Three main areas where work will be done this year by the legislature were discussed when state senator Joni Ernst met with a dozen area residents in the first legislative coffee of the year Saturday in Mount  Ayr.

Road funding, the education reform blueprint and mental health service redesign were focused on in Ernst’s presentation on what loomed ahead in this year’s legislative session.

State representative Cecil Dolecheck was at a meeting at Iowa State University and could not attend the session.

In general, she noted that governor Terry Branstad had given his budget recommendations three weeks early to give the legislature more time to look at them.

Appropriations committees are looking at the targets to set their budget targets and once that is done, work on the budget can begin. Legislators are working to get the budget issues handled in a more timely manner this year, she said.

Many of the major issues will be worked on first in the house and then sent to the senate as the house has Republican leadership, she noted.

Road funding questions

Transportation and road funding will be a major issue this year as well, Ernst said.

Ernst noted that a citizens advisory committee had studied the road funding issues in the state over the summer and came back with a recommendation for a 10 cent per gallon increase in fuel tax.

“This was not palatable for a lot of people, especially governor Branstad,” Ernst said. “After his first response he has backed off his opposition to the point of saying he would look at the matter if the legislature passes it.”

The latest proposal is to increase the gas tax by four cents per gallon in 2013 and another four cents per gallon in 2014 to generate more revenue to the road use fund.

Governor Branstad asked Iowa Department of Transportation director Paul Trombino to identify efficiencies in his department to try to free up more money.

Trombino has come up with $50 million in possible efficiencies, but several of them would take a number of years to realize, Ernst said. The $20 million in savings the first year won’t go very far to meet the projected $220 million a year shortfall in keeping up the state’s road infrastructure.

Some of the issue for the rural areas of the state is the Time 21 funding formula that took money originally going to counties and redistributed it to more urban areas of the state.

This rural-urban split will be part of any discussion of new money, Ernst predicted.

“Cecil Dolecheck and I have talked about this and if we are going to have a fuel tax increase, we want the money shared on the original funding formula where counties received a larger portion of the pie,” Ernst said.

Ernst said as a rural legislator she is basically in favor of trying to do something. She has been taking polls at her legislative coffees in the area to see what those attending think about a gas tax increase to help keep up area roads.

She noted that the people were fairly evenly split in Lenox while a large majority seemed to favor in increase in Osceola, Creston and Adams county. The majority of those attending the Ringgold county session also indicated they would favor something being done.

Kevin Kilgore said he felt that something should be done to bring down costs of road construction and mentioned that changing regulations that say union wages must be paid on state construction projects might help.

Another suggestion was to tax all fuel the same instead of having special taxes for ethanol and fuel used on the farm. 

“The equipment used in the field has to get there somehow and most often it is over a road,” someone chimed in.

Special licenses for hybrid cars that use less gasoline and licensing Amish buggies or requiring rubber tires for horse-drawn equipment were also thrown out.

Read more details in the online or print edition of the Mount Ayr Record-News.

   A Mount Ayr Community high school team placed third and qualified for the state meet when Drake University hosted the regional academic decathlon competition on Thursday and Friday, Jan. 26-27. This prestigious academic competition is the only one of its kind.

The purposes of the decathlon are to encourage students to develop a greater respect for knowledge, promote wholesome inter-school competition in academic areas of interest, stimulate intellectual growth and achievement, encourage public interests and awareness of outstanding education programs, and give recognition to academic achievement among students.  

This event included 10 core areas in speech, interview and content rich curriculum areas.  The theme this year was” Imperialism.”

  The Mount Ayr Community team had tremendous senior leadership and budding potential of younger members on the team. Their last year’s state finish of the 22,620 points was overshadowed this year by a third place point total of 22,922.  

This was enough for a third place finish and the team was then given a wildcard bid to be one of 12 teams in the state to advance to the sate small school division competition.

  The Mount Ayr Communitiy team was paced by seniors Katherine Uhlenkamp’s first place individual title in the scholastic division and Alex Sobotka’s second place individual title in the honors division. Each member of the team showed a balance within the team by having a top three finish for the various categories within the competition. It was the seniors  Uhlenkamp, Sobotka, Matt Kerns and Sarah Campbell, however, who garnered high individual postings for the Mount Ayr Community team.

  In the 10 category divisions, each member contributed to the team point total by competing individually on the honor, scholastic or varsity teams. These include the top three out of 20 students in each category: 

Super Quiz: Uhlenkamp, first place scholastic. 

Speech: Kerns, first place honors; Sobotka second place honors; Naomi Richards third place scholastic; Campbell first place varsity.

Interview: Kerns, first place honors; Campbell, second place varsity. 

Art: Uhlenkamp, first place scholastic; Zach Tipton, second place varsity.

Music: Adrian Richards, third place scholastic.

Economics: Uhlenkamp, second place scholastic.

Math: Sobotka, first place honors; Kerns, second place honors.

Language and Literature: Uhlenkamp, first place scholastic; Zach Tipton, second place varsity.

Science: Sobotka, second place honors; Kerns, third place honors; Uhlenkamp, second place, scholastic.

Overall: Sobotka second place honors (five points separated him from first) and Katherine Uhlenkamp, first place scholastic.  

Rounding out the team for more points included freshmen Christiana Overholtzer and eighth grader Ica Hauge.

       Mount Ayr Community fourth, fifth and sixth graders will present their winter concert on Monday, Feb. 6 at 7  p.m. in the Mount Ayr Community elementary school gym.

Vocal music selections include:

Fourth grade -- “Talk Like a Pirate Day,” “A Hippo In My Locker” and “Jazz.”

Fifth grade -- “Twang That Thang,” “Yakkin’ On a Cell Phone” and “Music Is Always There.”

Sixth grade -- “The Pasta Song,” “Surfin’ the Net” and “Why Music?”

Fifth grade band selections will be chosen from the following “Rolling Along,” “Hot Cross Buns,” “Lightly Row,” “A Mozart Melody,” “Doodle All Day,” “Jingle Bells” and “Old MacDonald Had a Band.”

The sixth grade band will play “When the Saints Go Marching In,” “Chapel of Love” and “Irish Folk Dance.”

The fifth and sixth grade bands will join together to perform “Hard Rock Blues.”

“The students have been working extremely hard in preparation for this concert,” said director Carol Cason.  “The audience is sure to have an enjoyable evening listening to pieces from several music styles including the Italian tarantella, folk/rock, rockabilly swing, hip hop swing, country pop, blues and jazz.”

“The fifth and sixth grade bands are full of lots of talent,” she said. This is the first concert of the year for the band and choral groups.

  Unconstitutional recess appointments, the Fast and Furious scandal, the Keystone pipeline project, making Veterans Administration services more accessible, extending unemployment benefits and payroll tax cuts and many more topics were discussed when U.S. Senator Charles Grassley spent an hour answering questions from the two dozen citizens who met with him at Jamie’s Coffee Mill and Deli in Mount Ayr Tuesday, Jan. 17.

Grassley’s stop in Ringgold county was one of 34 he is making during January as part of his effort to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties each year.

Recess appointments

Grassley expressed his unhappiness with the recent recess appointments made by President Barak Obama  as well, and responded to a question about what Republicans in the Senate were going to do about it. 

On Jan. 4, President Obama bypassed the Senate and appointed Richard Cordray as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and three members of the National Labor Relations Board.  His move is highly controversial over whether he exceeded his constitutional power to make appointments during a Senate recess and so exceeded the power of his office, Grassley said.

“Our constitutionally outlined system of checks and balances among the three branches of our government is undermined when the President ignores the Constitution in making appointments,” Grasssley said.  “The Constitution expressly assigns the Senate an advice and consent role in presidential nominations. The president nominates, the Senate acts to confirm or disprove the nomination.”

The Constitution says each house of Congress makes its own rules of proceeding.  The administration argues the Senate was in recess during the President’s appointments, but that’s a red herring, Grassley said,

“In effect, the Senate is in session when it says it’s in session, not when the President says the Senate is in session,”  Grassley said. “And, according to its own rules, the Senate was not in an extended recess during the President’s action.  The Constitution does provide for the President to make appointments when the Senate is in a prolonged recess, but there are restrictions on those powers.  And in addition to constitutional limitations, practice, tradition, and legal opinions all have influenced the process.”  

If constitutional constructions are flouted, the President could choose to make all of his own appointments and skip the Senate’s advice and consent role,” Grassley said. “Similarly, if the Senate were to declare the law of the land without seeking a presidential signature or veto, that would be a clear violation of constitutional strictures.   The White House would protest, just as the Senate is protesting now.  The Constitution works to keep any one branch of the government from getting too powerful.  It’s what keeps our country a republic, not a monarchy, the form of government our founders fled, fought, and rejected.”

A Justice Department opinion was cited by the president for the action, but Grassley is unconvinced. 

“The conclusion of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel is at odds with the text of the U.S. Constitution and the administration’s own previous statements,” Grassley pointed out. “It fundamentally alters the careful separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches that the framers crafted in the Constitution.  It relies on no Supreme Court decision for its conclusion that the Constitution allows the President to make these appointments.  In fact, many of the administration’s conclusions are unsupported in law or the Constitution.”

  The Justice Department recognizes that the courts might well disagree he noted.  The action flies in the face of more than 90 years of historical practice.  

“Taken together with a laundry list of other assertions of the power to act without Congress, this clearly is an escalation in a pattern of contempt for the elected representatives of the American people,” Grassley said.  “The Senate will need to take action to check and balance President Obama’s blatant attempt to circumvent the Senate and the constitution, a claim of presidential power that the Bush Administration refused to make.  No president since Theodore Roosevelt has tested the limitations on a president’s power to make recess appointments as President Obama has.   It was seen as a blatant power grab when Theodore Roosevelt did it, and it strikes many of us the same way from President Obama.”

Fast and Furious scandal

Fast and Furious is a gunrunning investigation in Arizona that led to the illegal selling of about 2,000 high-powered guns with the idea that we would be able to arrest drug kingpins in Mexico, Grassley explained.

Not all of the guns got across the border and a couple of them showed up at the site where a Border Patrol officer was murdered.

“A lot of people from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms was telling Washington, D.C. that this wouldn’t work and I don’t think anyone was arrested that was anything like a drug kingpin,” Grassley said.

Some of these people came to Grassley a year ago and the investigation is ongoing. 

“The more we get into it, the more leads it brings,” Grassley said. “I’m not sure I can see an end to this but I’m going to keep pushing.”

One example of the problems with the bureaucracy was a request Grassley made in January that was answered in February. “The Justice Department said at that time there was nothing to the matter, but in a hearing in October the department admitted that its first correspondence had been a lie,”  Grassley said. “We traced that to an assistant attorney general.”

For more, see the online or print editions of the Mount Ayr Record-News.

 Retail sales in Ringgold county totaled $13,580,514 for the second quarter of 2011, an uptick of 1.4 percent over the 2010 total to the second highest second quarterly sales on record.

That’s the news from the latest sales tax report from the Iowa Department of Revenue and Finance.

The increase in Ringgold county compares to a 2.09 percent increase registered across the state for the three months ending June 30, 2011.

The sales increase in Ringgold county reflected a rise of $193,383 from the $13,387,131 registered in the second quarter of 2010.

Sales went up in all surrounding counties over the period, with Decatur county leading the way.

