” she said. “A lawnmower tire that came in through the window, so did pieces of tents that we had in the yard.”

But the rest of the farmstead is where the damage is most staggering. Three brick silos were leveled and the two steel ones that remain standing are damaged beyond repair. A combine was thrown an eighth of a mile and deposited in a heap in a field. The trailer the family recently used during RAGBRAI has yet to be found. The truck and trailer that Sharon and her family use to sell burritos at the Des Moines farmer’s market was pushed across the driveway before being turned over.

Once the storm had passed, Walter’s daughter Anita Mittag arrived on the scene to check in on her mother.

“I was so sure we were going to get here and find nothing,” said Mittag. “I’m amazed we didn’t lose them.”

Another of Walter’s daughters Estee Nenow had been visiting her mother over the weekend and had left mid-afternoon Sunday to return home to North Dakota. When she heard about the storm and the damage, she turned around and came back.

“Mom had told me about the damage,” said Nenow. “But I just couldn’t even imagine the extent of it until I saw it for myself.”

Shortly after, neighbors started arriving to offer their help and support. By mid-morning Monday, more than 50 people had arrived to assist with the clean up and immediate repairs. Susan Ryon arrived with assistance from the American Red Cross.

“When there is no catastrophic home damage [loss of power, water, missing roof, etc], the Red Cross responds with what we call mass care,” said Ryon. “We bring food, water and work gloves to meet the immediate needs of the clean-up crew.”

A crew was patching the roof, others were picking up branches and debris with their tractors, and many others brought food and a reassuring hug.

“In rural America, people are so generous with their time and their resources,” said Nenow.

Sharon Walter will always remember two things about this storm.

“The horrible noise will not quickly be forgotten, but neither will the feeling of gratitude for the support of our friends and neighbors,” she said. “The support in food and work is so overwhelming. I appreciate everything that everyone has done for us.”

En Plein Air marks 10th anniversary

By Jacki Bardole

Corning Center for the Fine Arts (CCFA) held the 10th annual En Plein Air painting competition July 24 and 25.

En plein air is a French expression dating back to the mid-1800s. Translated literally, it means in the open air and refers to the act of painting outdoors. The en plein style was first popularized by the Barbizon and impressionist artists that needed natural light to work on their pieces.

“It takes a special kind of painter because it’s not a controlled environment,” CCFA director Linda Shearer said. “If painting were music, en plein would be jazz.”

Michael Wilson was the initiator of the en plein concept for Corning while he was a resident artist at CCFA. He had painted En Plein Air in eastern Iowa and felt that Corning could offer the same experience for artists. He assisted with making artist contacts and supporting the first year’s adventure, including serving as one of three judges for the show.

The only rules for CCFA’s En Plein Air show are that all pieces must be created in their entirety on site during the competition, and artists must create two pieces to submit for judging. Artists may also submit additional pieces for display in the show. The pieces then stay on display at the art center for one full year before being entered in a silent auction. At the conclusion of the silent auction, any pieces remaining may be returned to the artist.

The 2015 En Plein Air show consisted of works from seven artists from Iowa and Missouri created in mediums ranging from oil paints and pastels to watercolors. The winning piece was of St. Patrick Catholic Church’s courtyard and was painted in oil by John Preston of Fairfield. Second place was awarded to John Evans of Richland for his landscape painting featuring three bails of hay in the Adams County countryside. Finally, third place was given to Michael Wilson of Urbandale for his painting “Binder, done that” which depicts the wildflowers found near the lake.

Beppie Weiss from Iowa City has participated in Corning’s En Plein Air event every year and served as the 2015 official judge. She received her baccalaureate degree from Purdue University and completed graduate school at the University of Wisconsin. She lived and worked several years in Amsterdam, Netherlands, as both a commercial artist and art teacher. Additionally, she has worked as an illustrator for the Illinois Department of Public Education. Weiss works primarily in her preferred media of oil and pastel. Her work is in private and public collections in Europe, Canada, and the United States. She is a member of several professional organizations including Iowa Plein Air Painters. 

New fire station dedicated
By Jacki Bardole

The Corning Fire Department opened the doors of their new station to the public with an open house and dedication on Sunday, July 19.

The station has been in use since early this spring, but with the laying of the sod earlier this month is finally complete. The open house, complete with tours, lunch and music from the calliope, welcomed more than 300 people from the community, including retired firefighters and representatives from other area fire departments.

A presentation was held in the afternoon that featured some comments and congratulations from the general contractor, service recognition pins for many of the firefighters reaching milestone years and retiree recognition. Chief Brian Kannas turned the presentation over to past president of the Iowa Firefighters Association, Cliff Renslow, who congratulated the department on its new facility, commented on Corning’s unique ability to stay functional out of a transitional space while the new station was built on the site of the previous one, and presented the department with a statuette.

The new fire station is larger, both in depth and door height to accommodate future truck purchases. All current fire trucks had to be special ordered to fit the confines of the previous station. With the new larger bays, future trucks purchased will not have the added expense of needing to fit restricted dimensions.

The new facility also offers the department a full kitchen and training room, offices and separate male and female restrooms. The mezzanine holds ample storage space for training equipment and other infrequently used items. Two features of the new station are the decontamination and air compressor rooms. The decontamination room includes a shower for firefighters and a special washing machine designed for fire gear. The new air compressor will fill two tanks at a time instead of one and also has the capacity to rapid fill several at once. One final feature of the new station is the generator that will power the fire station as well as the courthouse and jail in the event of a power outage.

The fire department has also purchased new wildfire and extraction gear that is lighter and more flexible than the structure gear for different types of calls, new helmets and boots, eight new air tanks that hold 40 minutes worth of compressed air compared to the old tanks 20 minutes, and several sets of special ice diving gear.   

JACKI BARDROLE/Free Press — Corning Public Library board director Fred Shearer presents retiring librarian Becky Rike with a plaque for her 28 years of service to the library on July 10.

Library transitions to new director

By Jacki Bardole

The Corning Public Library has a new director.

Becky Rike, the library director since October 1988 retired on July 10 after 28 years of service. In her place is new director, Corning native, Alyssa Ogburn.

Rike began her tenure with the Corning library in May 1987 as the children’s librarian. The following year, she spent a short time as acting director while the board conducted a search to replace the previous director. Rike was ultimately chosen for the position and has served Corning as the library director since.

Under Rike’s direction, the Corning Public Library went fully digital. With some leftover funds at the end of Rike’s first year as director, the library acquired software that would keep track of the title, author and patron’s names for circulation.

“Each book had to be entered by hand, we started in August of 1989 and by the end of the next June we were finally able begin using the system,” said Rike.

A few years later, the library upgraded its software system again, this time to replace the card catalog system. Again, each item needed to be manually entered into the computer system.

“I’m really proud of the circulation and check-out system and all the hard work it took to get it started,” said Rike.

In her retirement, Rike looks forward to the freedom to travel and spend more time with her grandchildren.

“And golfing, I spent 20 years coaching the high school golf team, now I will finally have time to do more golfing myself,” she said.

Rike and her husband Eldon will continue to make Corning their home. Rike reads for enjoyment and highly recommends the Jack Reacher series by Lee Child for those who enjoy the genre of suspense. 

Alyssa Ogburn, the new library director, is a 2010 Corning High School graduate who finished her Bachelor’s of Arts in History at Central College in Pella last December. During her final semester in college, Ogburn interned in the college library and found herself looking for a career in the field.

“In my internship, one thing I really liked best was that each day was different,” she said.

Ogburn had always hoped to return to her hometown of Corning, and with the library director opening, everything just fell into place. She said, “I’m looking forward to increasing awareness of the library and building on the services we offer to the community.” 

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JACKI BARDOLE/Free Press — The Adams Community Foun-dation grants for July 2015 were given out July 3. From left are Leland Shipley of the Adams County Board of Supervisors on behalf of the City of Prescott; Dan Carl and Al Peckham of the Adams County Conservation Board; Becky Bissell, Adams County Auditor for the Board of Supervisors; and Sheriff Alan Johannes of the Adams County Sheriff’s Office.

Foundation grants build community

By Jacki Bardole

The Adams Community Foundation gave out four grants totaling over $53,000 on July 3.

Nancy Turner informed the gathered audience that the total of monies dispersed since 1988 to $896,000.

“The grant opportunities through Adams Community Foundation are making an impact on the community. If you look around the county, most of the projects that have happened, the foundation has had a hand in making possible,” said Turner.

The City of Prescott was awarded $25,000 for the purchase of a new fire truck. Auditor Becky Bissell accepted $15,000 on behalf of the Adams County Board of Supervisors for preservation of the real estate record books in the auditor’s office. Sheriff Alan Johannes of the Adams County Sheriff’s Office received a check of $4,946.50 for body cameras and microphones to be worn by the deputies to improve transparency and limit liability. Al Peckham of the Adams County Conservation Board accepted $8,800 towards a handicapped cabin addition at Lake Icaria to expand on the renovations made possible by the bond referendum approved in the November 2014 election.

