An outbreak of crytosporidium, a parasitic disease caused by a protozoan parasite, has closed the Mount Ayr municipal swimming pool for Friday, July 30.

A rumor that the Family Resource Center was closed by the outbreak was not true. A couple of cases of the disease have been found there but the center has not been closed, officials there said.

The protozoa affects the intestinal tract of people, causing a short-term infection that can cause severe diarrhea. A child who came down with the illness had swam at the pool, so the pool was closed as a precaution to keep the bug from spreading.

Protozoa are not killed by the chlorine treatment done in the swimming pool so another chemical has been used to disinfect the pool. Once the chemical balance returns to normal, the pool will be opened again. It is hoped that this will be able to be done by Saturday, July 31.

<p>&#160; Special elections will be held in five Ringgold county communities Tuesday, Aug. 3.</p> <p>An election to name a member of the Mount Ayr city council will be held in Mount Ayr along with franchise elections&#160; for sewer systems in Benton, Delphos, Redding and Maloy.</p> <p>The sample ballots for the election are included in today’s Mount Ayr Record-News.</p> <p>Two names will be on the ballot for the Mount Ayr city council seat. They include Raymond Hensley and Wes Mathany. Hensley is serving as the temporary replacement until the election.</p> <p>The election is being held to name a replacement for Kirk Greenman to the council. Greenman resigned from the council earlier.</p> <p>In the franchise elections, the Southern Iowa Rural Water Association is seeking a nonexclusive franchise to construct a sewer utility in each of the communities for a 40-year period.</p> <p>Absentee voting in the elections is now open.</p> <p>Elections will be held in each of the five communities on August 3, with polls open from 12 noon to 8 p.m.</p>

  Registration for Ringgold county area schools will be held next week.

Registration in the Diagonal school district will be Monday, Aug. 2. The Mount Ayr Community school district will have registration Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 3-4. Registration in the Clearfield school district will be Thursday, Aug. 5.

Mount Ayr Community district

Registration for students in the Mount Ayr Community school district will be held in the high school commons Tuesday, Aug. 3, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Wednesday, Aug. 4, from 9 a.m. to noon.

Fees will be $35 per student for the year and breakfast and lunch tickets will also be payable at this time.

Separate checks will be needed for registration and meal fees.

Those intending to apply for free or reduced meals should bring proof of financial eligibility with them and complete forms at the time of registration. If unable to register on the specified dates, people may register at the elementary office during business hours through August 20.

Registrations made after August 20 will have a $10 per student late charge.

Football t-shirts and Raider clothing will also be sold during registration. 

All high school students are asked to come to the high school anytime during registration to meet with guidance counselor John Larsen about their class schedules for the upcoming year.

If unable to come at this time, call to meet with Larsen before August 18.

Diagonal registration

Registration for Diagonal Community school district students will be held Monday, Aug. 2, from 12 noon to 8 p.m. in the school office.

School lists are out at area stores and packets for free and reduced price lunches will available at registration.

Clearfield registration

Students in the Clearfield Community school district will have registration on Thursday, Aug. 5, in the school office.

The office will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. that day for registration activities.

  It’s time for the Ayr Days celebration and fifth annual Smokin’ in the Ayr  barbecue contest to be held Friday through Sunday, July 23-25 in Mount Ayr.

In conjunction with the celebration, many Mount Ayr businesses are having specials at their stores and advertising in today’s Mount Ayr Record-News gives details.

An advertisement on the back page lists all the activities for the day and contact telephone numbers.

Activities begin Friday, July 23, with music on the square and bike night registration at Peggy Sue’s. The barbecue groups will be moving into position around the square and get their smokers going. Billy Hightshoe will D.J. music from 4 to 7:30 p.m. and the Axis Band from Des Moines will be playing from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. on the square.

It looks like the barbecue contest will be bigger than last year with 24 teams saying they are coming, though the final numbers will not be known until Friday.

“We are getting more teams that are out of county that are coming and that is a good thing,” barbecue contest organizer Ron Schafer said.

On of the new additions this year will be a category for baked beans. This is a stand-along category that does not count toward grand champion or reserve champion points, but is offered for fun and variety for the public coming to the event.