Sales in Decatur county totaled $8,846,742 for the quarter, up $909,402 or 11.5 percent from a decline the previous quarter. This is a new record there in any case.

Sales in Union county showed an increase of 3.9 percent or $1,151,896 to $31,028,943. This is the second highest amount for this quarter there, with sales in 2008 topping that mark by over $800,000.

Taylor county showed an increase of $205,726 or 3.2 percent over the same period last year to a total of $6,613,956. This is a new record for Taylor county.

Adams county sales increased $122,953 or 1.9 percent to $6,573,908. This is a new record for Adams county.

Sales in Clarke county increased 1.2 percent or $199,958 to $17,395,622 for the period. This was a new record there as well. 

Sales by community

Sales comparisons for three communities were available in Ringgold county for the quarter.

Mount Ayr sales went up $56,318 or .5 percent to $11,828,345, a number that has been surpassed twice before in 2000 and 2001.

Diagonal sales slipped a little from the record set in 2010 of $887,627. They were down  1.1 percent or $10,233 to $877,394. Sales in Ellston climbed $113,499 over the previous year to $345,721. This was a 48.9 percent increase, the highest for any community in the area.

In Adams county, Corning showed a sales decline of $247,859 or 4.5 percent to $5,311,548. This number had been surpassed eight times in the past 14 years.

In Clarke county, Osceola sales were  up $22,420 or .1 percent to $16,699,850. The number had been surpassed in 2009.

Communities in Decatur county both showed increases. Lamoni sales totaled $2,985,490, an increase of $301,897 or 11.3 percent. This number had been surpassed in 2006. Leon sales were up $93,973 or 2.2 percent to $4,300,544. This number was surpassed in the quarter in 2007.

In Taylor county, sales increases were shown for Bedford, Lenox and Clearfield. Bedford had an increase in sales of $123,976 or 4.2 percent to $3,108,596. This number was surpassed in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Lenox sales were up $98,926 or 3.5 percent to $2,920,718, a new record. Clearfield saw sales climb $24,686 or 14.5 percent to $195,248. This was the best there since 2004.

Union county sales in Creston jumped $1,048,807 or 3.8 percent to $28,699,133. This number has been surpassed three times in the past five years. Sales in Afton were up $144,560 or 8.7 percent to $1,812,813. This has only been surpassed once in the past 10 years in 2008.

  All five of the large group speech contest entries from Mount Ayr Community high school and one from Diagonal high school received division I ratings and advanced to state following the district speech contest held Saturday, Jan. 21 in Osceola.

The MAC speech team included two group improvisation entries, two radio broadcast entries and a short film entry. Advancing from Diagonal was a group improvisation team.

The students will advance to the state contest to be held Saturday, Feb. 4, at Ankeny high school in Ankeny.

There were two MAC group improvisation teams qualifying. The first team included Joey Taylor, Johnathan Triggs, Jacob Sobotka, Braydee Poore and Matt Kerns. On the other team was Taylor Still, Maggie Jennett, Allison Wallace, Matt Poore and Tyler Triggs. 

Qualifying in group improvisation from Diagonal was the team of Ryan Parrott, Dom Buchannan and Brice Still.

Two radio broadcast teams from MACHS also advanced. The KSBO radio broadcast team included Alex Sobotka, Matt Kerns, Joey Taylor, Desirae Trammell and Taylor Lynch. The MKIS radio show included Maggie Jennett, Taylor Still, Allison Wallace, Leah Klejch, Dawson Knapp and Ben Saville. 

A new contest piece this year is short film and the Raider team advanced here as well. Alex Sobotka, Desirae Trammell, Taylor Lynch, Matt Poore, Ethan Pollock, Derek Hand, Megan Doubleday, Kylee Klommhaus and Dusty Lyden put the film together.

Diagonal had three other groups participating that received division II ratings.

The two radio broadcasting team that participated from Diagonal including a senior team with Ashley Jarred, Jenna Berger and Bailey Cameron that did a themed broadcast on bullying and a junior team of Dom Buchanan, Heath Evans and Shad Haidsiak that did a lighthearted newscast for laughs.

Also participating was a reader’s theater group with senior Amanda Davis and Amber Lilenthal, junior Charlene Hingeley, sophomore Bryce Still and freshman Ryan Parrott.

The MAC speech team is coached by Shaun Kniep and the Diagonal team is coached by Curtis Lambson.

  It’s homecoming week in the Diagonal Community school district, leading up to games with Seymour on Friday, Jan. 27.

Spirit week at the high school began Monday, Jan. 23, with senior citizens day with students dressing as their grandparents would. Tuesday, Jan. 24, was cartoon day with students dressing like their favorite cartoon character.

Wednesday, Jan. 25, was nerd day with students to dress as nerds. Thursday, Jan. 26, was to be “Would you be my friend if I wore this?” day. The dress will be crazy or weird.

Friday, Jan. 27, will be spirit day, with everyone asked to wear their maroon colors.

A homecoming pep rally for the school and community will be held at 2:40 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27.

Homecoming king and queen candidates have also been set for the event.

Homecoming queen candidates are senior Jenna Berger, daughter of John and Deb Berger; senior Bailey Cameron, daughter of Marty and Shawn Cameron; junior Elly Brown, daughter of Brian and Becky Brown, and junior Charlene Hingeley, daughter of Quentin Hingeley.

Homecoming king candidates included senior Trenton Moffitt, son of Kris and Terry Moffitt; junior Shad Haidsiak, son of Josh and Jessie Haidsiak and junior Dominique Buchanan, son of Kevin and Sandra Buchanan.

Sophomore and freshman attendants have also been named as well as the prince and princesses.

Sophomore attendant is Ryan Parrott, son of Johnny and Tina Parrott.

Freshmen attendants include Kaitlyn Klommhaus, daughter of Kevin and Shelly Klommhaus, and Layne Ruby, son of Doug and Melanie Ruby.

Princesses will include Lalluren Burton, daughter of Tim and Mel Burton, and Elizabeth Miller, daughter of Chris and Amanda Miller. Prince will be Cody Hays, son of Cody and Becky Hays.

The homecoming games against Seymour will begin with the girls game at 6:15 p.m., immediately followed by the boys game.

Following the boys game, the homecoming coronation ceremony will be held in the gym.

The homecoming dance will then be held in the old gym to round out the homecoming week activities.

 BY ALAN SMITH

When the tragedy which gripped Ringgold county Friday really began is hard to say.

Bob Taylor, 40, and Lori Yeager, 45, had problems in the past -- including a conviction for domestic abuse on Taylor’s part at one point.

Somehow the turmoil boiled over to take the first life very early Friday morning.

It was 2:06 a.m. when a 911 call came into the Ringgold County Law Enforcement Center. Taylor and Yeager’s nine-year-old daughter Kylee was calling for help from the family residence at 2339 280th Street, four miles south of Mount Ayr.

When the Ringgold county sheriff’s officer arrived Yeager was dead from a gunshot and Taylor had left the residence, leaving his daughter behind.

Decatur county and Lamoni police were the next to arrive on the scene to offer their aid.

Then the manhunt began.

In the next hours more than 30 officers from Iowa and Missouri were directly involved.

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation was called in and the Iowa Highway Patrol. Law enforcement officials in Worth and Harrison counties in Missouri were also alerted.

Seven people from the DCI were soon on hand -- five agents and two evidence techs. A search warrant was received so that all the i’s would be dotted and t’s crossed in case this was a murder that would go to trial.

As soon as the sun was up, the Iowa State Patrol plane was in the air and stayed up for five hours searching around southern Iowa for signs of Taylor and the copper-colored 2008 Ford F350 Super Duty pickup he was driving.

A host of Iowa Highway Patrol troopers also arrived to help with the investigation and search.

Soon the media was notified about the early-morning death and the search for Taylor. An arrest warrant for Taylor on a charge of first- degree murder was issued.

Phone calls began to come into the Ringgold County Law Enforcement Center from people who thought they might know where Taylor might flee.

“We were thankful that people tried to help though none of the tips actually turned out to be places where Taylor was,” Ringgold county sheriff Mike Sobotka said.

The DCI was interviewing multiple people as well, trying to figure out what had happened and where Taylor might have gone.

Throughout the community the word spread. The Mount Ayr Community  school was notified and precautions taken, though Kylee would not be coming to school.

Lori Yeager had been an employee in the Head Start program at the Family Resource Center, so the trauma was already being felt by staff there as well.

Word spread through the community. Murder is so uncommon in Ringgold county it seems unthinkable. There have only been two murders in the county in the past 30 years -- one a young Omaha man killed in a drug deal and left in a field to be found months later and an elderly former school teacher killed in a robbery in the 1980s.

The rest of the tragedy was played out late Friday afternoon along a stretch of Interstate 29 two miles south of the intersection with Highway 2, that runs from Mount Ayr to the Iowa-Nebraska border.

A Fremont county deputy sheriff spotted the pickup, parked alongside the Interstate 29 near the eight mile marker.

According to the Fremont county sheriff, the deputy pulled over and began to approach the vehicle. Taylor opened his pickup door, faced the deputy and then shot himself. He died from the self-inflicted gunshot.

The tragic day had come to a conclusion for Yeager and Taylor, but not for the family and friends they left behind. Or for the community shaken by the events of the day.

The Ringgold County Ministerial Association held a well-attended candlelight vigil Sunday night at the First Christian Church in Mount Ayr in memory of the couple and the healing that needed to begin.

Several prayers were offered and candles burned, music played, tears were shed and comforting support given. The song “I Can Only Imagine” was among the songs played, wondering what it will be like to come into the presence of Christ after death.

For some it was hard to imagine what had brought all this heartache to two families and the community at large.

“These were tragic events for all of Ringgold county,” sheriff Mike Sobotka said. “We wish for better outcomes but we have certainly had our share of tragedies in the past few months in Ringgold county.” He was referencing the deaths of two young people in tragic accidents.

“Kylee, Maisie and Brett have all lost parents, people have lost friends, familes have lost loved-ones,” Sobotka said.

Sobotka noted, however, that the Ringgold county community somehow comes together in support everytime people in the area meet with tragedy.

“I know people will pull together to get us through this tough time as well,” he said.

The funeral service for Lori Yeager was set for Wednesday, Jan. 18, at the Roberson-Polley Chapel in Albany, MO, where her parents live. An obituary is included in today’s Mount Ayr Record-News.

Funeral service for Bob Taylor was set for Friday. Jan. 20 at 2 p.m. at Watson-Armstrong Funeral Home in Mount Ayr. His obituary will be included in next week’s Mount Ayr Record-News.

  Mount Ayr’s city council spent most of its meeting taking its first close look at city budget matters for the next fiscal year, but handled a host of other items as well at its regular meeting Monday night.

The council approved the water system design contract, a fire department reserve fund, pretax insurance, a minimum utility charge waiver, tobacco violation actions and a beer permit approval.

City budget work

Much of the work by the council Monday night was the first review of the city budget for the 2012-13 fiscal year.

City clerk Pam Poore presented information on what the city would have to work with for the coming year in terms of income and expense.

Some of the budget askings from city groups have not yet been received, but the council reviewed the requests of those that had been received.

Poore said that preliminary budget projections show that the property tax levy should decrease this year for the city. Instead of a $15.93 levy, the new levy will be in the $15.56 range, she told the council.