The Adams Community Foundation receives its funding from two sources. The first is from the County Endowment Fund Program, a program that disperses a percentage of Iowa’s commercial casino gaming tax revenue evenly to the 85 counties without state-issued gaming licenses. The second source of funding is the Adams Community Foundation’s Endowment, which is money donated by Adams County residents for generations to come. Any gift over $100 given to the Endowment is eligible for the Endow Iowa tax credit. Donations may be made to the endowment by sending a check to the Adams Community Foundation at their office in the Lauvstad Center 710 Davis Avenue, Corning, IA 50841.

For more information about the Adams Community Foundation, the Endowment Fund or to request a grant application for the next round of funding in January, contact any member of the Foundation. The Adams Community Foundation is made up of an eight member board including Nancy Turner, Scott Akin, Leland Shipley, John Greenlee, Cindy Peterson, Becky Poen, Fred Shearer and Jerry Peckham.

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Kansas men charged in Nodaway death

Two Hiawatha, Kan., men have been charged with first degree murder in the June 20 death of Allen Pafford in Nodaway.

Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Division of Criminal Investigation agents, along with the assistance of the Kansas Bureau of Investigation and the Hiawatha Kansas Police Department, arrested Jon Rubendall, 41, and James Bost, 39, following a June 26 interview in Hiawatha.

A cash bond of $1 million has been set for each defendant.

According to a June 23 press release from the Adams County Sheriff’s Office, Kathy Pafford called 911 about 11:20 a.m. June 20 to report she had found her son Allen Pafford dead outsider her home in Nodaway.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office responded and located Mr. Pafford on the property.

Mr. Pafford’s death was ruled a homicide following a June 22 autopsy performed by associate state medical examiner Michele Catellier, MD, at the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner in Ankeny, Iowa.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office, the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Iowa Criminal Investigation and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office took part in the investigation, which is ongoing.

A funeral service was held June 29 for Mr. Pafford.

Nodaway man’s death ruled homicide

The weekend death of a 44-year-old Nodaway man is being investigated as a homicide.

Kathy Pafford called 911 about 11:20 a.m. June 20 to report she had found her son Allen Pafford dead outsider her home in Nodaway.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office responded and located Mr. Pafford on the property. The Adams County Sheriff’s Office requested the assistance of the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Iowa Criminal Investigation to assist with the death investigation. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office is also assisting.

An autopsy was performed June 22 at the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner in Ankeny, Iowa, by Michele Catellier, MD, Associate State Medical Examiner. Mr. Pafford’s death has been ruled a homicide.

Officials believe this is an isolated incident and there is no reason to believe the public is in any danger.

Anyone with any information regarding the death of Allen Pafford is requested to contact the Adams County Sheriff’s Office at (641) 322-4444 or the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (712) 322-1585.

Growing by leaps and bounds

By Jacki Bardole

Bob Stougard never set out to be a gymnastics coach. At 20 years old, he went to a gymnastics gym for a workout and was asked by the coaches there if he would come back that evening and coach his first class. Now with more than 15 years of coaching experience Stougard has opened his second complete gymnastics studio in Corning.

Corning gymnastics began as a tumbling class offered through CHI Health Wellness Center (then Alegent Creighton Health). The first classes began in January of 2013 with 23 children enrolled. In less than a year’s time, Corning Gymnastics had 65 students and moved to its own location in December, expanding the lessons to include instruction on standard gymnastics equipment to serve the needs of the students. 

In May this year, Corning Gymnastics moved to the old creamery building at 815 Benton Ave. This studio includes a large open space with a spring floor for tumbling and floor exercises, balance beams, uneven and high bars, several sets of rings and two spectators’ balconies. Stougard realized that this expanded space was becoming a necessity as he watched enrollment numbers continue to climb, reaching nearly 100 students the week the new location opened.

When parents of the original tumbling class at the wellness center first approached him about opening a full studio Stougard’s response was, “No, that won’t work in Corning. I didn’t think it would be sustainable.” But the questioning and urging of his clientele didn’t stop.

Cautiously, Stougard formulated plans to open his own space and in doing so learned that Corning had some children who were currently traveling long distances to participate in gymnastics at other studios. Students who would be interested in being involved with a program if it were available in their hometown. Only four months after opening the studio on Davis Avenue, nine students, eight girls and one boy, began entering gymnastic competitions.

“There are some very talented and athletic kids in this community,” said Stougard. “I had kids competing and winning against kids who had been in gymnastics much longer.”

One of the reasons that Corning Gymnastics has proven Stougard’s initial hesitation was unfounded is that as youngsters progress in the sport, they recruit their friends as well. Youngsters, like adults, know when they are being paid attention; they feel special when they’ve accomplished something challenging and new.

“My motto is ‘let’s have fun,’” said Stougard. “I want the kids to know that they are accepted for who they are. I want them to feel encouraged and paid attention to. I never want a kid to go home thinking they are just another face in the crowd.”

 Monday nights are the gym’s busiest, with a variety of age and ability level classes all taking place in a staggered rotation. But even with 30 or more youngsters in the gym, running, jumping and talking at the same time, Stougard and his assistant coaches don’t raise their voices.

“I try to be an example myself to all my assistant coaches of how to encourage and teach,” said Stougard. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I was just going through the motions and only teaching gymnastics.”

The assistant coaches at Corning Gymnastics have all gotten their start in much the same fashion as Stougard himself. They showed an interest in gymnastics, but had no prior experience with the sport. The thing they all have in common, “they love kids and they were motivated to learn.”

Corning gymnastics has provided a place for youngsters to grow athletically, a place to be encouraged, a place to have fun. 

Iowa Economic Development Director Debi Durham visited Precision Pulley, Inc., during a tour of Adams County June 4 that included visits to many area attractions and industries.

Director visits the Adams community

Debi Durham, director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority, made a visit to Adams County on June 4.

Durham shared during a lunch with community leaders that her primary directive within her job is to be the chief salesperson in Iowa.

“Not only do I have to sell Iowa to people around the world, I have to sell Iowa to Iowans,” she said.

Her visit to the community gave her the opportunity to be aware of what the Adams Community has to offer and also to learn in what ways does the state need to come alongside the community to offer support.

“We were honored to have Director Durham in Adams County,” said Donna Hogan, president of the Adams Community Economic Development Corporation.

Director Durham’s visit began at Lake Icaria where she said she was impressed with the variety of amenities it offers visitors, especially the cabins, beach with concessions and the marina. Upon leaving Lake Icaria, She was taken on a driving tour, which focused on tourism. After seeing Lake Binder, the Aquatic Center, AC Speedway, the fairgrounds, Johnny Carson Birthplace, Adams County House of History, Corning Opera House, Corning Center for the Fine Arts, Memorial Rock Park, R & S Collectibles, Corning Winery, Happy Hollow Country Club and the French Icarian Village and hearing about the Kline Museum, she said she was amazed at all Adams County has to offer residents and visitors.

“Part of why I’m here is to learn about Adams County,” Durham said. “I want to know what is your vision as a community; what do you have to offer?”

Additional sites on her tour included local service amenities including the new fire station, the wellness center, the daycare, the schools, the hospital and residential neighborhoods, all before lunch with community leaders at Happy Hollow Country Club. Director Durham mentioned how well the town looked and the dedication of the residents and businesses to continue to invest in the community.

Lunch at Happy Hollow Country Club was attended by a variety of community leaders including representatives of the ACEDC, Main Street Corning and Adams Community Chamber boards, city councilpersons, county supervisors and industry leaders. During lunch Durham led a conversation on some workforce initiatives, which she feels are the most important current area of focus for the IEDA. She discussed current and expanding programs for internships and apprenticeships to help young people entering the workforce understand that there are great jobs and quality of life in Iowa while gaining the training needed to obtain such jobs. Durham also outlined IDEA’s work with Homebased Iowa, a program advertising jobs and training at military bases to attract military veterans and retirees.

Following lunch, the tour of the community turned to the industrial.

“We were able to showcase two of our industries, Precision Inc. and Poet Biorefining and tour their facilities, discuss job growth, the need for additional skilled workforce, and housing,” Hogan said. “And we appreciate the time invested by our great community partners at Precision and Poet for leading the tours. All in all it was a great day in and for the Adams Community.”

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Water still stands in a field belonging to Keith Longabaugh of Corning. Longabaugh indicated that without rain, this field would need another three days of drying before he could reasonably attempt to plant soybeans.

Wet spring causes late planting

The wet and cool spring has caused planting delays for many area producers. The wet fields don’t have time to dry out to make planting feasible before another storm hits.

Mike Praska of the Farm Service Agency (FSA) explained, “We have been receiving frequent rains that are keeping the fields too wet to plant and it is starting to push producers up to a couple deadlines.”

Deadlines for both Risk Management Agency (RMA) and FSA are quickly approaching. RMA deals with the effect of late planting on a farmer’s crop insurance.

Some area farmers may still be trying to finish up their corn planting, putting them behind the May 31 deadline and affecting their crop insurance. And the June 15 deadline for soybeans is rapidly approaching, especially when considering all the rain that is still in the forecast.