The meat categories will be ribs, pork shoulder and brisket with the winner of each mean category also qualifying for the Farm Bureau’s cookoff contest at the Iowa State Fair.

Points earned in the individual meat categories go towards the grand champion and reserve chapion awards.

Also new this year will be a People’s Choice award, with those tasting voting for their favorite barbecue. A trophy will be presented to the winner in this category.

Judging will be done from 2:30 to 4 p.m. on Saturday night. At 4 p.m. the cooking area will be cleared out and then the public let back in for the tasting with admission charged for all they can eat.

“With 24 teams to sample, I recommend that people come hungry,” Schafer said.

Saturday activities

Saturday, July 24, activities get underway with a Lions Club breakfast from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and a bake sale at the First Christian Church on the southwest side of the square.

There will be a prince and princess contest check in and judging at 9 a.m. at the courthouse assembly room with the results announced later in the morning at 10:30 a.m..  Contestants are to be boys and girls age four to five years old and deadline for entering the contest was Monday, July 19.

The Midwesterners will play from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on the stage.

There will be host of all-day events on the square. Lisa Conklin is doing face painting with proceeds going to the Aquatic Center project. The Mount Ayr Lions Club will be running their swings and train and the Clearfield Lions Club is bringing their space pillow. There will be pony rides on the lot next to the bowling alley, craft sales and food booths.

A number of events begin at 10 a.m. They include a  pedal tractor pull on the east side of the square and the tractor show on the north side of the square, a motorcycle and car show on the south side of the square, free antique appraisal with Renee Roed in the Mount Ayr Public Library basement and pie and ice cream at the Senior Citizen Activity Center. The kid’s inflatables and games will open at 10 a.m. as well.

Registration for the car show will be from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. with judging by participants from noon to 1 p.m. Awards will be presented at 1:30 p.m. and cars are invited to take part in the parade at 3 p.m.

Those attending the antique appraisal by Ranee Roed in the library basement from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. are asked to use the back entrance to the library.

At 10:30 a.m. the prince and princess contest crowning will be held. Lunch booths with beef burgers and walking tacos at the First Christian Church and pork loins grill by the Sons of the American Legion and American Legion will be served beginning at 11 a.m.

There will be a baby contest for ages one to three years of age on the state at noon with registration beginning at 11:30 a.m. Categories will include longest hair, cutest dimples, patriotic dress, dance-dance-dance, favorite Disney character and you can wink.

Beginning at noon are three on three basketball, three points and slam dunk contests in front of the post office. Also at noon the Tad Bainum Memorial Burn  Out will be held at TEK Builders north of the square.

Leslie’s Dance Emporium will take the stage from 1 to 2 p.m. in the courthouse assembly room and the Conklin Family will be singing on the stage during the same period.

An open house to celebrate the Depot Museum’s 10th anniversary will be held from 2 to 3 p.m. A separate story gives details.

From 2:15 to 3 p.m. Leslie Lovell will be giving dance lessons on the street by the stage.

The Ayr Days parade with the theme “Corn” will be held at 3 p.m. with kiddie parade and regular parades.

Lineup starts at 2 p.m. for the parade. Kids parade check-in area will be the west side of Jamie’s Coffee Mill and Deli. Grade parade check-in will be at the corner of Fillmore and Jefferson Streets.

Adult parade divisions include antique or classic cars, organizations and churches, tractors, businesses, politicians and horses and riders/wagons.

The parade will come south on Fillmore Street to the square.

At 4 p.m. the barbecue contest tasting begins. Those wanting to sample the meat cooked by the contest entries in ribs, pork and brisket will begin eating. 

Also at 4 p.m. the Sondogs take the stage with music. There will be fireman water fights on the west side of the square beginning at 5 p.m.

From 6:30 to 9 p.m. the Rhythm Kings will perform and at 7 p.m. the barbecue contest winners will be named. Prizes will be awarded in each of the meat categories and a people’s choice award will also be offered.

Billy Hightshoe will D. J. music from 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. to finish off the day.

On Sunday, July 25, there will be a fun horse show at the Ringgold county fair grounds beginning at 2 p.m. Registration begins at 1:30 p.m.