A number of suggestions for budgeted amounts were made as the council proceeded through the budget.

The budget discussions will continue at future meetings in preparation for budget publishing in March.

Water system design contract

The council has been discussing a contract with MSA Professional Services for the design of the water booster station for the community to replace the current water treatment plant.

At the meeting Monday night the council went ahead and approved the contract for a lump sum of $48,680.

Questions that were raised by city attorney Richard Wilson and city staff were all answered in the final wording of the contract, it was noted.

       Announcement of a new physician joining the Mount Ayr Medical Clinic staff, election of officers, NHSC site certification, disposal of the old facility, conflict of interest policy, approval of the Hartford’s 457(b) Deferred Compensation Plan and an IT update were just some of the main topics discussed at the monthly meeting of the Ringgold County Hospital Board of Trustees Monday night.

Physician recruitment

Hospital administrator Gordon Winkler reported that Dr. John Forney, M. D., has accepted a position at the Mount Ayr Medical Clinic.

He has submitted his Iowa license application and enrolled himself in an Advanced Trauma Life Support course. The course is a requirement for providing Emergency Department coverage. Dr. Forney is working on his credentialing for Ringgold County Hospital but he has to have an Iowa license before he can complete his application and be a participating physician on insurance panels. Right now he is establishing his moving plans. The process for obtaining an Iowa license could take 60-90 days.

Election of officers

Election of officers was held and the current officers were re-elected for next year. Kathi Braby is chairman; Fred Wilson, vice chairman, and Bill Armstrong, secretary.

NHSC site certification

Ringgold County Hospital has been pursuing certification as a National Health Service Corps site. On January 9 Winkler received an email from the National Health Service Corps stating that the application has been approved. This allows the hospital to participate in several loan forgiveness and repayment programs.

PrimeCare, a state and national loan repayment program, is closed now. It will be open again in the fall. PrimeCare awards are up one to $50,000 per year based on availability of funds. The National Health Service Corps is $60,000 for two years. The hospital is now listed as an approved site. Physicians can now fill Ringgold County Hospital out as a site. The certification has to be renewed every three years.

  It’s homecoming week next week in the Diagonal Community school district, leading up to games with Seymour on Friday, Jan. 27.

Spirit week at the high school will begin Monday, Jan. 23, with senior citizens day with students to dress as their grandparents would. Tuesday, Jan. 24, will be cartoon day with students dressing like their favorite cartoon.

Wednesday, Jan. 25, will be nerd day with students to dress as nerds. Thursday, Jan. 26, will be “Would you be my friend if I wore this?” day. The dress will be crazy or weird.

Friday, Jan. 27, will be spirit day, with everyone asked to wear their maroon colors.

A homecoming pep rally for the school and community will be held at 2:40 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 27.

Homecoming king and queen candidates have also been set for the event.

Homecoming queen candidates are senior Jenna Berger, daughter of John and Deb Berger; senior Bailey Cameron, daughter of Marty and Shawn Cameron; junior Elly Brown, daughter of Brian and Becky Brown, and junior Charlene Hingeley, daughter of Quentin Hingeley.

Homecoming king candidates included senior Trenton Moffitt, son of Kris and Terry Moffitt; junior Shad Haidsiak, son of Josh and Jessie Haidsiak and junior Dominique Buchanan, son of Kevin and Sandra Buchanan.

The homecoming games against Seymour will begin with the girls game at 6:15 p.m., immediately followed by the boys game.

Following the boys game, the homecoming coronation ceremony will be held in the gym.

The homecoming dance will then be held in the old gym to round out the homecoming week.

  Ringgold county recorded its first fatal traffic accident of the new year early Saturday morning near Kellerton.

Larry Jackson, 55, of Kellerton was killed in the accident at 3 a.m. on County Road J45 south of 240th Street.

According to the Iowa State Patrol report, Jackson was driving a 2002 Chevrolet pickup northbound on the county road when he lost control, entered the west ditch and overturned, coming to rest on the driver’s side.

Jackson was not wearing a seatbelt and was partially ejected from the vehicle.

The accident was not discovered until several hours later when a passerby found the accident site.

The accident is still under investigation by the Iowa State Patrol.

Funeral services for Jackson were set today (Thursday) at Slade-O’Donnell Funeral Home in Leon. An obituary for Jackson is included on the obituary page.

  A number of personnel items, including the retirement of two veteran faculty members, and current and future improvement projects to buildings and grounds comprised the bulk of the discussion at the regular meeting of the Mount Ayr Community school’s board of directors on Monday, Jan. 9.

Personnel matters

Two additional long-time faculty members have accepted the district’s retirement incentive and submitted their resignation letters to the board. 

Marilyn Hawkins, fifth and sixth grade math teacher, and James Smith, secondary math teacher, will both leave the district effective at the end of the current school year. The board accepted their resignations with gratitude for their many years of service.

The board also accepted the resignations of Donna Young, a long-time associate in the elementary, and bus driver Tom Giles. Young will finish the current school year, but Giles’ resignation was effective at the end of the first semester.

Jill Wheeler and Deb Lynch submitted letters of resignation from their duties as drill team sponsors. Wheeler and Lynch will complete the current drill team season, which will come to a close in early spring. 

The board voted to hire Amy Wood as drill team sponsor for the upcoming school year. Wood has been a volunteer assistant with the drill team this year and will continue in that capacity. She will then take over her duties as sponsor beginning with team try-outs for the 2012-2013 squad later this spring. Wood will be paid $2,518.

Principal Lynne Wallace recommended that elementary associates Tara Shields and Deb Graham be promoted from probationary to non-probationary employee status effective in  December. The move will increase their hourly wage to $9.96 for a total of $14,301.44 each.

Buildings and grounds

The board spent considerable time getting updates on ongoing improvements and acting on additional projects to buildings and grounds.

  Committee and board appointments, reappointment of Pam Poore as city clerk, a discussion about city legal counsel, union decertification and council compensation were all topics when the Mount Ayr city council held its first meeting of the new year Tuesday, Jan. 3.

Mayor’s appointment for 2012

  Mayor Don Solliday made appointments for city council members to several responsibilities as part of the first meeting of the newly formed council.

Appointments included:

Mayor pro tem -- Gerald Cannon.

Landfill representative -- Deloris Stutzman.

Fire department and law enforcement -- Mack Greene.

Park and recreation -- Brent Ricker.

Employee relations -- Deloris Stutzman and Brent Ricker.

Street maintenance -- Wes Mathany, Mack Greene and Bob Strange.

Water and sewer liaison -- Gerald Cannon, Brent Ricker and Kevin Stocker.

Budget committee -- Pam Poore, Gerald Cannon, Kevin Stocker and mayor Don Solliday.

Zoning commission liaison -- Wes Mathany and Mack Greene.

Revision of city ordinances -- Mayor, clerk and council. 

Board appointments

Two city board appointments were also made for 2012 at the meeting.

Shelly Shields and Leslie Dredge-Murphy were re-appointed to new three-year terms on the Mount Ayr Park Board.

Appoint city clerk

Another of the items taken care of at the first meeting of the new year was to appoint a city clerk.

The city clerk is appointed for a two year term following the general election each time.

The council voted to reappoint city clerk Pam Poore for another term.

   Rick Santorum, one of two candidates to visit Ringgold county in the election campaign for president this year, came away with a commanding lead in the vote by Ringgold county Republicans in the precinct caucuses held Tuesday night.

Both Republican and Democrat caucuses were held Tuesday, but with the Democrats not having a presidential race the turnout was light for Democrats. A total of 180 Republicans took part in the caucus vote here.

The final results from the caucuses held for all the Republican precincts held at the Mount Ayr American Legion building included:

Rick Santorum, 62.

Newt Gingrich, 35.

Rick Perry, 28.

Mitt Romney, 26.

Ron Paul, 23.

Michelle Bachman, 5.

John Huntsman, 1.

Across the state, the results were much closer.

There was a virtual dead heat for Romney and Santorum with 25 percent of the vote each and Paul at 21 percent. Romney won by eight votes -- 30,015 to 30,007.

Further behind were Newt Gingrich at 13 percent, Rick Perry at 10 percent, Michelle Bachman at six percent and John Huntsman at one percent.

Some 122,000 Iowa Republicans took part in the precinct caucuses this year.

Democrats held their precinct caucuses at the Ringgold county courthouse assembly room.

Both parties handled party business at the caucuses this year. Central committee members were elected from precincts, delegates were named for the county conventions in March and platform issues were discussed and passed on to the platform committee for the county conventions.

  In a decision that was not popular with many other county offices, the Ringgold county board of supervisors voted to hire a second deputy auditor at a meeting Tuesday morning.

The first meeting of the new year brought the naming of Kurt Shaha as chairman of the board for the coming year and a whole host of appointments and resolutions which will be reported next week.

As well as the decision on a second deputy auditor, the board of supervisors approved a weir repair contract, reviewed the list of items for property and casualty insurance and handled some other more regular matters.

Meetings were held Thursday, Dec. 29 and Tuesday, Jan. 3, this past week. The Tuesday meeting was moved to Tuesday because of the Monday holiday for New Years.

Deputy auditor decision

County auditor Laurie Greenman has talked with the board about opening a position for a full-time second deputy auditor and the board voted unanimously to approve the new position at the meeting Tuesday.

Several of the other elected officials in the county attended the meeting to register their concerns about where the money would come from for the new position.

Greenman told the supervisors and those attending that Ringgold county was the only county in the state that tried to run the auditor’s office with two employees in making her case for a third person.

Greenman said that the biggest concern in the office was having enough employees so that accounting responsibilities could be done by different people for the checks and balances that the state auditor said needed to be done.

She also noted that she had been spending more time on helping the board of supervisors with matters, including employment lawsuits, than auditors in the past had done.

She noted that other offices had offered help on a part-time basis but said that this did not provide the continuity that she needed to get the many tasks of her office completed.

Greenman also noted that secondary road employee payroll might need to be moved back to the auditor’s office to answer auditor concerns as an example of how more responsibilities were being handled by her office.

Turnover of employees was another issue she said made a third person important in her office.

She said she talked with the supervisors back in October about the segregation of duty matters and how help was needed to keep up with the responsibilities of the office.

Assessor Neil Morgan was the first of the current officers to speak about the issue.

He noted that county employees had a one percent increase in salary in the past three years and wondered where the estimated $44,000 would come from for salary and benefits for a new employee when budgets were so tight.

He questioned if giving the agenda notice at 5 p.m. on the Friday before a long weekend for a decision at 10 a.m on Tuesday was proper and noted that in the past new positions had been advertised for other employees to have an opportunity for them.

He noted that the work of the office had been done by the auditor with one deputy in the past and wondered if there were options of using part-time employees or help from other offices to keep up with the work and not adding another full-time employee.

Treasurer Debbie Cannon, sheriff Mike Sobotka, recorder Karen Schafer and county conservation director Kate Zimmerman also spoke up, noting that their requests for more help had been turned down in the past because of tight budgets.

They were concerned that in times of tight budgets, adding another salary for the county would mean that their budgets would ultimately be affected negatively.

With supervisors working to cut expenses and hold down budgets in the past, they were questioning where funds would come for this kind of expenditure.