“Last year, I was totally finished planting on May 8, the year before it was June 22,” said local farmer Keith Longabaugh. “This spring is exactly like the spring of 2013, I’ll need one more day for my fields to be dry enough to plant and we’ll get another three days of rain instead.” 

Each farmer must make his or her own decision of whether or not to plant after the deadline. According to Dawn Pruitt, market development director with Western Agricultural Insurance Company, “For each day planted after the final plant date, coverage is reduced 1 percent per day up to 25 days.”

If the producer decides, he may select to register the plot of land with a prevented planting designation. However, the deadline for prevented plant is the same as the deadline for planting with no reduction to insurance. So for this growing season, it may already be too late to declare a cornfield unplantable. If a producer is unable to report the prevented planting acreage within the 15 calendar days following the final planting date, a late-filed report can be submitted.  Late-filed reports will only be accepted if FSA conducts a farm visit to assess the eligible disaster condition that prevented the crop from being planted.

A publication by the United States Department of Agriculture produced in March 2014, defines prevented planting as “a failure to plant an insured crop with the proper equipment by the final planting date designated in the insurance policy’s actuarial documents or during the late period, if applicable, due to an insured cause of loss that is general to the surrounding area and that prevents other producers from planting acreage with similar characteristics.”

In terms of crop insurance, producers may select to cover between 50 and 85 percent of their total planned acres. Katie James of Farm Bureau Insurance said that the most commonly selected policy covers 80 percent. These policies can also be set up to cover loss of yield or both loss of yield and price decline. The percentage of coverage is penalized for late planting, because shortening the growing season is expected to cause a reduction of yield.

“Producers that have been to the office are saying that since the planting season is so late, that they may have to choose between finishing this year’s crop or making the first cutting of hay for livestock,” Praska said. “Producers have said that for the most part they are done with corn, but many of them have several acres of soybeans to go.”

Chris Nelson, Iowa State University Extension program coordinator and area farmer, said, “I am finding wet spots in fields in places that have never had wet spots in my 30 plus years of farming this ground.”

Longabaugh agreed, “People thought we were so dry, and maybe on the surface we were, but the sidehill springs from last year never did dry up. The under layers of the soil are still water logged. We [farmers] didn’t want this.”

The deadline for certifying crops planted to the FSA is July 15. 

American Legion to undergo changes

There are changes in store for Corning’s American Legion post. 

The building at 806 Davis Ave. that has housed the Legion for decades has deteriorated beyond the point of repair. The state and regional Legion offices has advised the leadership of Post 117 to vacate the building and get the title transferred into someone else’s name as quickly as possible. 

The Ourcq Post 117 currently has 73 paid members. Each of these members will be receiving an invitation to a special meeting held to discuss the title transfer. 

“The membership is encouraged to attend the special meeting so that this decision is not forced on just a few of us,” said Legion finance officer and adjutant Delmar Chafa. “We would appreciate the Legion members supporting the move to sell the current Legion building.”

The Legion’s is currently in conversation with the city council to move the post’s belongings, including the flags and weapons used for special ceremonies on Memorial and Veteran’s Day as well as for the Honor Guard at funerals, to the Street Maintenance building — which many will remember as “the old armory.” The post’s records and memorabilia will be moved as well. 

“In reading over past records, the Legion was a very viable part of the community and we would like to return to that, but need more involvement, especially from younger veterans,” said Commander Ron Lynam. 

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Kent Jorgensen

A time of transition for SWV schools

By Jacki Bardole

Both schools in Corning will experience a change in the position of principal this summer. Long-time Corning High School principal Kent Jorgensen is retiring and newcomer Jennifer Berns is leaving Corning Elementary to pursue another administrator position in Winterset.

Jorgensen, an Anita native, knew early on that he was going to be a teacher. “I was influenced by my sophomore math teacher, Mr. Frank Riley, he drove me to succeed,” Jorgensen said. He was also heavily influenced by a teacher who stepped up  so that Anita High School wouldn’t have to give up its wrestling program for lack of a coach. “He didn’t know anything about wrestling before he became coach, but he studied and went to countless clinics just so he could help us succeed,” Jorgensen remembered.

After graduating high school, Jorgensen, affectionately referred to as “Mr. J” by his students, attended Northwest Missouri State in Maryville, Mo.

“We were the first graduating class to be granted university status out of Maryville,” he said. “Before that, it had been Northwest Missouri State College.”

With his degree in hand Mr. J moved to Storm Lake, where he served as the seventh grade math teacher and helped coach football, wrestling and track. He would serve just two years in the district before the opportunity to be the head wrestling coach opened up in Shenandoah. In addition to wrestling coach, Jorgensen still taught seventh grade math and was the girls’ head track coach and an assistant football coach.

“While I was there, I was able to coach the first state wrestling and track athletes in the school’s history,” Jorgensen said. He also used his coaching skills in the academic arena coaching the competitive math team to many victories.

Jorgensen returned to NWMSU, where he earned his Master’s in Educational Administration during his tenure in Shenandoah. “I felt like in my 30 years as a teacher and coach, I learned a lot and had a lot of experience to share with a staff,” Jorgensen said of his decision to move out of the classroom and into school administration.

Mr. J’s career has been all about building relationships.

“One of the things I always tried to do as a teacher was to go the extra mile for my students,” he said. “I tried to do the same as an administrator. I have always had an open door policy for staff and students to talk about what is going well and to vent their frustrations.” His leadership style has not gone unnoticed. “Mr. J has done a fantastic job at the high school position,” said Southwest Valley Schools Superintendent Willie Stone. “He is very good at creating relationships with students and staff while at the same time still expecting them to toe the line.”

Once the business of this school year wraps up, Mr. Jorgensen will officially enter retirement. He intends to pursue his many hobbies such as woodworking, hunting and fishing. The only definite plan at this point is to devote next summer to a biking trip across the United States. Otherwise, his future is undetermined.

“I will enjoy my family and spend time on my hobbies,” Jorgensen said. Mr. J and his wife have two grown children, a daughter who is a teacher in Kansas City, Mo., and a son, an orthopedic surgeon in Macon, Ga. He looks forward to having the freedom to spend more time traveling to visit his children.

Filling Mr. Jorgensen’s place at the High School next year will be Jamie Craig, who is currently in his seventh year as the band director with Nodaway Valley Schools in Greenfield.  Southwest Valley High School will be Craig’s first position as an administrator, though he has filled a variety of roles throughout the past 17 years of his career. “I’ve served as activities director, web master and I’ve spent five years on the professional development leadership team here at Nodaway Valley,” Craig said.

Jamie Craig grew up in Leon and graduated from Central Decatur High School before moving to Waverly where he earned his BA from Wartburg College. He knew growing up that he wanted to be a teacher, but, “I didn’t know if I wanted to be a math teacher or a music teacher and band director,” Craig remembered. “My love of music pushed me. I wanted to share my love of music with others and help students develop their talent.” The best part of his teaching experience has been when a student finally “gets it” and being able to witness their development as individuals and as a part of an ensemble.

The past several years, especially since earning his Masters in Educational Administration from Iowa State University in 2012, Craig has been doing leadership training with his students and has enjoyed being able to build relationships and witness students building new and different types of relationships with each other. As enjoyable as it has been for Craig to partake in this type of relational teaching within his own classroom, he felt the desire to do so on a broader scale. Taking on the role of school principal will allow him to do just that.

“I want to be able to have these types of conversations and relationships across the whole school,” said Craig. “To help students become involved in their own learning and involving parents in the process.”

One thing that Mr. Craig is looking forward to during his time in Corning is continuing the building of a new legacy as Southwest Valley. “It’s always a little bit difficult for communities when they are coming together in a new situation. I think it’s important to create an environment where the kids can come together and establish new traditions,” Craig said. “I want to create opportunities for students to be proud of what they have done as a Timberwolf. From my first day on the job, we need to start establishing the traditions that we can all be proud of and continue bringing the new community together.”

Mr. Craig will be moving his family to Corning sometime this summer, though they do not have an exact timeline for their arrival as of right now. His wife Mandy and daughters Ellie, who will be in second grade, and Macy, who is preparing for kindergarten, will join him.

Corning Elementary is also preparing for an administrative transition in the coming year. Principal Jennifer Berns has resigned after one year in Corning in order to take a position as principal of a PreK-3 school in Winterset for the coming school year. Though she only has one year in Corning, Mrs. Berns has two additional years of service to the district, having been principal at Enarson Elementary in Villisca from 2012-2014, during which time she served on the steering committee for the transition into the whole-grade sharing agreement.

Berns grew up in Waukee where she had teachers who made a large impact on her life. “They made school something to look forward to and made learning enjoyable,” she remembered. After graduating High School Berns attended Iowa State to earn her BA. Immediately after receiving her degree Berns began working as a para-educator, in order to gain a foothold and bide her time until a full-time teaching position opened up in the district.

“I learned that it is very valuable to work one’s way up the educational ladder because you learn a perspective from each level of employment,” Berns said. “It becomes easier to relate to people and their ideas and challenges within the education world when you can identify with them.”

