News

There will soon be a change to the way the traffic flows in the parking lot at the Highland Middle/High School. The change was precipitated by the newly constructed sidewalk that extends along the length of both buildings.

“This plan allows us to create handicap parking in front of both the high school and middle school entrance and should create a better, safer flow of traffic.”

The plan is to use the northeast entrance on 170th Street as a one way entrance into the parking lot. The northwest entrance of the north parking lot would become an exit only and the southeast entrance in front of the middle school would become an exit only. Cars will angle park in front of the middle/high school building,  facing the south,  and cars will angle park in the north lot,  facing west.
The school hopes to have the front lot redesigned for the week of August 30and the north lot redesigned soon after.
“This change will take a while to get used to,” said Superintendent Chris Armstrong, “but it makes sense considering the changes that we have made at the middle/high school.”
The buses are now loading and unloading in front of the sidewalk so the school needed to create an unobstructed loading zone for them. The parking lot is wide enough to accommodate a lane for a loading zone, two adjacent stalls for angle parking, and a lane for traffic flow along the east side. Armstrong said, “This plan allows us to create handicap parking in front of both the high school and middle school entrance and should create a better, safer flow of traffic.”
This plan allows us to create handicap parking in front of both the high school and middle school entrance and should create a better, safer flow of traffic.

Eric Ulrichs with USDA Rural Development was in Riverside Friday, August 13, to present a certificate to the board and management of Riverside Senior Village for providing quality housing services to residents in Riverside for the last 35 years.

Don Yoder manages the day to day operations at the apartment complex along with site manager Kelly Schwarz.
The complex, built through a community wide effort in 1975, consists of 30 one and two bedroom units for elderly and disabled residents and their families. The original committee members Laura Weimer, Ardee Cushing, Bud Havel, Lester Schnoebelen and Charles Weaver raised $10,000 in 1975 to start phase 1 of the project which included building 15 units with a community room. In 1978, an addition of 15 more units was added.
The board meets monthly with its annual meeting to elect officers held in September.

Among the new faces for the 2010-11 school year in the Highland School District are five teachers and an elementary principal.
Kim Humpal of New Hampton Iowa, is teaching middle and high school mathematics which includes pre-algebra, geometry and calculus. A December, 2009, graduate of Upper Iowa University, she was a long-term substitute at Highland starting in January. Her interests include volleyball, running, Iowa Hawkeye football.
“I look forward to actually starting the school year with the students and teaching for a full term,” she said.
Clay Eaton and his wife, Megan Eaton, are both from Washington. Clay, who will teach elementary physical education, majored in exercise science at Central College, Pella and taught elementary PE for three years in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He also plans to assist with the district’s wrestling program.
Megan, will teach in the preschool program for three and four year old students and is the At-Risk Instructor. She is a graduate of Central College where she majored in elementary education and previously taught at Sigourney Elementary and Webster Elementary in Colorado Springs.
Jessia Gilbertson, originally from Waukon and now of North Liberty, is teaching 8th grade science, reading and computer skills. She is a 2008 graduate of Iowa State University where she majored in Elementary Education with endorsements in science, and reading and coaching. She actually joined the Highland staff in October, teaching 8th grade.

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The Riverside Visioning Committee met August 12 to review its continuing plans for civic improvements. Among them is applying for a $50,000 REAP grant to aid with two miles of a trail system that is part of a countywide plan.
The next major item will be to have a new Riverside sign, which is being considered by the Sign Committee. There also will be a new sign at the main entrance to Riverside from Highway 218.
A recent city survey shows that of 225 responses, more than 85 percent favor the monument sign in concept 1 (the design for the one at Hall Park). There was a more than 83 percent, asked about improvements to Conservation Park, who favored improvements to the park’s restrooms and 871.5 percent who favored putting in a trail.
The Committee is also looking at other improvements such as a sidewalk near the Senior Village and Fire Station, green spaces and landscaping.

By Mary Zielinski
This year the Riverside Area Community Club (RACC) has been on the road, taking the USS Riverside, the spaceship model that looks a lot like the USS Enterprise of Star Trek fame, to parades everywhere from Gatlinburg, Tennessee to Solon and, most recently, Lone Tree. The Tennessee trip was the first time the ship left Iowa, and it attracted endless attention from the moment the truck and trailer set off, reported RAAC members.
Drivers, once they sighted the model, followed the ship, honking horns with passengers waving or saluting and everyone, including many drivers, taking photos of it.
“I think everyone has a cell phone,” said RACC President Carol Riggan, describing how many hung out windows to get photos as the ship (on its trailer) went down the highways.
There were 110,000 people who attended the night time lighted Fourth of July parade in Gatlinburg and a lot of them, reported RACC members, said they had come specifically to see the spaceship. The Riverside crew also found that it could stop at a quiet roadside restaurant that was virtually empty and within ten minutes of parking the ship, the place would be filled up with people asking to take photos. The crew reported it happened everywhere, even in Mt. Pleasant, very near the ship’s home base.