They noted how several offices had offered people to help catch up some of the responsibilities that were falling behind in the auditor’s office.

Former board member Royce Dredge was also present at the meeting to voice his concern about the decision.

  Area fire departments have been busy over the past short periods with fires and accidents.

The biggest fire loss came Friday, Dec. 23, at 2:43 p.m. when a home at 306 S. Lincoln Street caught fire.

The Mount Ayr Community and Union township fire departments fought the blaze at the rental property home owned by Rick and Laura Stull of Mount Ayr.

According to the Ringgold county fire department, the blaze gutted the interior of the home, making it a total loss.

Cause of the fire was suspected as being electrical but has not been confirmed, according to fire chief Mike Wimer.

Robert Lloyd was living in the home at the time for the fire. There were no injuries.

Firemen responded to a vehicle fire at the home of Larry and Kim Overholser  at 1518 248th Street in Benton at 8:15 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 25.

The fire was contained to the engine compartment of the vehicle.

Firemen also helped with a rescue at an accident Monday, Dec. 26, on 220th Avenue in Mount Ayr where three people were injured. That is reported in a separate story.

Amish school house fire

The Mount Ayr and Union townships fire departments also responded to a fire at the Amish school house near Jackson Corner  on J55 and U.S. 169 south of Mount Ayr at 9:58 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 29.

Class was in session with some 50 students in the Jackson Corner School building when wool insulation in the attic began smouldering from the heat of the chimney of the building’s wood stove.

The building and contents were evacuated while the fire was fought. There was a good deal of smoke for a period, but the fire was put out without the building catching fire.

No estimate of damage to the building was available but classes were back in session this week.

  Precinct caucuses for Ringgold county precincts will all be held in Mount Ayr Tuesday, Jan. 3.

Ringgold county Republicans will meet at 7 p.m. at the Mount Ayr American Legion building.

Ringgold county Democrats will meet at 7 p.m. in the Ringgold county courthouse assembly room.

As part of the sessions precinct committee persons will be named to the county central committees, delegates and alternates will be elected to the county conventions and proposals can be discussed and adopted as platform planks for the county convention.

In addition, Republicans will declare their preference for a presidential candidate by a secret ballot.

Each presidential campaign will be allowed to have one surrogate or volunteer speak on their behalf before the vote.

  Farmland values in Ringgold county jumped by 32.9 percent, the biggest single year increase on record, according to the annual survey of farmland value conducted by Iowa State University.

While the average acre of farmland across the state showed a 32.5 percent  increase in value, Ringgold county farmland increased a bit more than that, the survey said.

The average acre of farmland in Ringgold county is now worth $3,466, up  from the $2,609 previous all-time record set last year.

In dollar value, the average acre of land increased $857, which is almost as much as an acre of farm land was valued just 10 years ago. The land value is 27.3 times the $127 an acre recorded in 1950 and almost nine times the $386 recorded in 1986 when farmland values bottomed out after the previous run-up.

With the change, Ringgold county -- which had the second lowest farmland value in the state behind Decatur county for many years -- remained ahead of several other counties passed in the past few years. Decatur county’s value was estimated at $2,721, the lowest in the state. Ringgold county remained ahead of Appanoose county with a $2,865 an acre value, Wayne with a $2,884 an acre value, Lucas with a $3,007 an acre value and Clarke with a $3,182 an acre value.

Ringgold county’s increase came after last year’s 15.9 percent decline. In terms of dollars, the county’s $857 an acre increase this year was one of the smaller in the state. Only the five counties with smaller per acre value had smaller dollar increases over last year.

The highest county average in the state was O’Brien county at $9,513 per acre, up 33.1 percent from 2010. Scott county had the largest percentage increase at 37.7 percent and the largest dollar increase of $2,524 from last year to this year.

Decatur county had the lowest average at $2,721 per acre and the lowest dollar increase at $636 per acre. Washington and Keokuk counties had the lowest percentage increases at 28.2 percent.

Land values in Ringgold county have now more than doubled in six years -- in 2006 when the figure was $1,726.

  After state road projects with new pavement on U.S. Highway 169 and Iowa Highway 2 in recent years, not much is planned in the way of state road construction for the next five years in Ringgold county.

Ringgold county work

A plan to do $660,000 worth of culvert extension work on U.S. Highway 169 during 2012 is the only work scheduled for the next five years in the five year plan approved by the Iowa Department of Transportation’s 2012-2016 Transportation Improvement Plan.

The only other expenditure in the plan that affects Ringgold county is federal funds which will be used to purchase two new light duty busses for the Southern Iowa Trolley service.

Most of the money planned to be spent in surrounding counties will go to projects on Highway 34 and Interstate 35.

 Here's an important clue for those trying to figure out the crossword puzzle in last week's Mount Ayr Record-News.

21 Across - Lustrous Ringers

  Questions about equal application of city zoning ordinances, adoption of a employee policy handbook and personnel policies, internal loan procedures, a water system design contract and a one-time salary adjustment (another name for a Christmas bonus) were all topics for the Mount Ayr city council at its meeting Monday night.

In addition mayor Don Solliday and council members were sworn in for new terms, items from street lights to tree trimming were talked about and a tax abatement request was approved in a relatively short but busy council meeting.

Zoning ordinance

Scott Stutzman attended the meeting to ask questions about equal treatment under the city zoning ordinances for two building projects in the city.

Stutzman received a building permit for a commercial self-storage unit in an area zoned residential and started work on the project when the council and city attorney Richard Wilson asked him to stop the work and revoked the building permit.

He already had the poles for the pole building up and was pouring the concrete floor of the facility when he stopped work in response to questions about the zoning for the project raised by Kelly Main and some neighbors to the project.

In the meantime, Main applied for a building permit to build another self-storage unit near the ones he already has south of Highway 2.

Main’s building permit was turned down by the city because the property is in an area zoned agricultural, which does not have provision for a commercial self-storage unit either.

Stutzman noted that Main poured the floor for a possible building at the site of the permit and despite Stutzman’s complaint about the work, the city did not step in and stop Main’s project.

Stutzman appealed his zoning decision and lost the appeal, though he can now take the case to magistrate’s court. Main has filed an appeal of his building permit denial as well.

Stutzman was questioning the fairness of the city not stepping in in Main’s case after Main was the one who complained about Stutzman’s project and got it stopped by the city.

“I just think we need to decide if the rules are the same for everyone or if some people are treated differently than others,” he said.

Mayor Don Solliday noted that the council was trying to follow the rules that have been set up in the city zoning ordinance, but that there were some potential problems with language that made it difficult.

Solliday noted that in the past Main had been given building permits for buildings at the site even though all of it is currently zoned as agricultural instead of commercial.

Finding a definition of when construction begins was one of the questions raised from viewing the ordinances, it was noted.

Council members decided that the zoning ordinance and building permit system needed to be reviewed and suggested that the council have a closed session to discuss the issues with the city attorney since there is potential litigation on the matter pending.

  Salaries of Ringgold county elected officials would increase by 3.5 percent next year if the Ringgold county board of supervisors agree to the recommendation offered by the Ringgold county compensation board following its meeting Monday, Dec. 19.

The compensation board is responsible, by Iowa Code, for making a recommendation to the county board of supervisors prior to the determination of salaries for county office holders.  

This recommendation then becomes a limit for the supervisors.  The supervisors can reduce the compensation board recommendation, but they must do it by the same percentage for all recommendations, and cannot give a higher increase.

The compensation board recommendation for the 2012-2013 fiscal year is to increase the salaries of the county auditor, treasurer, recorder, attorney, sheriff and board of supervisors by 3.5 percent.

If the full increase were approved, the salaries for county auditor, treasurer and recorder would increase to $38,723.76 from $37,414.26. The salary for attorney would increase to $37,937.72 from $36,654.80. The new sheriff’s salary would be $51,566.83, up from $49,823.02. The board of supervisors would be paid $25,494.26, an increase from $24,632.14.

All deputy salaries are determined as a percentage of the county officer they work for.  Currently, the chief deputy sheriff and chief deputy treasurer are limited to no more than 85 percent of their officer’s salary and all other deputies for the sheriff, treasurer, auditor and recorder are paid 80 percent of the officer for whom they work.

This recommendation follows the recommendation last year that all salaries be given a three percent increase.  The supervisors ultimately reduced the recommendation by 66.7% and approved a one percent increase for the 2011-2012 fiscal year for all officers.  

  Two somewhat surprising decisions were made by the Ringgold county board of supervisors as they dealt with road issues this past week.

The supervisors voted to investigate what it would cost to bid out many road maintenance tasks at their meeting Thursday, Dec. 15, then voted 2-1 to turn back control of two roads from county to state responsibility at their meeting Monday, Dec. 19.

At the meeting Thursday, the supervisors met with county engineer Zach Gunsolley to talk about secondary roads updates and progress on union negotiations.

After some discussion, the board voted unanimously to instruct Gunsolley to research the possibility of contracting out secondary road job duties such as road maintenance, rock hauling, mowing, grading and the like.

If it is found that these jobs could be handled less expensively by contracting them out, the supervisors would seriously consider making a change in some aspects of the county secondary roads maintenance system.

Concern about funding for the county road system also led to a 2-1 vote by the board at its meeting Monday to return responsibility of two former state roads to the state of Iowa.

The following resolution was passed:

“Whereas Senate File 451 returned a portion of state highway 66 (approximately seven miles now referred to as county highway P33) and state highway 259 (approximately two miles now referred to as J20) to Ringgold county on July 1, 2003 with a funding level over a 10-year period of approximately $630,000,

“Whereas this funding level is totally inadequate to maintain the roads and bridges,

“Be it resolved that the Ringgold County Board of Supervisors is returning jurisdiction of said roads to the state of Iowa on June 30, 2012.”

Supervisor chairman Dale Walters voted against the resolution because he wanted to confer with county attorney Clint Spurrier before any action was taken.

  Christmas comes on a Sunday this year, so most area churches that meet on Sunday will have services on Christmas Day, though some churches will be operating with abbreviated schedules.

There are also some special Christmas Eve services planned across the county.

Information on several special services have been reported to the Mount Ayr Record-News this year.

Christmas Eve services

First Lutheran Church in Mount Ayr will have candlelight Christmas Eve services at 5 p.m  Saturday, Dec. 24. For Christmas Day they will be joining Trinity Lutheran Church in Creston for services at 9:30 a.m.

A series of other Christmas Eve services are also planned.

There will be one at the First Christian Church in Mount Ayr at 5 p.m., Dec. 24.

The Assembly of God in Mount Ayr will host a Christmas Eve service at 6 p.m.

The Mount Ayr Baptist-Presbyterian Church will host a Christmas Eve service at 7 p.m.

The Mount Ayr United Methodist Church will have a candlelight Christmas Eve service at 11 p.m.

  Retirement of three teachers from the elementary school, a number of building and grounds issues, approval of an at-risk allowable growth application and rescheduling of a professional development day headed the discussion for the Mount Ayr Community school board at its meeting Monday night.

In addition the board spent two hours in an Iowa Association of School Boards training session leading up to the regular meeting. 

Teacher retirement

Early retirement for three longtime Mount Ayr Community elementary teachers was approved at the meeting Monday.

Retiring at the end of the school year are Cindy Allen, Angi Dodge and Pam Hudson.