  The Ringgold County Sheriff’s  Office is seeking information in the recent vandalism to the Tedrow Cemetery. 

Law enforcement officers responded to a July 17 report that vandals had defaced the cemetery in Athens Township, Section 19, and found that approximately 40 headstones had been knocked over and broken. The estimated $20,000 to $30,000 damage occurred between July 11 and July 17.

Tedrow is a pioneer cemetery. To be considered a pioneer cemetery, there must be less than 12 burials during a 50-year period. Approximately five years ago, many of the headstones had been cleaned, repaired and restored with funds from the Ringgold County Pioneer Cemetery Commission.

Anyone with information on this crime is asked to contact the Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office at 641-464-3921.

  A number of cuts made earlier in staff in the Mount Ayr Community school district were reversed when more money was discovered in the line item budget for the 2010-11 school year.

That was the big news from the district’s school board meeting Monday night, which was the first meeting for new superintendent Joe Drake.

Teacher quality funds had been expensed in two places in the line item budget, it was discovered, allowing a little more leeway in staffing for the coming school year.

The board also discussed policy of the use of school gymnasium facilities, handled several items for the new school year and approved several purchases at the meeting. Other items are covered in separate stories.

Personnel items

Two new positions were opened up -- though they are contingent on numbers of students at registration in early August -- and several positions were restored by action of the school board Monday night.

In addition, there were some resignations accepted by the board as well in a long list of personnel items.

If the numbers of students warrant added elementary positions, openings for a junior kindergarten teacher and second grade teacher will be filled in the district, superintendent Joe Drake noted.

The need for these positions comes with the planned increase to three sections of kindergarten and second grade.

Stacia Nickle, junior kindergarten teacher, will move to the third kindergarten spot, opening up the junior kindergarten position. 

Jane Uhlenkamp will go back to being the elementary art teacher, TAG teacher and Title I teacher in the new plan. This will mean that assignments for Aaron Riley and Mary Kay Overholtzer will be changed.

Riley will go back to being the art teacher full time at the secondary level and Overtholtzer will drop the elementary TAG teaching position of her contract and spend her time as science teacher and TAG teacher at the secondary level. She will have a change in contract deleting a little over $6,000 in extra money she was to be paid for not having a prep period.

Aleaha Whittington will have her contract as a media aide extended back to full time for the year from the halftime position that had been offered. Her full time contract will be for $15,382.

Hired as a new employees were Crystal Storhoff as flag coach for the band for $928 and Josh Hanawalt as elementary custodian at $21,487 for the year at the probationary wage of $10.33 an hour. He will not use the $375 a  month insurance stipend offered.

Technology director Kurtis Christensen had asked for a reduction in hours  and an increase in pay to cover the increase in cost for single medical insurance coverage. The board did not change the hours but did offer Christensen the full single insurance premium.

Donna Shields, who has been secretary for the Mount Ayr Community superintendent and a district employee for 32.5 years retired from the district with a letter accepted at the meeting.

She will stay on to help train her replacement, Deb Yoder, who will have an 11 month contract with the district. Yoder’s contract is for $32,084 plus full single health insurance at the  $1,000 deductible level.

The board accepted Shields’ retirement with thanks for her years of service.

The board also approved a 28E agreement for a school-based supervision program reinstating Donna Warin to her three day a week position as court liaison for district students.

Half of her salary is paid for by the juvenile court system to be matched by $13,814 from the Mount Ayr Community school district for her services.

In another personnel related item, the board approved a 28E sharing agreement with the Creston Community school district to share the services of Eric Ehlen as a physical education teacher for the coming school year.

To begin with, Ehlen’s time will be split 50-50 between the two districts. The Mount Ayr Community school district will continue to hold Ehlen’s contract with the Creston district reimbursing the MAC district for its share of salary, benefits and transportation.

Creston may need Ehlen more than half time and adjustments will be made in the contract if this is the case.

Also approved pending finding a suitable replacement was the resignation of Brett Ruggles as assistant girls softball coach. Ruggles said he had enjoyed coaching with coach Josh Vanderflught but needed to spend more time with his family.

Two other contract adjustments were made for the principals in the district, whose salaries have remained frozen.