After her beginnings as a para-educator, Berns spent the rest of her classroom teaching years as a preschool and kindergarten teacher in the CAM (Cumberland-Anita-Massena), Griswold, Atlantic and Iowa Valley school districts. She chose to make the transition into administration because a principal can make an impact on the entire student body, not just the 20 or so children in their direct classroom.

“Being a principal has offered me the opportunity to inspire students every day and make a difference in the world around me,” Berns said. “I want to give students hope to achieve their dreams. My hope is that students will look back on their education years and will remember all the great teachers and staff who helped support them along the way.”

Berns has high words of praise for the staffs she has worked with in the Southwest Valley district. “I am very proud of the stride my elementary staff has made in both Villisca and Corning, while I served as elementary principal,” she said. Not only has Berns been an integral part of the leadership throughout the process of combining districts, she has been at the helm for many components of educational reform at both schools.

“I have helped guide my staff though the introduction of STEM, new curriculum initiatives, standards based report cards, and other school reform,” she said. “I am also proud of my staff’s willingness to work together for students even when the conversations were uncomfortable.”

Superintendent Stone expressed gratitude to Mrs. Berns for her role in the district saying, “We really appreciate all the hard work that Jennifer Berns has put into Southwest Valley School districts during her two years in Villisca and this year in Corning. We wish her the best of luck in her future position at Winterset.”

The opportunity in Winterset will allow Mrs. Berns to focus once again on early childhood, as the building, which she will lead, is solely a PK-3 school with an enrollment of 600 students, each grade level split into six sections. The move also offers Berns the opportunity for more family time. She currently lives with her husband and two school age children in Atlantic and commutes to Corning each day. After-school responsibilities such as staff and board meetings often require late nights. Being in the same district as her children will allow Berns to participate more frequently in their lives and activities. Additionally, Winterset is closer to her parents who still live in Waukee and will allow the entire family to be more involved in one another’s lives.

Following in Mrs. Berns’ footsteps is Mellisa Schad, currently a teacher in Martinsdale St. Mary’s (MSM) School District. Schad, a Creston native, is no stranger to the area. In fact, she was inspired to go into teaching by her grandmother, Vera Kimball who taught in Corning for 34 years. “My grandmother was a big influence in my life, spending time in the classroom with her, I just knew that was what I wanted to do,” she said.

Following her graduation from Creston High School, she went to Buena Vista University in Storm Lake to pursue a BA in elementary education. Since earning her degree she has taught junior high, fourth grade, high school speech and drama and most recently first grade. Schad decided to pursue her Masters in Educational Administration a few years ago stating, “I think in a smaller district I was out of leadership opportunities, administration is just the next logical career step.” This spring Schad completed her Masters degree program at Drake University.

Mrs. Schad brings a large family with her in the move. She and husband Rick have two grown kids Tayler (20) and Austin (18) and four more at home, including daughters Kaitlyn (entering tenth grade), Brittany (freshman) and Averi (fourth grade) and son Rylan who is entering fifth grade next year. Additionally, Schad’s 92-year-old grandparents are making the move back to Corning. The family is hoping to begin their move to Corning early this summer, but will not live here full time until the end of July. “My daughter plays softball and we are hoping that we have another trip to the state tournament this year.”

Schad shared her excitement about her new opportunity stating, “I’m looking forward to meeting everybody and moving back to my hometown area. Corning is a great community and will be great for my family.”

Superintendent Stone expressed support of both incoming administrators saying, “We’re really excited about the people we have hired. They are both bringing new excitement and energy to the position.” He feels confident that both schools are in good hands and that the veteran staffs at both buildings will ensure that the transition goes as smoothly as possible.

In addition to the major transition at principal, Corning Elementary will be losing two valued, long-term para-educators to retirement. Stone said, “Kathy Jones and Peggy Jorgensen have both done a fantastic job with kids, not only helping them educationally, but helping them learn to be good citizens. They will be missed.”

House of History offers glimpse into local history

By Jacki Bardole

The Adams County House of History, located on the corner of Benton Avenue and 10th Street in Corning, is home to many artifacts of local history donated by residents throughout the past four decades.

Housed in what was once the jailhouse and sheriff’s living quarters, the House of History features one of the original jail cells in the basement, the kitchen that the sheriff’s wife used to prepare meals for the prisoners and a bit of rope and small piece of the tree that once had stood across Benton Avenue, the site of a vigilante hanging in 1887. The Free Press articles and sheriff’s records from the event are also available.

On the landing to the second story of the house is a mannequin attired in the dress that Ella Turner wore to her husband Iowa Gov. Daniel W. Turner’s inauguration in 1932.

Many items from Gov. Turner’s tenure can be found in the archive room in the second story. The table in this room once served as the prisoner’s dining table and features several prominent carvings of inmate names and initials. Many volumes of Adams County history are stored and available for perusal in the archive room, including yearbooks, journals, and even an early reading primer with embossed lettering for use by the vision impaired.

Another item of particular interest is a sea trunk that traveled to the United States on the Mayflower in 1620. The trunk is secured in a glass case on the house’s main floor. Official documents tracking the trunks journey from England to Massachusetts and Ohio before settling in Iowa accompany the piece. 

The military room on the first floor displays uniforms, medals, equipment and artifacts dating back to the Spanish-American War of 1989. One such item is a shawl from the Civil War.

The House of History is operated by a volunteer board of directors. The nine-member board currently consists of President Roger Ruchti, Vice President Ivan Dixon, Lisa Allison, Burton Heaton, Nancy Dixon, Carolyn Reid, Adam Grundman, Brenda Longabaugh and Gina Travis.

The House of History features many other items, each contributing to the story of the county. The House of History will be open from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 23. Suggested entry fees are $3 per person or $10 per family. Private tours are available by appointment for a minimum donation of $10. Additional House of History hours in 2015 will be from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays, July 4 and Sept. 5, and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, during Southwest Valley’s homecoming celebration.

Icarians honor tradition 
by offering afternoon tea

By Jacki Bardole

The refectory at the French Icarian Colony outside of Corning was the site of a Ladies May Day afternoon tea on May 2.

Saundra Leininger served as hostess and emcee for the second annual offering of the event, which included a three-course meal, a tea trivia game, a hat competition and a special presentation.

The meal consisted of a sandwich course, a savory scone course and a dessert course. Each recipe had been researched by the members of the French Icarian Colony Foundation (FICF) and determined to be accurate to the time period that the Icarians would have lived in Adams County. One such recipe is the Orange Curd from the dessert course, which was researched and developed by Jean Peckham for the May Day tea last year. The recipe can be found below.

During her opening remarks, Leininger mentioned that the FICF is in the process of further developing the Icarian Colony site as well as developing products to be sold commercially under the French Icarian Colony label. One such product in development was a rhubarb butter, produced using the rhubarb grown in the colony gardens.

Between the second and third courses, there was a special presentation given by several members of the Sew n Sew quilters: Marilyn Shellenberg and Donna and Kay Peckham presented Teresa Parmenter, president of the FICF, with a quilt they recently finished. The quilt top was donated to the quilters by Connie Lorson and had been hand-pieced by Maggie Williams. The quilters undertook the finishing of the project and chose to donate the piece to the Icarians to place on a bed in the colony buildings.

The afternoon concluded with a little friendly competition, attendees displayed their hats for judging in the categories of fanciest, most unique and most whimsical. Attendees chose the winners by a show of hands and each received a small gift from the FICF.

Orange Curd

2 oranges, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/4 pound unsalted butter

4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions:

Remove the zest from the oranges with a vegetable peeler being careful to avoid the white pith.  Put the zest in a food processor with the sugar and pulse until the zest is finely minced.

Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.  Add the sugar/orange zest mixture and mix until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, then add the orange juice and salt.  Mix until combined.

Pour the mixture into a 2-quart saucepan and cook over low heat until thickened, about 1- minutes, stirring constantly.  The orange curd will be ready when it coats a spoon and it will register 175º F on a candy thermometer.  Be careful not to overcook or it will curdle.  Remove from the heat and let cool or refrigerate. 

Some third grade students sit with their teacher Mrs. Foutch to discuss how they feel about participating in Relay for Life.

Third graders honor fellow student
Corning Elementary School third grade classes, under the guidance of their teachers, Mrs. Rachael Foutch and Mrs. Liz Timmerman, are raising funds for their Relay for Life team. 

Relay for Life, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, supports those who are battling cancer, honors those who have lost their fight and celebrates individuals in remission. 

Education is about so much more than just reading and math. Today’s teachers are expected to help their students develop empathy and a sense of community. 

“In third grade, we have a lot of citizenship standards,” said Foutch. “We need to find ways to teach these skills in a way that is relevant to the kids.” 

Mrs. Timmerman expressed how this project has given them the opportunity to “teach skills that you can’t test or assess.”

As a part of their reading and citizenship curriculum, the students read the book “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes,” a fictional story based on a young Japanese girl who developed leukemia after the atomic bombing at Hiroshima. Sadako sadly lost her battle with cancer, a concept that was difficult for the third graders to process. It was difficult for the children to understand that not everyone wins the fight, not everyone gets to be a survivor.