The teachers turned in their retirement letters in time to receive the early notification payment of $500 in addition to early retirement benefits.

Allen and Dodge have both taught in the school district for 34 years and Hudson has taught here for 22 years.

Elementary principal Lynne Wallace noted that it will be very hard to replace the experience that will be leaving the school district with the retirement of these teachers.

The school board accepted the resignations with regret and thanked the teachers for the wonderful years of service they have provided the district.

Building and grounds issues

Several buildings and grounds issues were also discussed at the meeting, including a meeting with Doug Hymbaugh, contractor for the wrestling and weight room and FEMA storm shelter addition to the school.

Hymbaugh told the board that most of the structural work has been completed but that items like electrical, heating and air conditioning and doors for the facility are still being worked on.

The door contractor was to come to put the doors on the building next week. There has been a hold-up in the construction of the duct work for the heating and air conditioning contractor, he told the board.

He said that most of the lights had been hung and that the work to tie in the electrical from the new addition to the rest of the building would be done over Christmas break.

He blamed some of the delay on shortages of supplies due to consolidation of suppliers because of the economy and a pickup in construction work in the midwest.

No final date for completion was given.

The wrestling team has been working out on the high school auditorium stage until the work is completed on the addition.

Hymbaugh was also asked about the new concession stand project he is to build for the district at the football field and track complex.

He said the materials had been received and work on the project would begin in the spring after the track season is completed.

Superintendent Joe Drake reported on some problems the district is having with the sewer line to the middle school gymnasium addition.

There was a blockage in the line that was taken care of, but in working on that problem it was discovered that there is a problem with the elevations of the sewer line.

The architect is doing a study on the matter to see where the problem lies. It may be in the work of CAC, one of the sub-contractors for the project that has since gone bankrupt.

Drake will report back to the board when more information on where the problem lies and who should be responsible for it.

Drake also reported that Andrew Tuckpointing of Clarinda had been hired to investigate the leaking windows on the east side of the high school building.

They were able to find the problem in the construction of the lentels over the windows and have repaired one window at a cost of some $4,500. 

After finding the problem in this exploratory work, the other windows would cost about $3,000 each to repair.

The work on the other windows will be held up until spring to make sure the first repair works before the other windows are repaired.

The board also approved a payment request for $36,242.05 for the work on the high school commons.

Betts and Beer has agreed to reduce the final bill by $5,000 for not getting the job done on time.

Tom Wolbers of Design Alliance is working on finding a way to clean the walls as specified, a portion of the contract that has not been completed.

The payment request was changed before being approved to reflect the retainage for the project as well as the cost for the wall cleaning.

  Jail construction matters, a family team meeting facilitation agreement and a discussion on payroll procedures topped the discussion by the Ringgold county board of supervisors this past week.

At their meeting Thursday, Dec. 8, they talked with sheriff Mike Sobotka about the jail construction project.

As payments are being made to contractors, the supervisors were checking to make sure that enough money was being withheld to make sure all the final building issues are taken care of.

Sobotka said that the job of dispatchers is more complicated in the new building as they check on prisoners and run the dispatch system.

Joycelyn Blazek met with the supervisors Thursday to talk about the family team meeting facilitation contract -- part of the DECAT budget.

The supervisors approved a small increase in the contract at their meeting Monday, Dec. 12.

A discussion was held about payroll procedures. The county has several different types of time cards and the supervisors are working to make one card to fit all the needs of the county.

  Christmas activities are winding down as the holiday moves closer and closer.

The steak drawing results are reported in this week’s paper, and the lighting contest entry deadline is Friday, Dec. 16.

Saturday, Dec. 17, there will be a brunch with Santa at the Mount Ayr Golf and Country Club.

The last of the area concerts comes Monday, Dec. 19 and more Santa visits are planned.

Brunch with Santa

The Mount Ayr Golf and Country Club is sponsoring a Brunch with Santa event Saturday, Dec. 17, from 9 to 11 a.m.

A buffet style brunch will be held, there will be games and activities for children and they can tell Santa their wish list.

The event is open to everyone. A freewill donation will be taken for the event.

Concerts

The vocal music program at Mount Ayr Community middle school and high school gets its opportunity to shine Monday, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m.

The middle school choir will sing songs from “The Polar Express” including “Believe” and “When Christmas Comes To Town.” Featured students singing solos and in groups will include Cheyene Percifield, Cheyenne Haveman, Ambe Cox, Molly Anderson, Michaela Mueller, Laura Campbell, Breann Haley, Brylea Stark and Shaniece Conklin.

The high school choir will sing “Sleigh Ride,” “Merry Christmas Darling,” “Tiny Little Baby Boy,” “Everywhere Christmas Tonight” and other selections. Featured students singing solos include Jessie Ricker, Sarah Campbell, Cassidy McAtee, Brooke Chenowith, Nichole Phelps, Erin Dolecheck, Kelsey Hunt, Courtney Withee and Christiana Overholtzer.

Greg Storhoff directs the choirs and Nancy Sackett is accompanist.

There will be a freewill donation to attend the concert.

Lighting contest

The annual lighting contest sponsored by the Mount Ayr Chamber of Commerce will come to a close this week.

Judging will be done Sunday, Dec. 18, and winners announced in the December 22 issue of the Mount Ayr Record-News.

Prizes will be awarded for the top three entries for properties with Mount Ayr addresses.

Deadline for contacting the Mount Ayr Record-News with entries for the contest is Friday, Dec. 16.

Steak drawing

Drawings for packages of ribeye steaks at a number of area businesses was held Monday.

An advertisement in this week’s Mount Ayr Record-News lists all the participating businesses for the drawings and the winners. Winners pick up coupons for the steaks at the business at which they won.

A total of 52 steak packages were given away.

Santa visits

Santa Claus will continue his visits at Pamida in Mount Ayr from 2 to 4 p.m. each Saturday afternoon until Christmas.

  Last city council meeting the Mount Ayr council appeared ready to make a change in minimum utility usage charges and increase rates for all city residents.

After hearing some feedback from city residents, however, the council decided to put off any changes in water, sewer and garbage billing until more information is available.

Moving forward with a loan for engineering costs for upgrading the city drinking water system, a decision to release a mortgage on a housing rehab home that has gone into foreclosure, employee handbook items, a tax abatement request and more were also handled by the council at its meeting Monday night.

Water, sewer rates

A water and sewer rate study is part of the work that the city has contracted with Kevin Stolker to do, it was noted, so instead of jumping into dropping a minimum utility usage charge for vacant homes, that will stay in place for the time being.

Stolker is to have the report ready for the council in January when work on the city budget begins.

Stolker told the council there were a number of options that should be studied in setting the fees for the utilities.

Gerald Cannon, who had voted down a 25 cent raise in water bills to meet a previous increase in water rates from the Southern Iowa Rural Water Association, now said he felt the council was wrong in that decision.

Cannon said one suggestion to making the city water and sewer funds in the black again was to charge the money paid Kevin Stolker to oversee the water and sewer systems to the one-cent sales tax funding source.

Other suggestions were made as well. Cutting the minimum utility bill back to just the cost of minimum amount of water and raising prices to everyone by a smaller amount was discussed.

Jim Feeback said he felt the city needed to continue to stay on track toward living within the means of the budget the city now has instead of making big increases in costs to residents for services.

The positive result of having  a number of properties cleaned up instead of people paying the minimum utility bill on the properties was also noted.

Loan for water engineering

The council held a public hearing on a measure to borrow up to $55,000 for use in engineering for upgrading the city’s water treatment system.

The plan is to do away with the current water treatment plant at the old city reservoir completely. Instead a new pump house would be built to pump SIRWA water up to the water towers the city owns and treat the water further as minimally as feasible.

The Iowa Finance Authority would provide the loan without origination fees and at zero percent interest for up to three years. The money could be paid back in that time or rolled over into the construction loan on the project.

The $55,000 is just an estimate of the amount of money that will be needed to get the engineering on the project going. Only the amount needed of the $55,000 will actually be borrowed.

There was no one speaking against the proposal at the hearing and no written communication received.

After the hearing was closed, the council voted 4-1 for a resolution authorizing the interim loan agreement.

Jim Feeback voted against the matter, noting that he felt the council could find a way to get the water treatment plant upgrade without needing to use engineering services.

House in foreclosure

A house that was rehabiliated using the housing rehabilitation program will be going to a sheriff’s sale in a foreclosure, the council was told.

In the housing rehabilitation program, the $25,000 or so in rehabilitation costs are placed on a five year mortgage. If the resident stays in the house for the full amount of time, the loan is forgiven.

If the person leaves before the five years is up, however, a portion of the loan is to be paid back.

It was noted that the city does not have the first mortgage for the home and it does not look like the city would be able to recover funds if it sought to do so.

  Ringgold county has a number of ways people can help the needy this Christmas.

The Neighborhood Center, Mount Ayr Lions Club and HCI Care Services all have efforts to help this season.

Peg Johnson notes that she has over 60 families who need to be adopted for the Christmas holiday this year and that of late last week there were 35 families who still were available for help.

“We don’t have some of the funds that we have had in recent years to help with the project this year and the need is still great,” Johnson noted.

To adopt a family, check with Johnson at the Neighborhood Cener. Those adopting a family will receive a list of needs. The presents should be brought to the Neighborhood Center unwrapped. If the adopters want to provide wrapping paper for the presents, that would be nice, she noted.

The presents need to be delivered to the Ringgold County Neighborhood Center by Thursday, Dec. 15, at the very latest.

In addition to the presents for families, the Neighborhood Center will be distributing Christmas dinner materials for 115 families in the county this year, Johnson said.

Donations for this project are also welcome.

Toys for Tots

Annual toys for tots drive by the Mount Ayr Lions Club will get underway Monday, Nov. 28.

New toys or used toys in good condition can be dropped off at nine locations in Mount Ayr. 

They include CGI Foods, Dollar General, First Federal Savings Bank, Great Western Bank, Hy-Vee, Pamida, Ringgold County Senior Citizens Activity Center, Southwest Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative and US Bank.

Deadline for dropping off toys for the drive will be Tuesday, Dec. 13.

Used toys are fixed up to go along with the new toys which are distributed through the Ringgold County Neighborhood Center.

HCI mitten tree

HCI Care Services  of Mount Ayr is working on a mitten tree for the fifth straight year.

Employees are collecting new, gently used or handcrafted mittens, gloves, scarves and hats through December 31. 

Donations will be distributed to local schools and will be accepted Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the office located on the square at 107 South Fillmore Street.

  Ringgold county Republicans had the opportunity to hear from several of their party’s elected officials in a soup supper held at the Mount Ayr American Legion building Thursday night.

Secretary of state Matt Schultz, state representative Cecil Dolecheck and state senator Joni Ernst were among the speakers for the group of Republicans gathered at the Legion building, which will be the site of the Republican caucus in January.

Schultz, who was elected to the position in 2010, talked about his job and this efforts to ensure fair elections.

He made voter ID a major part of his campaign for the office and has worked with legislators to try to get the bill passed. He also has raised questions about same day voter registration and the potential problems this raises for voter fraud.

The bills have been blocked by the Democratic majority in the state senate, he noted.

Senator majority leader Mike Groenstal came in for complaints from many of the speakers, who noted how he has kept votes on many issues from coming to the floor of the senate in the last year.