“The reception we got, wherever we were, was great.”

There were a few along the way who asked what it was, but the overwhelming majority knew without a doubt exactly what it represented and often chanted “Star Trek, Star Trek” as they went by.
“We were out on one of those back roads in Tennessee and had to pull over because a tire went bad,” said Ken McCracken, “and while we there a car came along, pulled over and immediately asked if they could take photos. This was in the middle of nowhere.”

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By Mary Zielinski
Kyle and Kendall Bontrager really, really like ice cream. So the two Mid-Prairie High School students pooled their personal savings, bought the Greene Street Sweets last month and kept Riverside from losing the three year old business.
“It’s great,” said former owner Mike Meinders, “I really hoped the business would stay here.”
In fact, the transition was so smooth that the business never closed. Meinders’ last day was July 31 and the brothers were in place August 1.
Meinders stressed that there was no problem with the business, that he just wanted to retire from it and have only one business, the adjoining A Plus Graphics to run.
The Bontragers had thought about having an ice cream shop for some time and when it came up for sale, they jumped at it.
“We came in at least two or three times a week getting ice cream,” said Kendall, 15, who with Kyle, 17, will be both owners and staff.
Since both need to return to high school this month

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Ralph Schnoebelen, cited July 13 by his fellow council members for 6 violations of the city’s nuisance ordinance and given to August 2 remedy them, detailed compliance areas at Monday’s council meeting, but noted additional time was needed for further efforts. The council agreed to his estimate of October 1.
Schnoebelen said that all tires have been stacked, but not all are covered yet. The covering is to prevent tired from filling with water, becoming a breeding ground for insects.
Council member Todd Yahnke also said the height had to be watched (not more than six feet) to prevent possible combustion if stored in a building, as noted by the city’s building inspector Terry Goedt.
Schnoebelen also addressed the used battery situation, explaining they are stacked outside on pallets awaiting the recycler who comes every two weeks.
Rodney Waldschmidt suggested they be put in a “less visible spot,” and Schnoebelen said they are near the building to provide easy access for the folk lift to load them into the truck.
Yahnke said one battery “looked like it was leaking.
“It froze up,” replied Schnoebelen. “There are no electrolytes, just water.”
Mayor Brian McDole said

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During the 2010 University of Iowa football season, UI Children’s Hospital partners with the Iowa Hawkeyes to feature stories of hope and inspiration.
Brock Beinhart, 11, of Riverside was chosen from more than 100 nominations to take the field as the “Kid Captain” for the Iowa vs Michigan State Hawkeye football game October 30. He also will celebrate his 12th birthday on that day.
Brock was born with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, where the heart’s left side – including the aorta, aortic valve, left ventricle and mitral valve – is underdeveloped.
At 13 days old, he had the first of a three-phase open-heart surgery called the Norwood procedure.
Today, Brock is 11-years-old, and while he is not able to play most sports due to his heart condition, he has the passion and “heart” of someone twice his size.
Brock will receive four tickets, plus parking to the Iowa – Michigan football game, pre-game field access and photo opportunities, a commemorative jersey and will be an honored guest for the pre-game coin toss at mid-field.

Editor’s Note: St. Mary’s Catholic Church is one of the cluster parishes that includes St. Joseph’s in Wellman and Holy Trinity in Richmond.

Removing the former St. Mary’s Convent, part of the complex of buildings for St. Mary of the Assumption Catholic Church in Riverside, started Monday morning with total site clearance expected by Wednesday.  The demolition of the approximate 120 year old structure is part of the parish’s $2 million Education/Conference Center project that will be attached to St. Mary’s Hall, the original church.  The south part of the convent building is believed to have been the original parochial school, said Pastor Rich Adam.   Building lines indicate that the north convent part was built later, and the demolition revealed the clear outline of an original chimney in the south (school) part.
The convent, as well as the parish’s other four buildings, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Prior to the razing, three historic bricks, bearing the name of the Swift brick and tile factory that built a lot of Riverside’s early buildings, were removed.  One will be kept and installed in a memorial wall, using original bricks from the building and the other two are set to be auction during the church’s Labor Day Festival.
“They are very rare,” said Adam.
The Center is expected to be done possibly by late spring.