Alivia Maeder, one of this year’s third grade students, is a survivor. She won her battle with leukemia and now has a clean bill of health. Her classmates remember her fight. Fellow student and friend Tate Haffner said, “I remember when Alivia had no hair because she had cancer. It was scary that my friend was so sick.” 

Partly to honor their classmate and friend, but also to acknowledge that most of these kids have had or unfortunately will have some personal experience with cancer, Mrs. Foutch and Mrs. Timmerman presented the class with the opportunity to form a relay for life team and raise funds to send to the American Cancer Society in the hope that one day a cure can be found. 

Student Emma DeVore shared, “I think it’s a good cause so we can find a cure for cancer. It means a lot to me, because my grandpa has cancer.” 

The conversations have carried over from the classroom into other areas of the kids’ school day too. Student Shae Wolf said, “we were talking about it in guidance. I told Ms. Bachman that if I had three wishes, two of them would be more birthdays for everyone and no more cancer.” 

Relay for Life’s Southwest Iowa coordinator Suzi Mages spoke with the students on April 21 about the mission of the American Cancer Society and Relay for Life and shared that one focus of the relay is simply “one more birthday.” 

In addition to teaching the students about community involvement and service, the fundraising has offered opportunities for instruction in other core areas as well. Each student wrote a personal letter to a local business that they had a connection with. 

“We were really intentional about how we chose businesses, we wanted the kids to feel like their efforts made a difference,” said Mrs. Timmerman. Student Roman Keefe said, “We got to write real letters and some of us have gotten real letters back from places. That’s really been exciting.” 

So far, 12 of the class’s 29 students will participate in the Relay for Life on June 13 in Red Oak. To make a donation to their team, send a check payable to the American Cancer Society to Corning Third Grade, 1012 10th St., Corning, Iowa, 50841 before the end of the school year. 

The Turner family stands with the plaque honoring JoAnn G. Turner at the Corning Public Library on April 17. From left are Lisa Turner, Eric Turner, Scott Akin, Betsy Akin, Beecher Turner, Dianna Turner, Sarah Turner, Alec Turner and Nancy Turner. Photo by Jacki Bardole

Turner's dedication heartfelt
By Jacki Bardole
The late JoAnn G. Turner was honored on April 17 with a dedication of the meeting room at the Corning Public Library. Turner was selected for this honor because of her 57 years of dedication to her local library.  

When JoAnn moved to Corning with her husband Austin B. Turner III, she found herself as a part of a family that had long supported their local library. The existing library building had been built in large part thanks to a donation by Laura Okey in memory of her parents A.B. Turner Sr., and Mary Turner. 

JoAnn as a stay at home mom of four dedicated much of her free time to two organizations she felt strongly about: First Presbyterian Church and the Corning Public Library. In 1957, due to the resignation of her mother-in-law LaNor Turner, a seat opened up on the Corning Library’s Board of Directors. JoAnn stepped into the role and eventually served many years as the president of the board. 

During her tenure as board president, JoAnn and the rest of the board determined that the library facility was too small to continue to meet the needs of the community. A capital campaign to acquire the estimated $200 thousand that was needed for the planned expansion was announced during the National Library Week chamber coffee in 1977. A variety of fundraising events including a door-to-door campaign and a celebrity auction raised approximately half of the funds required by May of 1980. At that time, a new, scaled back plan had been created for the expansion due to lack of funding to complete the initial plans. 

JoAnn and her husband Austin had solicited the assistance of Corning Native, Max and Betty Stanley. The Turners shared with the Stanley’s how important the library is to Corning and that it was one of the amenities that industries looked for when considering locations. 

“I will never forget how excited Mom was when the call came in from the Stanleys,” said Betsy Akin. 
The call was one confirming that Max and Betty Stanley were donating $100,000 to the library fund in order that the addition could be completed without further delay.  With the gift from the Stanleys, the library board was able to add 530 square feet back into the plan bringing the addition to a full 2,030 square feet. 

The library closed for business in January of 1981 for the duration of the building addition and renovation, reopening just four months later. During the dedication of the new space, Max Stanley stated “our gift represents a tribute to all the Stanley generations and also to the people of the community for their diligence and hard work.” 

JoAnn continued to serve on the Corning Library board long after the addition was completed. In 1993 she resigned her post on the local board to instead serve on the, now obsolete, Southwest Iowa Regional Library board. From that seat, JoAnn was able to be an even more vocal advocate for libraries around the state. 

“JoAnn believed that libraries offer an equal opportunity for everybody, regardless of education or status, everyone gets the same advantages,” remembered Nancy Turner. 

In 1987, JoAnn and Beth Harris started the Corning Library Bookmark Boosters club; JoAnn served as chairperson of the program until 2014. The Bookmark Boosters program solicits donations from library patrons and supporters for the sole purpose of acquiring more books. Each quarter booster members receive a letter that is accompanied by the library’s “wish list” and are encouraged to select a few titles, which they would like their donation to purchase for the library. As of April 1, this program has purchased 2,549 books for the Corning library over the past 27 years.  

Becky Rike, Corning’s head librarian fondly remembers how JoAnn and Beth Harris were both willing to help out the library in whatever was needed. When the library first acquired a computer operated check out system, these two ladies stepped up to assist in cataloging every book that the library owned. 
“They brought each book up to the computer and entered the title and author’s name into the computer,” said Rike. 

A few years later, the library upgraded that computer system to one that had a full computer based card catalog.

“Again they manually entered all of the information for every single book we own,” Rike said. “Without their help, it would have taken us so much longer to complete the process.” 

Shortly after JoAnn passed last April, the Corning Library board decided that it would be appropriate to honor her long service by dedicating the meeting room in the library to her memory. During the program held during chamber coffee on the April 17, her son Beecher spoke on behalf of the family stating “even though she never sought recognition, Mom would be so honored by this. On behalf of the Turner family we thank you.”

Marji Hoversten adds detail stitching to finish a child’s quilt.

Threading Community: Quilting groups in Adams County

By Jacki Bardole

Quilting is about connecting, however, more than just the layers of fabric become connected in the process. A quilter connects to the others around the frame, the recipient of the finished work and to the rich tradition of hand quilting. In Adams County, a variety of groups exist that celebrate this tradition, give back to their community and invite others, regardless of age, to learn a new skill.

The newest of these is the quilting group at the Prescott United Church. This group just formed in February of this year and is coordinated by Cynthia Wainwright. Member Sue Brandt said, “This church once had a very active quilting group, but all of those members have since passed on. We decided that it would be fun to start up again.”

This particular group currently has about 20 members, most of whom have very minimal quilting experience and even some who are putting their very first stiches in now. “I have always thought quilts were so beautiful, I figured now was a good time to learn,” said Wainwright.

There are some, including Brandt and Jane James, who have a wealth of quilting experience who are on hand to help their fellow members “learn on the job.” James learned to quilt as a child from her grandmother, who was an active part of the previous Prescott church quilting circle. As she was working on her first stiches in the group’s first quilt Brandt shared “it’s like I can feel Grandma over me right now, critiquing my stiches.”

The first project for the Prescott group is a block quilt in shades of brown that they have assembled from start to finish together. When it is completed it will be raffled off to benefit the church’s general fund. The group meets every Tuesday at the church. Times alternate between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. so that both retired and working members have the opportunity to participate.

Another church quilting circle in Adams County is held at the Corning United Methodist Church (UMC). None of the current members can remember when this group first began, but member Joyce Bergman remembers it being an active group when she was in high school during the 1940s. The group currently has an average of 10-15 members at their twice-weekly sessions. The UMC Quilting Circle does not assemble their own quilts; rather, they complete quilts for others for a fee. “We charge by the size and amount of work that is involved in the piece,” said group coordinator Carol Shuler. “The money we earn we give to projects in the church, such as new carpet in the fellowship hall last year, lighting for our quilting space, and we are donating money to the bell choir this spring.”

Currently, the group has two large quilts and a child-sized quilt in progress and eight more waiting their turn in the frame.  

In addition to preserving the legacy of the longstanding group and contributing to the funding needs of the church, the UMC quilting circle is about relationship. When a group meets twice a week for several hours at a time, natural friendships develop. Stories are shared, birthdays are celebrated, burdens are lifted and many laughs are to be had. Longtime member Mary Hull said to her fellow quilters “Please, I can’t quilt and laugh at the same time.”

An honest plea that was met with more giggles from others around the room. 

Until recently, this group had the privilege to claim a mother-daughter quilting duo with decades of experience under their thimbles. Shirley Fleharty learned to quilt as a child from her late mother Helen Preston. Preston was a dedicated member of the quilting circle who just a few short weeks before her passing celebrated her 99th birthday as all circle members do, with a homemade pie baked by fellow member Larry Johnson.

Finally, Sew n Sew quilt group meets in the home of Donna Peckham. This group of nine members gathers every Monday at 10 a.m., and works through the day, taking a break mid-day for lunch. Sew n Sew was established in 2007 by Peckham and Marilyn Shellenberg, with an initial five members. Peckham had been a member of a similar small group when she lived in Omaha, Neb., and wanted to continue upon her return to Corning.