Schultz talked about the responsibilities of his office, which includes a wide range of duties beyond helping run elections.

Senator Ernst noted that because of the efforts of senator Groenstal the session ran the longest it has ever gone and many bills died without ever having the chance to be voted on in the senate.

“There were several matters that I believe some more conservative Democrats would have voted for, but the opportunities for votes were blocked,” she said.

She noted that efforts are underway to try to win a majority in the Senate so many ideas can move forward.

Ernst notted that while her senate district is changing, Ringgold county will still be part of it. Ringgold county will now be in with Montgomery, Taylor, Page, Fremont and Mills counties in the senate district.

State representative Cecil Dolecheck also spoke to the group, thanking them for their support over the past 16 years.

Because of redistricting, Ringgold county will be in a district with Page and Taylor counties next year and Dolecheck and Rich Anderson of Clarinda, both Repubilcan incumbents, will be in the same district.

“We’ll have a contested Republican primary if Anderson runs,” Dolecheck noted.

Dolecheck noted that he has been working to try to get a majority in the state senate as well so that bills can move forward.

He will continue as co-chairman of the education appropriations committee. He noted that the education budget was the only one last year that did not have to go to conference committee.

With the legislature working on a two-year budget last year, this legislative session should see only adjustments made in the budget.

He talked about tax issues as well, noting that he would like to do something about property tax in the coming legislature, but was not sure that much progress would be made.

He noted that governor Terry Branstad had a blue ribbon task force on a gasoline tax increase that had suggested a hike, but that the governor had taken the matter off the table for this session.

Dolecheck also talked about education reform and the need to make improvements in Iowa education, as shown by the state’s position in the nation tumbling.

He said the suggestion not to promote students beyond third grade until they show they can read is a good idea.

“Florida did this and after six years their test scores went from being near the bottom to surpassing Iowa’s,” Dolcehck noted.

He said there are some problems with the career ladder format and that this part of the reform package will need some more work.

“We’ll implement the things that don’t cost a lot of dollars this year,” he said. “We have to quit making excuses that the kids are not good enough. We have got to put kids and making sure they are getting a good education first.”

  A whole host of Christmas holiday events are planned in the Ringgold county area this week as the Christmas season gets kicked off.

There will be the festival of trees, lighted Christmas parade, window walk, Moonlighter’s play a host of concerts and a Santa visit in the coming week.

Other coming activities are included in a separate story.

Festival of trees

The annual festival of trees will be held at the Mount Ayr Depot Museum this December.

Businesses, groups, clubs, organizations and individuals have been invited to decorate and display a Christmas tree. 

The Christmas trees will be on display on Saturday, Dec. 3, during the lighted parade and window walk and at other times as requested.

To make arrangements for seeing the displays at other times, please contact any of the following people: Jake Dailey at 464-2431, Doris Rule at 464-3687, Bob Sickels at 464-2450 or Thelma Rusk at 464-3564.

Moonlighter play

The Moonlighter’s Theater Group will be presenting “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” in three performances.

The play will be performed at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2, and Saturday, Dec. 3, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4. at the Princess Theater.

More details are shared in a separate story.

Lighted parade, Window Walk

The lighted Christmas parade and Window Walk will be held in Mount Ayr Saturday, Dec. 3 along with a sloppy joe supper at the First Christian Church.

The theme for both the lighted parade and the window walk will be “Holiday Traditions.”

Line up for the parade will begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Depot Museum north of the square. The parade will be held at 6 p.m.  

Prizes of $50 in Mount Ayr money for first place and $25 for second place will be awarded.

The Window Walk will be on display from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in store fronts around the square and in the courthouse.

Windows and groups participating include:

U.S. Bank -- U. S. Bank employees.

HCI Care Services --HCI Care Services staff.

Ringgold County Developmnet-Mount Ayr Chamber of Commerce -- coat drop off for needy, candy canes and poppies.

McDonnell Appliance -- Leslie’s Dance Emporium.

Ringgold county courthouse assembly room -- Leslie’s Dance Emporium.

Ringgold county courthouse lobby -- Teen Choice after school program with cookies, beverages and homemade ornaments, people’s choice voting for favorite window, and Ringgold Singers Christmas music.

Mount Ayr Public Library -- Mount Ayr Public Library staff with cider and cookies.

NAPA Auto Parts -- Ringgold County Hospital.

Peggy Sue’s -- Peggy Sue’s and Santa Claus (stop by and visit with Santa).

Klejch Insurance and Real Estate -- Lighthouse Church.

Liberty Exteriors -- Family Resource Center, children crafts.

Sweet Escapes Salon and Spa -- Sweet Escapes staff.

Senior Citizen Activity Center -- Senior Citizen Activity Center participants with hot chocolate, cider and a silent auction.

Mabel McCullough Rice Park -- Kim and Dara Greenland, Christmas photo opportunity.

Ramsey’s Supper Club -- Great Western Bank.

Ramsey’s Supper Club -- Upper Limits Teen Center.

Aunt Jennie’s Attic -- Community  of Christ Church, cider available.

Around the square -- hay ride by Upper Limits Teen Center.

People will vote on the best window with prices of $50 in Mount Ayr money for first place and $25 in Mount Ayr money for second place.

Concerts

Several concerts are planned this week around the area as well.

Simply Voices will present their concert this year on Saturday, Dec. 3, as part of the big evening of Christmas activities in Mount Ayr.

Their concert, “A King Changes Everything,” will be held at 4 p.m. at the Mount Ayr United Methodist Church. The UMC children’s choir will also be participating.

The Tingley and Ellston United Methodist Churches will be presenting a Christmas cantata “Joyful Celebration” on Sunday, Dec. 4, at 1:30 and 4 p.m. at the Ellston United Methodist Church.

In the Diagonal Community school district, the elementary winter program “Sounds of the Seasons” is planned Thursday, Dec. 1, at 6:30 p.m.

The preschool will be singing “Call Rudolph,” “Ring Those Bells” and “Rudolph, The Red- Nosed Reindeer.”

Students in kindergarten and first grade will sing “Gingerbread Cookies,” “Under the Tree” and “Listen to the Jingles.”

Second and third graders will sing “La Navidad,” “Sing For Peace” and “We Will Jingle.”

Fourth and fifth graders will perform “Glo-glo-glorius!” “Will You Be Here This Christmas?” and “Hear Those Bells.”

The fifth grade band will play for the concert as well.  The band will play “A Breath of Fresh Air,” “Half The Price,” “A Quarters Worth,” “Two For The Show,” “Cardiff By The Sea,” “Hot Cross Buns” and “Au Claire De La Lune.”

In the Mount Ayr Community school district, the junior kindergarten through fourth grade concert will be Monday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. at the elementary school gymnasium.

Students have been asked to bring nonperishable food items to school on Monday to be given to the local food pantry.

Songs to be sung for the concert include:

Junior kindergarten -- “Up On The Housetop,” “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town” and “Jingle Bells.”

Kindergarten -- “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas,” “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.”

First grade -- “Polar Puppy,” “Listen To the Jingles,” and “Gingerbread Coookies.”

Second grade -- “Christmas Lights,” “Mousie in the Snow” and “Hip Hop Reindeer.”

Third grade -- “There’s Someone In The Chimney,” “Deck the Halls,” “Winter Waltz” and “We Wish You A Merry Christmas.”

Carol Cason will direct the students and Nancy Sackett will be the accompanist for the junior kindergarten and kindergarten classes.

“The students have been working very hard since the middle of October on their songs and I”m sure everyone in attendance will have a wonderful time as the students have some surprises in store beside singing some great songs.”

The fourth, fifth and sixth grade students will present their first concert of the year Monday, Feb. 6, in the elementary school gymnasium. Each class will sing a variety of songs and the fifth and sixth grade bands will each perform several pieces they have been working on.

  In their only meeting of the week because of the Thanksgiving holiday, the Ringgold county board of supervisors talked about negotiations with the secondary roads employee union, secondary roads issues and reviewed account balances Monday.

The board held a conference call with the person they have hired as a negotiator at the meeting to go over strategy for a response to the latest proposals being discussed.

In a budget related item, the contribution rates for IPERS for the coming year were shared with the board as well.

IPERS will be increasing the rate of contributions to the program by one percent for regular members to 14.45 percent. The rate for employees will go up from 5.38 percent to 5.78 percent and the rate for employers will go up from 8.07 percent to 8.67 percent to make the one percent increase.

Sheriffs and deputy sheriffs will see the contribution for employees and employers go up from 9.83 to 9.9 percent for each.

The rate for protection occupations will increase from 6.65 percent to 6.84 percent for employees and from 9.97 to 10.27 percent for employers.

The increases will have an effect on budgeting for the new fiscal year.

County engineer Zach Gunsolley was present for this discussion and shared information on several other topics as well.

He noted that he had applied to join the state Secondary Roads Funding Advisory Committee.

The committee suggests how secondary road funding is divided among various groups and he would be one of two engineers from small counties represented on the committee.

He noted that if he is selected he would be gone to meetings a few days each year. He noted, however, that he felt this was the best way go have a voice for problems that counties like Ringgold county are having with secondary road funding.

The supervisors agreed that being a committee member would be positive for the county.

  Awards for outstanding cooperators, lifetime achievement and 25 years of service were presented when the Ringgold County Soil and Water Conservation District commissioners held their annual awards luncheon recently at the Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in Mount Ayr.

Awards were presented to Jim and Willeta George of Diagonal for the district’s outstanding cooperator this year. 

The Georges were recognized for their exemplary stewardship of the land and water.  Jim and Willeta go above and beyond to insure the practices they install are done correctly and will last for many years.

A lifetime achievement award was presented to Paul and Francis Smith.  

Smith served as commissioner from 1969 to 1996 and chairman from 1977 thru 1991. The Smiths represented the district in 1993 at the presentation of the Goodyear Award for conservation representing southern Iowa.  

They are active conservationists in promoting the protection of soil, water and air.

A 25-year service pin was awarded to chairman Lee Faris by commissioner Bill Daughton.

  It’s back to the drawing board on bids for the bathhouse/FEMA community safe room project at Judge Lewis Park and the Mount Ayr city council may be taking another look at the minimum monthly utility billing it has charged all homes hooked up to city utilities.

Those were the headlines from the Mount Ayr city council at its regular meeting Monday night, but there were personnel matters, a public hearing on seeking a loan for engineering plans for the water system upgrade, more recycling questions, questions on building permits and several other issues raised during the meeting.

Bids for bathhouse

It was back to the bidding board for construction bids for the long-awaited bathhouse/Federal Emergency Management Agency community safe room in Judge Lewis Park.

The engineer’s estimate for the project had been $734,500 but the lowest bid received was over $960,000.

Bids received included $1,230,000 from T.B.B. LLC in Des Moines, $987,300 from  Oakview Construction in Red Oak and $962,105 from Ball Team LLC in West Des Moines.

The engineer on the contract suggested that all of the bids be refused and the contract for the project be rebid in February in hopes of getting more favorable bids for the project, which is to be built with grants from FEMA, the state Emergency Management funds and 15 percent in local match funds that the Mount Ayr Aquatic Center group has raised.

The council voted 4-0 to approve the refusal of all bids with council member Brent Ricker abstaining. He said he might be a subcontractor in a future bid for the project so did not want to vote on the matter.