By Mary Zielinski
The Riverside city council took one of its own to task last week when they passed several motions requiring Ralph Schnoebelen of Schnoebelen’s to abate a number of nuisances found in violation of the city’s ordinances. The action came during the council meeting at city hall following the city officials’ inspection of Schnoebelen’s property, 450 E. Fourth Street, during a public hearing outside the implement business.
Schnoebelen did not attend the council meeting, although he was at the hearing where he and other family members, who are involved in the business, said they would comply with the city’s requests. Schnoebelen, his wife, Jan, and daughter Linnmarie Eden repeatedly asked for specifics about what the city wanted done.
Schnoebelen said he had previously met with Mayor Brian McDole, asking “tell me what we need to do and we’ll do it.”
The motions passed in the regular meeting addressed specifics such as warehousing tires properly, covering those not on rims, removing unusable batteries, clearing barrels, transportation palettes and scrap metals from public view, labeling oil tanks (and any other minerals), securing the LP tanks with chains and building a containment area for the oil tanks. All nuisances, except the oil tank containment, need to be done by August 2. The latter needs to be done by September 15.
During their slightly more than hour-long deliberations, the council reviewed photos taken by City Administrator Tina Thomas during the officials’ inspection of the property. Each was voted upon separately with specific instructions for abatement. More than once, during the session, it was noted that some of the issues involved fire or public safety code violations.
During the public hearing, which had been requested by Schnoebelen who said he had not expected the council “to show up here,” but to hold it at city hall, residents questioned the city’s action, generally asking why it was happening.

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by Ranee Fladung
Following a long discussion Monday with Riverside residents Jodi and Brian Kennedy, Riverside council member Rodney Waldschmidt offered to clear cut their ditch Saturday at no charge if the Kennedys would be available to carry out the brush. Council members Todd Yahnke and Kevin Kiene also volunteered to help.
The offer came after Kennedy said the council had set a precedent. “I can’t see how you can enforce it.” However, she told the council she would appreciate the help.
Kennedy also asked the council to define what it expects in regard to cleaning her ditch. She said that a lot of limbs were already cut down and the flat part of the ditch was cleaned out but it was steep and she thought the trees were too big, and she didn’t want to cut out the trumpet vine and lilies.
“We don’t know what the council wants,” she said.
City employee Brad Herrig explained that the city wanted some of the scrub brush removed and mowed.
“It sounds like you want us to remove all the vegetation, and I don’t believe it’s called for in the ordinance,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy said her ditch had not been touched in nine years and asked, “Why are you asking us to remove them (small walnut trees) after all this time?” noting that some of the trees were at least 20 feet tall.
Waldschmidt said, “Blame the previous owners.”

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by Ranee Fladung
It may take many years, and be a long drawn out process, but the Riverside council Monday night approved funds for the first step in developing a recreational trail to run from the west end of Riverside and join Vine Avenue.
Mary Jane Stumpf, Community Visioning committee member said she is supportive of the multi-use trail and hopes it will “further enhance the Veterans Park by having the trail go through it.” The council approved a contract with French Reneker Associates, Inc of Fairfield to design plans for the recreational trail. City Administrator Tina Thomas said the contract also includes writing up to four grant applications for the trail project. The Washington County Conservation Department has committed $10,000 toward the project if the plan is supported by the council.
The City of Riverside hired Clean Harbors Monday to help get rid of an eyesore on River Street. Thomas told the council it could cost $13,000, minus the estimate for salvage, to clean out the tar in the city tank on River Street and haul it away, but “don’t quote me on that.” Very few organizations do this kind of work. But they follow the EPA guidelines. The company needs at least two weeks notice as they are cleaning up the oil spill in the Gulf.”
During Citizen time, Jeanine Redlinger suggested the council take some of the money they plan to use for the new Riverside welcome signs and use it to fix the street signs in town, so “people can find their way around town once they get here.” She pointed out numerous signs that are difficult to read when one is driving by and that a sign for Boyse Street is spelled two different ways. She also addressed the problem with the house numbering system in town since she has the same address as one other home on her street. The administrator will check into what is involved in changing an address. City worker Brad Herig said the city plans to replace signs late this summer or early fall.
Chris Kirkwood gave an update about the Veterans Memorial Park. Lighting and concrete benches still need to be finished.

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