Sew n Sew designs, assembles and quilts at least two quilts per year that are then given away to non-profit groups in the community. Finished quilts have been donated to many of the area’s organizations, some of which include the Rose Ann Auxiliary, Johnny Carson Birthplace Society, Corning Opera House Cultural Center and the French Icarian Colony. Currently, the group is working on bibs for residents at Corning Nursing and Rehab as well as lap quilts to be given to patients undergoing cancer treatments at CHI Corning Hospital.

The French Icarian Colony received a quilt from the Sew n Sew quilters in September 2009 that they raffled off to benefit the restoration of the Icarian Refectory. “We are really fortunate to have such a dedicated group that is willing to use their time and talents to support the many organizations in the community,” said Saundra Leininger, Executive Director of the French Icarian Colony Foundation.

The act of quilting is about so much more than the finished product. As author and quilt designer Jennifer Chiaverini says, “Anyone who works on a quilt, who devotes her time, energy, creativity and passion to that art, learns to value the work of her hands. And as any quilter will tell you, a quilter's quilting friends are some of the dearest, most generous and most supportive people she knows.”

These Adams County groups can attest to the many relationships that have been stitched together around a quilting frame.

Individuals interested in joining a quilting group are encouraged to contact: Cynthia Wainwright for the Prescott group, Carol Shuler for the Corning UMC group and Donna Peckham of Sew n Sew. 

Pictured at the 2015 FCCLA State Leadership Conference are SWV students Erin Fleharty, Ashley Boswell, Shelby Nelson, Danica Sunderman and Macy Burgess. Courtesy Photo

SWV students attend FCCLA State Leadership Conference

The Southwest Valley FCCLA Chapter, along with over 600 members from FCCLA chapters across the state, attended the Iowa FCCLA State Leadership Conference on March 29-31.
State Leadership Conference is an opportunity for Iowa FCCLA members to celebrate the past year of hard work on various projects as well as develop their leadership skills with members from around the state. The 2014-2015 yearlong theme was “Capture the Moment.” Outstanding leadership was demonstrated through participation in STAR Events, National Programs and Peer Education by students in grades 7-12.
STAR Events (Students Taking Action with Recognition) are competitive events which members are recognized for proficiency and achievement in chapter and individual projects, career preparation and leadership. The members receiving the highest score in each event category qualify to move onto the National STAR Event competition held at the 2015 National Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. Members from the Southwest Valley FCCLA chapter received the following medals in their respective categories:
National Programs in Action: Ashley Boswell, Silver Medal
Chapter in Review: Shelby Nelson and Danica Sunderman, Silver Medal
Chapter Service Project Display: Macy Burgess and Erin Fleharty, Gold Medal
Power of One is a national program that allows every member the opportunity to create personal goals in five areas of their lives. The modules are: A Better You, Family Ties, Working on Working, Take the Lead and Speak Out for FCCLA. Members from the Southwest Valley chapter completed all five modules this year and received an award are: Ashley Boswell, Macy Burgess, Elizabeth Fuller, Erin Fleharty, Shelby Nelson and Danica Sunderman. This is the first time SWV FCCLA members have received this award.
Peer Education is a state-wide peer-to-peer learning program. Students can choose to be on one of four teams: Student Body, Public Relations, Financial Fitness, and Families First. Members then complete three creative projects revolving around their team’s theme, and apply the planning process to successfully complete their project, in order to educate other students about important themes of their team’s title. Members from the SWV FCCLA Chapter who participated on a Peer Education team this year and received the following awards include:
Student Body: Elizabeth Fuller, Award of Excellence
Families First: Macy Burgess and Erin Fleharty, Award of Excellence
Families First: Shelby Nelson and Danica Sunderman, Award of Excellence
Also this year the SWV FCCLA Chapter received the Honor Chapter Award. This award of recognition is based on all the accomplishments that a chapter has completed throughout the school year. Chapters are awarded points based on membership, travel, Peer Education Members, STAR Events, Power of One, Service Learning Projects, Public Relations and State-Wide Service project. This is the first time SWV received this award.

 

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Dry, windy conditions bring grassfires

While the entire state of Iowa fell under a red flag warning due to dry and windy conditions according to Prescott Fire Chief Chuck Truman, the Prescott, Corning and Lenox Fire Departments responded to a grassfire north of Prescott on March 30. According to Corning Fire Chief Brian Kannas, a passerby noticed the ditch fire climbing over a hill into a pasture. The Prescott Department called their colleagues for mutual aid. The Corning squad splintered off of a crew already fighting a grassfire near Williamson to help quell the blaze. Photo by J. Wilson

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Pictured at left, Desdemona (Brittany Mullen) listens intently during a therapy session; below: under the watchful eye of the mysterious man (Trevor Sorenson), Juliette (Mikayla Moore), Dr. Wells (Nancy Turner) and the other ladies in the ward watch as Jamison (Burton Heaton) reenacts what might have happened in the tomb while Juliette was sleeping. Photos by Jacki Bardole

Icarian Players present Ladies, Sigh No More

The Icarian Players production of “Ladies, Sigh No More” at the Corning Opera House Cultural Center (COHCC) debuted with a matinee performance on March 22. The Thomas S. Hischak play, co-directed by Andrew Bardole and Beth Waddle, will hit the COHCC stage again on March 27-28 at 7 p.m. Advance tickets ($10 for adults and $6 for students) are available at corningoperahouse.com or at the State Bank of Brooks in Corning, and day-of-show tickets can be purchased at the COHCC box office ($12 for adults and $8 for students. The COHCC is located at 800 Davis Avenue in Corning.

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Ben Dolph, right, explains his science project to principal/judge Kent Jorgensen on March 10 at the Southwest Valley High School Gym. Photo by J. Wilson

Boswell, Gibler and Hults top 2015 Science Fair judging

The 10th Annual High School Science Fair drew over 80 entries in the physical and life sciences on March 10, with Ashley Boswell and the team of Janelle Gibler and Kim Hults placing first in the two categories respectively.

“The science faculty was very pleased with the nice turnout of parents and community for the 10th Annual High School Science Fair,” said SWV science instructor Deb Roberts. “This activity encourages students to develop their inquiry skills and think in a scientific, analytical manner, as well as communicate their findings with the public.”

Twenty judges viewed over 80 exhibits before declaring Boswell’s “Can ‘Ewe’ Feel the Pressure” exhibit (Life Sciences) and Gibler and Hults’ “Let it Burn!” entry (Physical Sciences) the best of the bunch.

Regan Jessen placed second in the Life Sciences category, followed by Chloe Casagrande, who tied with the team of Scott Vanderhoof, Colten Drake and Blake Haidsiak for third place, and honorable mentions for exhibits by Renee Williams and the team of Kendra Top and Elizabeth Herzberg.

In the Physical Sciences category, Taylor Damewood and Tony Klocke tied with Sean Haffner and Trevor Holbrook for second place, while Haley Sickels and Mason Sickels tied with Abby Fleharty and Cole Swenson for third place. Brittney Westlake and Wyatt McAlpin received an honorable mention nod.

“Special thanks to POET biorefining for supplying all of the students with t-shirts,” said Roberts.

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Out with the old, in with the 
energy-efficient

Corning Municipal Utilities worker Nick Leeker changes out a street light on Davis Avenue as part of an ongoing project to replace the antiquated lighting system with a new, energy-efficient LED system. The new lights give a better light and save expense and energy through their design and lower wattage, said CMU General Manager Tim Larsen. Larsen said that CMU started replacing the lights as-needed last fall, and, to date, has replaced approximately 50 of a planned 260 lights. Photo by J. Wilson

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Sophomore Joey Kernen attacks the net while Austin Pellegrini looks on. The sophomores placed third in the FBLA Tuff Man Volleyball Tournament held at the SWV Activity Center on Feb. 26. Photo by J. Wilson

Southwest Valley FBLA hosts 5th Annual Tuff Man Volleyball Tourney

The Southwest Valley Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) chapter hosted their 5th Annual Tough Man Volleyball Tournament on Feb. 26 in the Southwest Valley High School Activity Center. The freshman squad took down the seniors in the final match of the tournament.

Coached by Kylie McBride and Kennedy Moore, the freshman team consisted of Brett Schafroth, Grant Maurer, Chance Cobb, Aaron Armstrong, Jace Petersen, Phillip Currin, Jaden Baker, Merik Gaule and Trenton Drake.

The winner of each game was determined by the best out of three games to 15 points.

The first game showcased the seniors versus the sophomores, with the seniors coming out on top. The second game had the juniors facing the freshmen, with the freshmen emerging victorious. Game three matched up the sophomores and juniors, with the sophomores taking third place overall. Then, for the student championship match, it was the seniors versus the freshmen, with the freshmen taking the championship title in three contested sets.

For the final match of the night the freshmen got the luxury of taking on the teacher squad, with the teachers taking no mercy and winning the overall championship. “Good job teachers and everyone that participated this year,” said FBLA Sponsor Dan Ahrens. “The FBLA chapter wants to thank everyone involved with this fun and entertaining outing. Thanks to everyone who either helped set up, run, or clean up for this event, and we want to give a special thanks to Nick Keefe and Lisa Vanderhoof for officiating all the games the whole night.”