Minimum utility charges

Remember the minimum utility charges that the city has charged for all buildings hooked up to city water and sewer, no matter if any water was being used?

The measure was passed in October 2009 when the city needed extra revenues for the water and sewer funds and this minimum utility charge was set up to help raise the funds instead of raising charges to all users.

The idea was that the costs of providing the services to the properties went on whether they were occupied or not.

The charge has resulted in a number of lots being cleaned up in the city because property owners felt it was better to take down sub-standard buildings than to play the $61.37 monthly minimum charge.

It looks like council members are having a change of heart on the matter and may soon charge each person with a water main in Mount Ayr an additional $5 a month instead of charging for the property where people have gone south for the winter or property that is not occupied for other reasons.

The $5 a month would apply to all properties but would be much less a month for unoccupied properties than the minimum now charged.

The charges have brought many people to the council over the past few years seeking 90-day waivers of the charges while they took a building down.

The new charges to all users would make up for the $37,000 a year that was raised with the minimum monthly utility charges on all properties and raise a few more dollars for the city water and sewer funds, which are not showing income like lenders would like to see.

Wes Mathany was the council member to ask for the discussion and Gerald Cannon said he was in favor of making the change as well.

“Under the minimum charge concept people who are not using water, sewer or garbage are subsidizing me I feel and it is not a good feeling,” he said.

Jim Feeback noted that he felt that simply paying for availability of services was appropriate. The water and sewer lines run past the property and there are costs that need to be recouped by the city for providing the service.

Mayor Don Solliday said that from his perspective the complaints have settled down over time. He noted that the measure had helped clean up properties that needed attention since it was in effect.

“I don’t care how the council decides to raise the money we need, but I will veto any effort to make a change in the ordinance if an alternative funding measure is not substituted for the minimum charges,” he said.

In  the discussion, it was suggested that the $5 monthly charge revenue be divided between the water and sewer funds.

City clerk Pam Poore noted that another increase from the Southern Iowa Rural Water Association was anticipated before the end of the year and another increase would be needed at that time.

Instead of making the final decision at the meeting Monday night, the council members decided to have city clerk Pam Poore crunch the numbers so the council could see specifically what the change would mean in city revenues and report back at the next meeting.

At that time, a change in the city ordinance could be started.

In other minimum charge matter questions, Wes Mathany questioned if all people who had their water shut off were being charged the $50 shut off fee.

Amanda Cannon, who handles the water billing, said she would put together a list of shutoffs taking place in the last 90 days to show that the billing had been done.

Another question was raised about special garden meters that people have for watering gardens and the like. 

Pam Poore explained that the city ordinance calls for a minimum 2,000 gallons be charged each month whether water is being used through the meter or not.

This ordinance may also be reviewed by the council after some members said they were unaware of how the matter was handled by the city ordinance.

  A podiatrist clinic, a professional health shortage designation, physician recruitment, national  drug shortage and the review and of the hospital charity care policy were just some of the topics discussed at the monthly meeting of the Ringgold County Hospital board Monday.

Podiatrist clinic

Podiatrist, Dr. Jill Frerichs, DPM, FACFAS, surgical podiatrist with Capital Orthopaedics, is going to start conducting her clinic at Ringgold County Hospital every third week, it was announced. Dr. Frerichs had a very busy first clinic on October 28 and a second clinic on November 18. Her next clinic is scheduled for December 9.

Physician recruitment

Hospital administrator Gordon Winkler has been working with Michelle Holst at the Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) trying to get Ringgold County  reclassified as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA).  

Winkler received notification that the county has been reclassified as a health professional shortage area. With this designation, the hospital has applied to be a National Health Service Corps (NHSC) provider site. This will allow physicians who work in this area to be eligible for governmental  loan repayment programs. Winkler was told the application process could take 60 to 90 days. The HPSA designation may also offer other financial benefits to the hospital that are being investigated.  

Ringgold County Hospital has had three site visits from potential physician prospects. Two are promising but not available until July 2012. The most recent visit was with a third year resident from Cedar Rapids, Jaswanth Guntakandla, M. D. Dr. Guntakandla interviewed well and the medical staff is comfortable with him.  Winkler received an optimistic email from him thanking him for the opportunity to visit.

Dr. Praveen Gundelly’s last day was last Wednesday, Nov. 16. Dr. Magers, Dr. Ricker, Ron Schafer, P.A., and Marcy Gregg, ARNP, will staff the Mount Ayr Medical Clinic until a replacement physician for Dr. Gundelly is secured.

Drug shortage

Winkler told the board that drug shortages have tripled over the last few years. Steve Roe, the Ringgold County Hospital pharmacist, told Winkler that the hospital is unable to get three drugs and are using substitutes. Several other drugs are on automatic back order. Roe said, “This is the biggest shortage of drugs he has seen in his 36 years as pharmacist.” The drug shortage has a number of contributing factors including fewer drug manufacturers, consolidation of drug manufacturers, shortage of raw materials and the fact that some drugs are manufactured overseas, which makes it difficult for the FDA to regulate.

  Retail sales in Ringgold county continued to climb during the first quarter of 2011, according to new figures from the Iowa Department of Revenue.

Retail sales in Ringgold county reached $14,516,746 for the first three months of 2011, an increase of $3,072,869 over the previous year and a 26.9 percent increase.

The sales for the three months beat the previous record of $11,443,877, which had been set in 2010.

Part of the spurt came with the continued roof and siding repairs to homes in the area from the big hail storm.

Across the state retail sales improved by 2.18 percent for the same period.

Ringgold county had by far the biggest sales increase of any of the surrounding counties for the period as well.

Sales ranged from a 10 percent decline in Adams county for the period to an 8.5 percent increase for Taylor county.

In Adams county, sales totaled $4,531,233 for the three moths, down $509,216 or 10.1 percent from the three month total in 2010. This was the lowest sales total there since 2007.

Clarke county had sales of $14,717,472 for the quarter, just barely above the Ringgold county sales. That was a decrease of $538,428 over the previous year’s comparable sales or a 3.5 percent decline. This was the lowest there since 2008.

Union county sales increased $1,039,623 or 4.2 percent for the period. The new total there was $25,804,457. Sales there have been higher four times in the past decade.

In Decatur county, sales were up $388,409 or 5.9 percent to $7,020,655. This was the best total there since 2007.

Taylor county sales reached $5,854,398 for the quarter, up 8.6 percent or $461,286 over the previous year. This was a new record for Taylor county.

  The Mount Ayr Community board of education renewed the sharing agreement with Diagonal Community Schools, heard updates on a variety of projects and activities and approved a couple of personnel issues at its regular meeting held Monday, Nov. 14.

Diagonal sharing agreement

Following a meeting between administrations from Diagonal and Mount Ayr Community, superintendent Joe Drake recommended the board continue the academic and athletic sharing agreement with Diagonal. 

Drake said both districts sought to simplify the payment structure by which Diagonal compensates Mount Ayr Community. Under the new agreement, the state per pupil cost would simply be divided by eight periods. For each period Diagonal students are enrolled in Mount Ayr classes, Diagonal would pay $641.38 per student for the current school year.

The new agreement also allows administration from both schools to negotiate changes or recommend renewal of future agreements. Under the original agreement, boards from both districts would meet in joint session once a year to discuss the arrangement.

The new agreement runs through June 2015.

Superintendent Drake voiced high praise for the agreement.  “Diagonal is our logical sharing partner,” he said.  “We should do everything we can to work together.”

Activities Director Delwyn Showalter also felt the agreement benefited the students of both schools. In response to a question of the effect Diagonal’s enrollment has on athletic classification, Showalter said, “From year to year we can’t predict which class we’ll be in. Regardless of class, there will be good competition.” 

He cited the possibility of Council Bluffs St. Albert dropping to Class A next year, along with Madrid and other traditional football powerhouses who are on the enrollment bubble.

Split middle school seasons

Showalter explained to the board his decision to split the middle school boys’ winter sports season into two halves: basketball and wrestling.

With the split season, students can participate in both basketball and wrestling. The basketball season will run until Christmas break, with the wrestling season to follow the break. 

With only two students out for middle school wrestling, Showalter explained the need for more exposure to the sport. 

“We’ve got to increase interest in our wrestling program if we intend to keep it,” he said. “If we get them to try it, some will stick with it.”

He added that many schools in our area already go with a split season. “We only had three basketball games after Christmas and only three wrestling events before Christmas, so splitting the schedule was not an issue.”

The girls will continue their current basketball schedule as planned.

Steak drawing

Sign up will begin today for the annual steak drawing at Mount Ayr businesses for the Christmas holiday season.

An advertisement in next week’s Mount Ayr Record-News will list all the participating businesses for the drawing for packages of four ribeye steaks.

Festival of trees

The annual festival of trees will be held at the Mount Ayr Depot Museum this December.

Any business, group, club, organization or individual may decorate and display a Christmas tree. Any size tree may be used.

The depot will be open during daylight hours from November 28 through December 3 so that trees may be brought in and decorated. All trees should be in place by December 3.

Those who do not have a tree but would like to decorate one, may decorate one that the Depot Museum already has. Just let them know if one is wanted to be decorated.

The Christmas trees will be on display on Saturday, Dec. 3, during the lighted parade and window walk and at other times as requested.

To make arrangements for setting up a tree, please contact any of the following people: Jake Dailey at 464-2431, Doris Rule at 464-3687, Bob Sickels at 464-2450 or Thelma Rusk at 464-3564.

Moonlighter play

The Moonlighter’s Theater Group will be presenting “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” in three performances.

The play will be performed at 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2, and Saturday, Dec. 3, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 4. at the Princess Theater.

Tickets are on sale now at the Princess Theater and Mount Ayr Record-News for the event.

Lighted parade, Window Walk

The lighted Christmas parade and Window Walk will be held in Mount Ayr Saturday, Dec. 3.

The parade will be held at 6 p.m.  and the Window Walk will be on display from 6 to 8 p.m.

The theme for both the lighted parade and the window walk will be “Holiday Traditions.”

The committee would like businesses, organizations, churches, families and individuals to participate.

Please contact Dara Greenland at 464-2489 or the chamber office at 464-3704 to sign up for the window walk. The committee would like to know by November 15 so that windows and participants can be organized.

There will be prizes awarded in several categories for the best windows as well as parade entries.

Concerts

Concerts are planned by Simply Voices as well as a host of school concerts.

Simply Voices will present their concert this year on Saturday, Dec. 3, as part of the big evening of Christmas activities in Mount Ayr.

Their concert, “A King Changes Everything,” will be held at 4 p.m. at the Mount Ayr United Methodist Church. The UMC children’s choir will also be participating.

The Tingley and Ellston United Methodist Churches will be presenting a Christmas cantata “Joyful Celebration” on Sunday, Dec. 4, at 1:30 and 4 p.m. at the Ellston United Methodist Church.

In the Diagonal Community school district, the elementary winter program is planned Thursday, Dec. 1, at 6:30 p.m. and the middle school-high school program Thursday, Dec. 8, at 6:30 p.m.

In the Mount Ayr Community school district, the junior kindergarten through fourth grade concert will be Monday, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m.

The seventh through 12th grade band winter concert will be held Monday, Dec. 12.

The vocal music program gets its opportunity to shine for seventh through 12th grade on Monday, Dec. 19, at 7 p.m.

