Archive for: October 2008

The Washington County Board of Supervisors Tuesday approved a RUSS application at the USDA Rural Development for funds to install a sanitary sewer system in the unincorporated town of Rubio.
Estimated total cost for the project is $312,000 with 75 percent …

Mid-Prairie High School Drama Department will be performing Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Nights Dream at 7:30 p.m. November 7 and 8.
This comedy focuses on three separate plots involving a forbidden wedding, tradesman turned actors,[caption id="attachment_299" align="alignright" width="350" caption="M-P Drama Department presents A Midsummer Night's Dream. Cast members in front from left: Becca Mansfield, Troy Wilkins, and Gesen Nisley. Back row, from left: Ian Michel, Moriah Powell, Jacob Lampe, Bethany Campbell and Trent Graber. (Photo by Tamara McClintock)"][/caption] and fairy mischief in the woods. Director Tamara McClintock hopes that members of the 2000 cast of Midsummer as well as their parents will return to see this production. Both nights, she will call on these former cast members to stand and be recognized during intermission.

By Mary Zielinski
“There is no issue about doing this. It is what is right,” Mid-Prairie Board President Jim Hussey said.
The “what” is an additional $20,905.18 payment to the city for Wellman for natural gas usage at the

There is no issue about doing this. It is what is right

high school last winter for which the district was vastly undercharged.
Probably problems with the city’s gas meters resulted in readings that were about a third of actual usage, said Superintendent Mark Schneider.
“We have no way to know how much gas was really used,” he said, but charges for the four prior years showed an average of $34,663.88. Last year, the bill was $13,758.70 and, as Schneider noted, “considering what the winter was like, it could not be right.”

By Mary Zielinski
With substantial increases in students needing Individual Education Plans (IEP) at Kalona Elementary, and the highest enrollment ever at the Alternative Learning Center, the Mid-Prairie Board of Education approved two additional staff positions at its meeting Monday.
Kalona Elemetnary School will have another special educaiton associate to help with a total of 33 IEP students. Of those, 15 currently have Intensive Plans, said Superintendent Mark Schneider.
The new position, which will be advertised, is an Elementary Special Education Associate, and will be paid for with Special Education funds.

Serious remodeling work will be underway Thursday and Friday at Three Chicks Publications, LLC which means the office for The Wellman Advance and The Riverside Current may be closed.
Plans include replacing the exterior siding (which has slowly been falling off) …

also honored nationally with Prime Time Award
By Mary Zielinski
Told he would receive an all expense paid trip to Washington, D.C, Glenn Guengerich of Wellman nearly hung up on “just another telemarketer.”
Last month, he returned from that trip which saw him and 62 others honored with National Prime Time Awards. The awards honor outstanding older workers, one from each state as well as Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
Guengerich, at 92, was not the eldest there: there were five others including the oldest, 100-year-old Mildred Heath of Overton, Nebraska. Heath, was named America’s Outstanding Oldest Worker. The youngest at the awards was 67.

by Mary Coblentz
The Wellman City Council Monday voted to allow Leslie Holmes to keep Daisy and Bertha, her two chickens. A Wellman citizen had complained about the chickens, and last month the council voted to evict the chickens. Holmes appealed, asking and receiving written permission from the council to keep chickens on her property, and the chickens can stay. It’s the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard of. Dogs barking, kids screaming, and nobody says a word.Holmes brought signatures of her nearest neighbors in support of the chickens, refuting the complaint that the chickens are noisy.
Wellman resident Ray Curl said, “I’m probably the oldest resident in town. (People are getting) carried away about somebody having a couple of chickens. It’s the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard of. Dogs barking, kids screaming, and nobody says a word.”
The council noted that keeping livestock in city limits will be decided on a case-by-case basis.
In other business, the council:

[caption id="attachment_272" align="alignright" width="288" caption="Mid-Prairie Homecoming Court 2008"][/caption]

By Mary Zielinski
Stating he wanted “no action today,”
Washington County Engineer Dave Patterson “No one policy change will rectify the challenges facing the gravel roads in Washington County. There is no magic bullet,” Tuesday detailed 13 options for the supervisors for dealing with the deteriorating rural road system. It was the final of three reports on the rural road problem to the board.
But no matter what gets done, the county is looking at maintenance costs that exceed resources by more than $1 million annually.
“No one policy change will rectify the challenges facing the gravel roads in Washington County. There is no magic bullet,” said Patterson.
In fact, bringing the unpaved roads (some 661 miles of them) to a sustainable condition not only will take about $9.8 million in repair costs now but also need more than $1 million per year to keep them in that condition.

by Ranee Fladung
Kathy Carlson readily admits that she “really shouldn’t have been there,” but the Joetown resident talked her way to the Democractic National Convention August 25-28 in Denver, Colorado, serving as a delegate and platform committee member.
In her fifth year working at the local level, Carlson was amazed by how many people attended the caucus at Washington Township in November 2007. “We had 220 people. Ten times as many people as in previous years,” said Carlson. “It was exciting to see the young people becoming active.”
Although Carlson’s candidate didn’t win at her precinct, she attended the district convention as an alternate. Tom Gingerich, the precinct captain for John Edwards who won the precinct, decided he didn’t want to go on and passed his credentials with the promise from Carlson that she would support Edwards all the way.
“My word was kept to Tom and the people of our area, until Edwards directed his delegates to support Barrack Obama,” said Carlson.