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No complaints: Goodvins celebrate 75th anniversary

By Jacki Bardole

Wednesday, Feb. 28, 1940 began as an ordinary day for Georgia Olson. She went to her job as a teacher’s aide in the Carbon school and tended to her students. But at noon, her boyfriend of two years, Wayne Goodvin picked her up from school, and the two embarked on a journey that would change their lives and provide them with a story to tell for years to come.

Wayne in his suit and Georgie in a blue dress and her first-ever pair of black patent leather open-toe heals drove through the rain to the courthouse in Maryville, Mo., to obtain a marriage license.  “I remember that my feet got so wet and cold from the rain in those shoes,” said Georgie. Despite eloping without a witness, Georgie insisted that they not be married in a courthouse. The pair then drove to the parsonage of the Methodist Church in Maryville, Mo., and asked the minister to perform the ceremony in his living room. The minister’s wife served as their only witness.

After the brief ceremony, the couple drove home to Georgie’s parents’ home in Carbon to enjoy a white wedding cake, which her mother had baked for them. Then Wayne left Georgie there and went home to his parents’. They would continue to live with their respective parents, in separate homes for the remainder of the school year. In 1940, a teacher’s aide was not allowed to be married, so the couple kept their union a secret from all but their closest family and friends for fear that Georgie would be fired. She resigned her position at the end of the school year and by that time, Wayne had a home for them to officially begin their married life.

Now, the couple prepares to celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary this Saturday. Each year, to celebrate the occasion, they tell the story of their wedding day to their two children Max of Council Bluffs and Carolyn Boswell of Corning, four grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Most of them can recite the story themselves, as it has become such familiar family lore.

Lesser known, but still oft repeated is the story of how the pair began their courtship. Though they knew of one another through school, they weren’t traditional high school sweethearts. Wayne and his brother, Brian, were owners of a coalmine in Carbon. “I wanted to get rich quick,” remembers Wayne. “Georgie had a rule that she wouldn’t date coal miners, but I thought that she might make an exception for me since I wasn’t a miner, I was an owner.”

Georgie was employed at the time as a waitress in the local café. She was collecting the wrappers from Planter’s Peanuts that patrons left behind because a promotion from the company offered a watch in exchange for so many wrappers. Wayne noticed this and knew how long it would take Georgie to collect as many as she would need, so he took to collecting the wrappers left behind by his miners. When he had enough, he presented them to Georgie and asked her out. “She couldn’t really say ‘no’ to that,” says Wayne.

In 1951, the couple purchased the farm outside Carbon where they raised their two kids and still live today. Wayne earned himself some notoriety on that farm for putting in the first terraces, not only in Adams County, but in this area of the state. He remembers, “they were a heck of a nuisance to start with, and made a lot of people look at me funny.”

The farm and children certainly provided enough work to keep Wayne and Georgie busy. So busy in fact that when asked what has been the key to their success in marriage, Wayne joked, “we didn’t have time to get divorced!” The comment earned him a playful slap on the wrist from his wife who said, “we haven’t had a fight yet.” With her own fair dose of humor she stated, “I’m not too good a cook, but he didn’t ever complain about it.” 

AEA sets boundaries, sends Creston-Prescott reorganization to a vote

The Green Hills (Area Education Agency) AEA Board of Directors gathered for a public hearing at the Prescott School lunchroom on Feb. 10 to review evidence and objections regarding the Petition for Reorganization of the Creston and Prescott School Districts. Following deliberations, the Board exempted one property from the proposed district boundaries and sent the matter to voters for a Special Election to be held on April 7.

AEA Board Attorney Jim Hanks explained the meeting’s purpose to those in attendance, pointing out that the Board had gathered to determine the “technical requirements of the law,” before returning the matter to the people for a vote.

AEA Board members present at the meeting included Raymond Storm (Dist. 1), Julie Wilken (Dist. 2), Richard Schenck (Dist. 4), Kenneth Lee (Dist. 6), Marland Gammon (Dist. 7), Randy Brown (Dist. 8) and Jere Ann “Jake” Powers (Dist. 9). Karen Thomsen of District 3 and Ed Gambs of District 5 were absent.

AEA Chief Administrator Lane Plugge confirmed that the petition submitted by the two school districts did indeed conform to the AEA rules and that each district procured the required number of petition signatures to move forward. Plugge said that due to population, Creston required 400 signatures and delivered 489, while Prescott required 90 and delivered 90.

Kristy Latta, the attorney for both districts, presented the petition to the board, underscoring Plugge’s points and noting that the consolidated district would have five directors that would initially be seated according to population, giving Creston four seats and Prescott one seat. After the first term, all five board seats would be at-large.

Latta explained that the new district would be called Creston Community School District, and noted that Creston taxpayers would be solely responsible for the current district’s debt.

Recognizing the objections on file, Latta conceded that those citizens requesting boundary line changes would only be agreeable from the two school districts’ perspective if the property in question was contiguous to an adjoining school district and if there are students already attending the neighboring district through open enrollment.

Of the nine objections on file asking for a boundary line change, only one met both criteria, that of a property owned by Dennis and Carolyn Stormer (indicated as parcel #1 on the map, at right). Following examination of each objection, the board voted unanimously to allow the Stormer property to be excluded from the reorganizing district.

The boundaries thusly modified, the board voted unanimously to advance the Petition for Reorganization of the Creston and Prescott community school districts to a vote with a special election, which has been scheduled for April 7.

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Drake and Shipley hold Legislative Coffee

By Jacki Bardole

Rep. Jack Drake and Sen. Tom Shipley were in Corning on Feb. 7 for the Adams Community Ambassador’s Legislative Coffee to share some information with constituents about what is going on during the current Legislative Session in Des Moines.

Drake began the morning by outlining his committee responsibilities, which are the chair of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Budget Committee, as well as serving on the Agriculture, Appropriations and State Government committees. Drake went on to state his priorities this term, which include not spending more than the state takes in, not underfunding essential programs and reducing nutrients sent down-river to the Gulf of Mexico.

Shipley, the freshmen senator from Nodaway, also shared his committee responsibilities, which are ranking member of Labor and Business Relations, Agriculture, Judiciary and Natural Resources and Environment. Shipley shared that he has heard concerns from constituents regarding the Federal Road Use fund, School start date, school funding and Mental Health Institute (MHI) in Clarinda. Shipley explained that the Federal Road Use fund has “lots of strings attached” to how the money can be spent. Shipley also forecasted that a bill concerning the minimum wage would be working its way through the Labor and Business relations committee, of which he is a ranking member.

Both Drake and Shipley commented on this year being a tight budget year due in part to reduced federal funding for programs like Medicare as a result of Iowa having a track record of managing its money well so federal funding is being directed to other states that are not as fiscally sound.

After their opening comments, the legislators opened the floor to those in attendance to ask questions. The crowd of approximately 20 individuals asked questions and shared their concerns ranging from cell phone use while driving to school funding to how to cope with the vacuum that the closing of the MHI in Clarinda will create.

Shipley commented that unfortunately there is not currently a plan in place for how to care for individuals experiencing a mental health crisis once the facilities in Clarinda and Mount Pleasant close their doors. The Executive Director of Crossroads Behavioral Health shared some ideas that have come from conversations with others in the field, such as a 23-hour emergency facility designed to assist individuals in deescalating in a crisis without needing to place a burden on the sheriff’s departments. Shipley encouraged the Crossroads team to remain involved in the process of creating a plan to fill the gap.

Superintendent Willie Stone expressed his support of the four percent budget increase to schools and requested that the state pass a bill for allowable growth that would give schools the authority to move funds from one department of their budget to another or seek out funding to cover any budget cuts that may get handed down from the state. Stone stated that without an amendment for allowable growth, the individual school districts have no authority to use funds as they are needed.

Shipley and Drake assured attendees that both the Senate and the House are currently working on bills that will address this issue, but that there is some disagreement between the representatives of urban and rural areas. 

Additionally, there was a question concerning a gas tax increase. Drake explained that any tax increase would be divided equally to the counties according to an established formula, though he could not quote the exact formula, as he didn’t have it in front of him. Also, revenue received from the gas tax is constitutionally protected solely for infrastructure usage. Drake currently has no official stance on the gas tax increase, as he wants to make judgment based on the completed bill. Shipley is in favor of a ten-cent increase provided the money goes to the counties; he stated that 90 percent of the constituents he has heard from are in favor of the increase.

To contact Sen. Shipley during legislative session email him at tom.shipley@legis.iowa.gov. Rep. Drake can be reached by email at jack.drake@legis.iowa.gov.

