Archive for: July 2009

Gerry Beeler of Kalona and Eric Thornton of Wellman were recognized as 25-year officials by the Iowa High School Athletic Association.
Beeler officiates high school football games, and Thornton officiates high school baseball games.

March 4, 1965 - July 26, 2009
Alicia Gayle Stumpf, 44, of Muscatine, Iowa, died Sunday, July 26, 2009, in the Lutheran Homes in Muscatine after a long, courageous battle with cancer.
Graveside services were held Wednesday, July 29, 2009, at …

By Mary Zielinski
Lucas Newton and Kelly Beckler of MMS Consultants, Iowa City, provided details to Kalona Chamber of Commerce members Monday for four new highway signs to welcome visitors to Kalona. The signs, designed with brick pillars and carved strong fronts, would be at the north and south boundaries on Highway 1 and the east and west ones along Highway 22.
A key part of the signs is a logo for the town and MMS had ones with a quilt design and one using both the quilt design and more than 30-year old horse and buggy one. The buggy design, which is on the current and only welcome sign at the intersection of Highway 1 and 22, was created only after meetings with the area’s Amish. At that time, the Amish viewed its use as a safety factor, telling drivers there are horse drawn vehicles in the area.
Monday, Chamber Member Steve Reif urged retaining the horse and buggy logo, both for the tourism and safety aspects.
A number of Chamber members agreed that the design featuring the quilt logo and the horse and buggy was “the most dramatic.” Reif said that the use of the two was “pure dynamite.”
Reif also stressed the signs should be lighted, “that it is a very inexpensive form of advertising.” Beckler indicated that lighting will be part of the design, and also noted that the property owners in the four possible sites have been contacted about using the land.

By Mary Zielinski
The supervisors Tuesday held the second reading of the updated county code of ordinances. The third reading and passage is expected at the August 4 meeting. Most of the changes, said County Auditor Bill Fredrick, reflects changes in the state law to bring the county into compliance with them.
An interesting aspect is that now the county cannot plow state roads or the state county ones. It need not be a permanent impasse since County Egineer Dave Patterson said if a 28E Agreement is enacted between the Iowa Department of Transportation and the county the plows can run anywhere. And probably will.
Much of the session concerned suspension of property taxes for two separate cases.
County Treasurer Jeffery Garrett explained that one was virtually automatic since the individual receives state and federal assistance. The other is an individual who is current on taxes, but because of a disability from an jury at work may have problems with the next tax payment due in September. He added that at present he did not have an exact taxes figure for the person. No interest or penalty will attach until October 1, and the supervisors noted it could wait until shortly before then since the woman’s situation could change.

January 19, 1924 - July 16, 2009
Pauline Swartzendruber, 85, of Iowa City, Iowa, died suddenly Thursday, July 16, 2009, in her home.
Funeral services were held Monday, July 20, 2009, in the First …

IMS stunned by Lisbon
The Iowa Mennonite School baseball team was denied a third consecutive trip to the state tournament when Lisbon defeated IMS at Lisbon 8-6, in first round district action.

Solon stops Mid-Prairie
The Mid-Prairie baseball team out hit Solon, but …

July 27, 1912 - July 8, 2009
Geraldine Margaret Schulty, 96, of Washington, Iowa, died Wednesday, July 8, 2009, in the United Presbyterian Home in Washington following a brief illness.
Mass of the Resurrection was …

June 28, 1938 - July 11, 2009
Carolina Kemp, 71, of Kalona, Iowa, died Saturday, July 11, 2009, in her home following a lengthy battle with cancer.
A celebration of life service was Monday, July …

Rollin J. Gingerich, 94, of Kalona, Iowa, died Monday, July 13, 2009, at Pleasantview Home, Kalona, following a lingering illness.
A Celebration of Life service will be held Saturday, August 8, 2009, at 11 …

February 25, 1953 - July 12, 2009
Ronald M. Dusterhoft, 56, of rural Kalona, Iowa, died in his home Sunday, July 12, 2009, following a brief illness.
A celebration of life services was held Wednesday, July 15, 2009, at 5 p.m. …

By Mary Zielinski
Summer work project in the Mid-Prairie School District total $731,089 with more than half of that for a new roof at the middle school ($302,500) and a new $260,700 elevator at the high school. The remainder involves a number of remodeling projects, including sidewalks and $40,206 in ongoing repair costs.
The projects were part of the annual Maintenance Report and Infrastructure Plan presented to the Mid-Prairie Board of Education Monday by Team Custodian, the designation the custodial staff gave themselves more than 10 years ago.
“We are serious about upgrading buildings,” explained lead custodian Mike TeBockhorst, “and we have been working on it for the last ten years.” The team approach has saved the district money in outsourcing since the Team believes in learning how to do much of the work themselves. That includes, as mu7ch as possible, “going green,” but TeBockhorst said it is not possible to do everything because the “green” is more expensive.
However, each year they have manag3d to add to “more environmentally friendly” products, as well as keeping business as local as possible.
The report detailed building footage, number of class rooms and age, as well as cost reviews for the last ten years for each building that showed only a .9 percent average cost in increase for supplies the last five years. Plant operation costs (utilities), though has a 32.37 jump, much of reflecting rate increases for electricity and natural gas.

By Mary Zielinski
Mid-Prairie’s first and to date only technology director navigates the computer world like someone from writer William Gibson’s cybertech universe. In practical terms, Sean Flockhart sets up computer programs, troubleshoots them, provides a lot of support for staff and students and even repairs their laptops. Oh yes, there is also maintaining the 18 servers used in the district, all with different programs.
“There’s quite a variety every day,” he says of his work, “and it’s always different.”
For the district a major difference is having Flockhart aboard for two years, something best covered by Superintendent Mark Schneider who said, “He has more than paid or himself.”
Schenider was referring to having the director avialable full-time rather than contracting for services.
“It means not only do we get service, but he provides instruciton for staff and students.”
However, the contractor, Information Services USA of Hiawatha was Flockhart’s previous employer which meant, “I already knew quite a lot about Mid-Prairie,” he said. It was knowledge that ensured he would not hestiate to get the job here, despite having several private sector options.
Among recent tasks has been installing programs for the languages Mid-Priarie offers, including Chinese and Arabic, at the elementary schools.
The elementary schools all use MACs and the seondary PCs.
“It would be easier if they were all the samne,” he said, but the different computers run different (in some cases mroe varied) programs. And, there are a lot of programs for eveything from reading to naviating the web.
The Internet use has meant blocking access to certain sites, something Flockhart acknowledges “is a constant battle.”