Lynne Wallace and Ken Harrison will receive the increase in insurance to keep their full family insurance in place at new higher levels. The principals will receive a benefit at the level of a $1,000 deductible family medical insurance or $1,487 a month for the coming school year.

The increase in insurance benefit was the increase in costs for the medical insurance from one year to the next and were offered as partial compensation for added responsibilities the shared superintendent system will bring.

The changes in the budget were possible when it was discovered that some $300,000 of teacher quality funds had been charged in two places in the budget, Drake told the board.

He took the board through the line item budget, showing where the funds would come from to meet the $6,791,846 amount of expenditures authorized for the coming school year.

The board made changes in the line item budget for the coming year that would account for all the changes in staff assignments while still meeting the budget target.

“Our goal is to not go in the hole on the budget this year and then to work at building up the district’s reserves in the future,” Drake told the board.

  Plans have been announced for the Ayr Days celebration and fifth annual Smokin’ in the Ayr  barbecue contest to be held Friday through Sunday, July 23-25 in Mount Ayr.

Activities begin Friday, July 23, with music on the square and bike night registration at Peggy Sue’s. The barbecue groups will be moving into position around the square and get their smokers going. Billy Hightshoe will D.J. music from 4 to 7:30 p.m. and the Axis Band from Des Moines will be playing from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. on the square.

Saturday, July 24, activities get underway with a Lions Club breakfast from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and a bake sale at the First Christian Church on the southwest side of the square.

There will be a prince and princess contest at 9 a.m. at the courthouse assembly room and the Midwesterners will play from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on the stage.

A number of events begin at 10 a.m. They include a  pedal tractor pull on the east side of the square and the tractor show on the north side of the square, a motorcycle and car show on the south side of the square, free antique appraisal with Renee Roed in the Mount Ayr Public Library basement and pie and ice cream at the Senior Citizen Activity Center. The kid’s inflatables and games will open at 10 a.m. as well.

At 10:30 a.m. the prince and princess contest will get underway. Lunch booths with beef burgers and walking tacos at the First Christian Church and pork loins grill by the Sons of the American Legion and American Legion will be served beginning at 11 a.m.

There will be a baby contest for ages one to three years of age on the state at noon with registration beginning at 11:30 a.m.

Also beginning at noon are three on three basketball, three points and slam dunk contests in front of the post office. 

Leslie’s Dance Emporium will take the stage from 1 to 2 p.m. in the courthouse assembly room and the Conklin Family will be singing on the stage during the same period.

An open house to celebrate the Depot Museum’s 10th anniversary will be held from 2 to 3 p.m.

From 2:15 to 3 p.m. Leslie Lovell will be giving dance lessons on the street by the stage.

The Ayr Days parade with the theme “Corn” will be held at 3 p.m. with kiddie parade and regular parades.

At 4 p.m. the barbecue contest tasting begins. Those wanting to sample the meat cooked by the contest entries in ribs, pork and brisket will begin eating. 

Also at 4 p.m. the Sondogs take the stage with music. There will be fireman water fights on the west side of the square beginning at 5 p.m.

From 6:30 to 9 p.m. the Rhythm Kings will perform and at 7 p.m. the barbecue contest winners will be named. Prizes will be awarded in each of the meat categories and a people’s choice award will also be offered.

Billy Hightshoe will D. J. music from 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. to finish off the day.

On Sunday, July 25, there will be a fun horse show at the Ringgold county fair grounds beginning at 2 p.m. Registration begins at 1:30 p.m.

Plans are underway for Smokin’ in the Ayr, the fifth annual barbecue contest that will be part of the Ayr Days celebration Friday and Saturday, July 23-24.

Grand champion and reserve grand champion awards will be presented as well as first through fifth places in each of the meat categories -- ribs, pork and brisket.

The first place winners in each meat category are qualified for the Farm Bureau’s cookout contest at the Iowa State Fair in August.

New this year will be a people’s choice trophy.

Public sampling will begin at 4 p.m. Saturday afternoon.

For more information or to enter the contest contact Ron Schafer, 801 S. Henderson Dr., Mount Ayr, IA 50854 or call 641-414-1527.