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Foundation grants

Nancy Turner of the Adams Community Foundation announced the latest round of Foundation grants at the Adams Community Chamber of Commerce Banquet held Jan. 29 at Happy Hollow Country Club in Corning. With awards totaling $49,000, the Foundation passed out checks to the French Icarian Colony Foundation ($10,000) for kitchen and sanitation system, Hearts and Hugs Daycare ($25,000) for renovation of the daycare center, Corning American Theatre Foundation ($11,000) for an HVAC system and Main Street Design/City of Corning ($3,000) for a golf cart for flower basket watering. Accepting the Adams Community Foundation Grants were, left to right, Jim Ruppert and Donna Hogan of the Corning American Theatre Foundation; Burton Heaton of the Main Street Design Committee/City of Corning; Richard Hogan and Saundra Leininger of the French Icarian Colony Foundation; and Chris Heimke of Hearts & Hugs Daycare. Photo by J. Wilson

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CHI Health Mercy’s Cancer Support Team members include, left to right: Rosie Bissell, Becky Oglesbee, Dawn Shuler and Chimene Cobb. Courtesy Photo

CHI Health Mercy Corning Cancer 
Support group organizing

CHI Health Mercy Corning is offering cancer patients, family and friends the opportunity to be part of a monthly cancer support group. The Specialty clinic staff is hosting a new monthly meeting for adult men and women living with cancer, including the newly diagnosed, those in treatment and those who have completed treatment. One need not be a CHI Health Mercy Corning patient to attend, and there is no cost. The first meeting of this open-forum group will be on Feb. 9 at 6 p.m. in the hospital cafeteria.  The goal will be to meet on the second Monday of the month.

“We have been working towards the goal of creating a cancer support group,” said Outpatient Services Team Lead Rosie Bissell. “We become sort of like a family here in outpatient services when we are working with any patients, but especially our cancer patients.”

Bissell noted that the American Cancer society has had trial studies, which show that support groups make a difference in many ways including relief of tension, anxiety, fatigue and confusion. Other research shows a link between group support and greater tolerance of cancer treatment and ability to follow treatment plans.

Apart from having to cope with the physical and medical challenges, people with cancer face many worries, feelings, and concerns unique to their situation. “Whatever reason a person wants to come to our cancer support group for, we encourage them to come. We encourage them to bring along family members or other support people,” said Bissell. “We know that each person is different in their needs but know that having someone to lean on for support during their battle against cancer is important. We hope our group might become that. To learn about living with cancer from others, who may be having similar experiences, may help with coping.”

The first meeting on Feb. 9 will have a short presentation on bone marrow suppression (or more appropriately: “what happens when my blood counts go down?”). Also during the first meeting, there will be time to share what attendees hope to gain from meeting, and share personal stories as they wish. “We’ve seen firsthand how important support is,” said Bissell. “And we know it’s not just the medical team support. It’s about knowing you aren’t alone, knowing you can ask questions, knowing that someone else really does understand what you are going through. We want our cancer support group to become an extension of the medical care, to be there for the spirit and emotional support of our patients.”

Pre-registration is not required for the event on Feb. 9 at 6 p.m.  If you would like to know more about the cancer support group, individuals are encouraged to contact CHI Health Mercy Corning Specialty Clinic at (641) 322-6269 or email Rosie Bissell at rosie.bissell@alegent.org.

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Chamber award nominees announced

The Adams Community Chamber of Commerce will host their Annual Banquet at Happy Hollow Country Club on Jan. 29.

Plan to attend to enjoy social time and purchase a beverage of your choice from 5:30-6:30 p.m. Attendees will enjoy a three-course dinner served at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the Chamber Office for individual or tables of six.

Dinner will be followed by the Adams Community Chamber of Commerce honoring the MVPs (most valuable people) of Adams Community in 2014. Once again the Chamber of Commerce Board has received several nominations in each category.

Nominees for the 2014 Adams Community Annual Awards

Entrepreneur of the Year: An individual/business partners that has taken the initiative to develop, continue or expand a business in Adams Community through exceptional vision, effective leadership, innovation in products, services, or processes, market awareness, operational efficiency and/or outstanding customer service.

Steve & Missy Sanson, 3 C’s Diner

Chris Cole, ECHCO Concrete

Robert Stougard, Corning Gymnastic

Donna Mullen, Randomness

Rob Petersen, Corning Family Dentistry

Jeff and Tina Russell, Bobber’s Down Marina

Jessica Wilson, Lone Arranger

Best Agriculturalist: An individual that has dedicated themselves to the advancement within agricultural opportunities in Adams Community. Individual has proven ability and accomplishments as a progressive farmer, as well as, for the time, effort and leadership they contributed to community and agricultural organizations. This can include a farmer, processor, marketer, or any individual involved in any of the related areas of agriculture.

ACEDC Rural Development

Dan Morgan

Todd Drake

Dave Walter

Ray Gaesser

Otto Petersen

Arnold Maynes

Business/Organization of the Year: A business or organization that has continued growth and/or economic health, dedication to customer service, community involvement, leadership and innovative efforts to adapt to changing community.

Corning American Theatre

POET Biorefining

Lone Arranger

New Balance Commodities

Precision Pulley & Idler

Corning Volunteer Fire Department

Crop Production Services

John McMahon Volunteer of the Year: An individual who has shown outstanding volunteer efforts that have made a significant and positive impact on the Adams Community.

Phyllis Mullen

Brandie Kannas

Jim Ruppert

De Heaton

Theatre Committee

Bottle Row Stars

Beth Waddle

Marilea Mullen

Gary Goldsmith

Colleen Bickford

Joe Cook Lifetime Support Award: An individual who has shown long-term dedication to the betterment of the Adams Community.

Donna Hogan

Richard & Marilyn Shellenberg

The Peckham Families

Jim Whitmore

Donnie Willett, pictured in action at right, recently stepped down from his role as Corning Fire Chief after 19 years. Willett, who will remain on the department as a volunteer, hands over leadership to Brian Kannas. Photo by Jacki Bardole

Willett steps down, 
Kannas named fire chief

By Jacki Bardole

During their annual Christmas party, Corning Fire Department (CFD) chief, Donnie Willett, informed the members of the department that he wished to step down from the position after serving 19 years in that role. Subsequently, during the department elections, held the first Monday of each January, Brian Kannas, who has been assistant chief for the past 18 years, was selected to fill the position. Willett will remain in the position of Emergency Management Director as well as continue to serve on the fire department as a volunteer.

Willet has served as a member of the CFD since September 1967. During that time, he has witnessed many changes to the way the department and the fire service in general are run. Not only are there more than double the annual calls to answer, but the way the department is funded and the standard procedures have both undergone major overhaul through the years. Prior to 1972, if the department needed a new fire truck, they would have to fundraise and solicit money from the city council. State law created fire districts, which allowed for fire departments to receive taxation from these fire districts. With the taxation, the budget surplus can be put into a truck replacement fund. “We bought our last fire truck in 2010 for $227,000,” said Willett. “We were able to pay for that in full without going to the city council, the board of supervisors or the township trustees and ask for money.”

During his tenure with the department, the two projects that Willett most proud of are the Jaws of Life and the new fire station projects. In 1979, when the CFD purchased the original Jaws of Life unit, they were the first in this region of the state. The original unit was replaced last year. The new fire station project began in the fall of 2008 as a result of Adams County being declared a disaster relief county that was eligible for FEMA grant funding. Adams County received roughly a third of the projected budget from this grant and began the process of raising the additional money needed. Now, nearly six and a half years later, the department is roughly a month from being able to move into their new facility.

According to Willett, the most difficult and even surprising part of being the chief of the CFD has been the differences between having employees and volunteers under his supervision. “With volunteers, you have to have an open door and listen to all sides of an issue and work towards compromise,” said Willett. “If you want to make changes, you have to sell the change to the members so that they are on board with you; you can’t just change things dictator style.”

But working with volunteers also creates a unique atmosphere that is really rewarding. “We are not an organization that gathers just because—we are family. If one is in trouble or has an issue, the whole department is behind them.”

Willett describes his fellow CFD members as a big group of brothers and sisters. Kannas echoes this sentiment, quickly pointing out that “Our motto is ‘when we work, we work hard; when we play, we play hard.’ There is a lot of good natured teasing and friendly competition among us.”

Kannas, who admits to having been a bit of a “firebug” as a child, has served the CFD for 32 years, though it wasn’t something he ever imagined he would do. “Donnie asked me to join the department, and I thought it would be a good idea to help out and serve my community,” said Kannas. “But once it’s in your blood it’s in your blood.”

Along those lines, the most difficult part of the transition to chief is that instead of being hands on during call outs, Kannas will need to be the man in charge, standing back and leading, not jumping right in to do the work.

Kannas most looks forward to keeping the family aspect of the CFD. During his years of service, Kannas has had the opportunity to serve with not only his brother for ten years, but also his son for seven. Both have since left the department. Having more than one family member serve is atypical in a small, volunteer department, but is something that has occurred in Corning for many years. Leading the bi-monthly training and teaching sessions, reminding the members of the department that safety is always their first priority, is another aspect of the chief position that Kannas eagerly anticipates.

Both Willett and Kannas indicated that to be a volunteer firefighter requires support from both family and employers. Kannas, who is employed at Raymond Moore Implement, said, “my boss is very supportive of the fire department, he knows someone has to do it.” Both men mention that they have missed birthdays, anniversaries and other holidays with their families because of fire calls. The also both recount times that they were reminded that firefighters are not invincible, nor are they immune from experiencing fire in their own homes. Said Kannas, “there was once over a period of a few years, when of the four officers, three of our wives had fires.”

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