Santa visits

A number of visits to Mount Ayr by Santa Claus are also planned. More details will be announced in coming weeks.

Pamida will be hosting the jolly old elf on Saturdays in December -- December 3, 10, 17 and 24 -- from 2 to 4 p.m. each day.

  Voters in only two precincts gave the public measure on the $9 million bond for public roads a majority when voters defeated the measure 556-506 at the election last week.

Voters in the Kellerton precicnt voted 57-43 in favor of the measure while voters in the Delphos, Maloy and Benton precinct voted 21-11 to support the bond issue.

The measure failed in the absentee and five other precincts, final results show.

The measure was defeated 234-206 in the Mount Ayr precinct, the largest negative vote of any precinct.

A 60 percent majority was needed to pass the issue so 632 yes votes would have been needed to prevail. The measure fell short by 126 votes.

Results by precinct included:

Precinct Yes No

Absentee 26 35

Delphos/Maloy/Benton 21 11

Diagonal 90 96

Ellston 66 69

Kellerton 57 43

Mount Ayr 206 234

Redding 9 29

Tingley 31 39

Total 506 556

  Ringgold county voters rejected a bond issue that would have provided for paving a number of county roads with the measure not even receiving a majority in a special election Tuesday as part of the municipal elections.

According to unofficial results released Tuesday night, the measure received 506 yes votes to 556 no votes, or a 48 percent affirmative vote. With the number of county voters taking part in the election, the issue would have had to receive 640 affirmative votes to pass.

With the decision by voters, more county roads that currently have paving will revert to gravel roads over the next few years if funding levels remain the same.

The bond issue would have raised $9 million for paving approximately 25 miles of roadway and resurfacing approximately 26 miles of roadway with seal coat.

For the most part, incumbents won re-election where running, but that was not the case on the Mount  Ayr city council.

Stutzman joins Mount Ayr council

In the Mount Ayr race, newcomer Deloris Stutzman ended up receiving the most votes of any council member running and incumbent Jim Feeback was defeated.

The unofficial vote totals for the Mount Ayr city council included  294 for Delois Stutzman, 267 for Gerald Cannon and 253 for Wes Mathany. Jim Feeback received 104 votes in the election.

Don Solliday was elected to a new term as mayor of Mount Ayr, running unopposed. He received 278 votes for the position. 

Clearfield, Delphos and 

Kellerton  races

There were also races in the elections in Clearfield, Delphos,  and Kellerton.

In Clearfield, Sharon Brown was the only one on the ballot for mayor, but she was defeated by write-in candidate John Pirtle who had 60 votes to 20 for Brown.

Named to the two open spots on the city council were Pil Buchanan and JD Mackey. Phil Buchanan received 62 votes, JD Mackey had 83 votes and Jason Cole had 29 votes.

In Delphos, Rebecca Caldwell won the vote for mayor with six votes. Kevin Ray was also on the ballot and received one vote.

The fifth member of the city council is yet to be determined in Delphos. Ashley Ray had the most votes with seven to be named to the council. Incumbents Lesa Saville and Bernie Rothman both received six votes to be re-elected. Ruth Marie Saville also received six votes to be elected. There was a tie between Debbie Roach and Cindy Percifield for the fifth council spot with two votes each.

In Kellerton, Kristina Nail was re-elected as mayor with 36 votes.

Named to the council were Rodney Holmes with 44 votes, Mathew West with 44 votes and Paul Fifer with 38 votes.

Incumbent Diana Euritt lost her seat, receiving 37 votes in the election. Also running was Debbie Munyon, who received 19 votes.

Write-in winners

Write-in winners were named in four communities.

In Benton, Bob Haley was elected mayor with 13 votes. Don Zollman received six votes for mayor. 

Named to the council were Joan Stringham with 13 votes, Bobbie Haley with 11 votes and Richard Swank with 11 votes.

Other vote totals included Daron Richie with eight, Kelly Richie with seven and Diane Zollman with six.

In Maloy, Jeanette Todd was named mayor with three votes. Stephanie Cole was named to the city council with three votes. Tieing with two votes each were Mel Burton, Amanda Overholser and Linda Murphy. One of these three will be chosen for the council.

In Ellston, Tim Creveling was named mayor with 18 write-in votes. Elected to the council were Jerri Stewart with 16 votes, Nancy Derscheid with 15 votes, Hester Derscheid with 11 votes, Gene Reed with 11 votes and Curt Jones with nine votes.

Others receiving votes included Joan Bullock with seven and Janelle Staats with five.

In Redding, Dan Quick was named mayor with nine write-in votes. Also receiving votes were Dick Snethen with four.

Named to the city council were Dick Snethen with 14 votes, Jerry Overholser with 13 votes, Francis Hanks with 11 votes and Jeff Quick with 10 votes. Four residents tied for the fifth spot on the council with five votes each so a choice will need to be made from these four. They included Dorothy Barber, Jay Cox, Frank Baker and Tom Kelley.

Communities with people on the ballot but no ballot races included Beaconsfield, Blockton, Diagonal and Tingley.

In the Beaconsfield election, Gary Smith was elected mayor with six votes and incumbents Connie Neesen and Michael Neesen along with Steve Wolf were named to the council with six votes each.

In Blockton Richard Brown was elected mayor with 48 votes. Write-in James Treadaway had 23 votes.

John Cavin received 56 votes and Jodi Rae Lawrence received 54 votes to be elected to the two open council seats.

In Diagonal, Lowell Johnson was re-elected as mayor with 50 votes. Incumbents also were renamed to the council. James Norris received 52 votes, Shon O’Kelley 51 votes and Doug Ruby 47 votes.

In Tingley, Nancy Jarred was named mayor with 46 votes. Incumbents Robert Johnson and Jeremy Weeda also were re-elected with 46 votes each. Sharon Case joined the council with 38 votes.

Sun Valley election

In the other election that was part of the voting Tuesday, Rudy Lucia was named to the Sun Valley Rural Improvement Zone board. He received 36 votes.

Also on the ballot was Michael Hopins. Hopkins had 32 votes in the close election.

  Much of the Mount Ayr city council meeting Monday night revolved around personnel matters -- hiring two workers on permanent status, making a group health insurance decision and reviewing an new employee handbook.

Along the way the council also held two public hearings -- one on a skid-steer loader loan agreement and the other on the bathhouse-Federal Emergency Management Agency community safe room project.

Slip lining, building permits, police vehicle bids, recycling efforts and a grant drawdown were also among the many topics for the council at the meeting.

Personnel matters

Mayor Don Solliday brought the recommendation to the council that Cody Jay and Ben Graham be moved from temporary seasonal worker status to permanent worker status with the city.

A question was raised in the discussion was if the matter of the employment of Barry Schuster had been finalized so that the new employees would not be bumped if something developed later on this situation.

Jim Feeback and Gerald Cannon began a discussion of how the hiring might be affected by the group health insurance decision coming up later.

After some discussion, the council voted 3-1 to hire the two workers on a permanent basis with Jim Feeback voting against the measure. Council member Brent Ricker was not present Monday night.

Group health insurance

The council made a decision on what kind of health insurance plan to offer employees for the coming year.

After shopping around for insurance, the city found a plan with United Health Care that would cost the city $3,448.40 a month to cover employees and their families.

At first Jim Feeback had questions about covering families as part of the package, but when it was pointed out that the package was close to the $500 a month per employee limit the city had made, he was convinced to join the other three council members present in approving the plan.

It was noted that this plan is half of what the city was paying for medical insurance previously.

The city has the flexibility with its current employees to change the insurance plan from year to year to find a plan that the city thinks it can afford.

Employee handbook review

The council spent the better portion of the meeting reviewing an employee policy listing and employee handbook being developed for city employees.

All the city employees were on hand at the meeting for the discussion.

The policies and handbook were reviewed page by page with suggestions for changes made.

Following the lengthy review, the council asked that city clerk Pam Poore draw up a final version of the policies and handbook for approval by the council at a later meeting.

Topics such as clothing allowance, vision insurance, employment development training, payment for gaining licenses, longevity pay, comp time, vacation and employee conduct were discussed during the review.

  Would you believe that on January 7 at approximately 8:50 p.m.  Eastern Standard Time, a line was delivered over a TV show that started the whole country using a new speech mannerism?

“Get Smart” was the show and the greatest moment occurred when Maxwell Smart is apparently trapped by the head of KAOS, Mr. Big.

Smart - “At this very moment there are seven Coast Guard cutters getting ready to converge on your speedboat. Would you believe it? Seven.”

Mr. Big -” I find that pretty hard to believe.”

Smart - “Would you believe six?”

That’s where it started and now the Mount Ayr Community high school drama club is bringing this beloved comedy to the stage Friday and Saturday, Nov. 11-12.

Performances will be at 7 p.m. both nights and there will be a pie auction at intermission to help raise funds for the drama program. 

The cast members selected at tryout are:

Maxwell Smart -- Alex Sobotka; Helen --Kylie Wilson; Myra  -- Erin Dolecheck; Jane -- Emily Fox; Becca -- Dakota Daniels; Fred -- Dawson Knapp; Nicole -- Miranda Ward; Professor Dante-- Joey Taylor; Professor Zalinka -- Katelyn Warin; Agent 44 -- Dusty Lyden; Chief -- Johnathan Triggs; Miss Finch -- Madison Hosfield; Hodgkins -- Braydee Poore; Man -- Ben Saville; Woman -- Dakota Daniels; Baseball Fanatic -- Courtney Withee; Baseball Fanatic -- Billi Jo Stark; Garth -- Zane Sickels; Mary Wong -- Taylor Still; Shirley Wong -- Desirae Trammell; Betsy Wong -- Leah Klejch; Nelly Wong -- Allison Wallace; 

Mr. Big -- Dustin Pritchett; Big Sister -- Shelbie Greene; Little Sister-- Allie Shields; Waiter -- Tyler Triggs; Agent 99 -- Maggie Jennett; Agent 13 -- Hagan Willis; Ann -- Hannah Fletchall; Jill -- Caitlin Giles; May -- Jena James; Laura -- Carli Hand; Dana -- Jazmine Spurrier; Princess Ingrid -- Jessie Ricker; Radio Voice -- Naomi Richards; Voice of Control -- Matt Kerns, Voice of Kaos -- Jacob Sobotka.

Crew members include assistants to Mrs. Kniep -- Kylee Klommhaus and Logan Wimer; stage manager – Katherine Uhlenkamp; lights -- Hunter Brown, Derek Hand, Brooke Chenoweth, Cassidy McAtee, Blake Roberts;  sound -- Nathan Roberts; special effects and set -- Collier Wilmes and Joe Ricker; hair and makeup -- Hannah Glendenning, Bailea Stark and Baylee Arends.

  Initial bargaining positions were shared and negotiations between the Ringgold county board of supervisors and the Public Professional and Maintenance Employees unit for Ringgold county secondary roads department employees in meetings for the Ringgold county board of supervisors this past week.

The board also heard about the valuations roll back process, handled some other secondary road matters, discussed incident investigation policy and procedures and received other reports during a busy week.

The county and union exchanged opening bargaining proposals Monday morning in preparation for the first negotiations session held Monday afternoon between supervisors and the union.

Union’s position

The union’s proposal included:

-- an increase of $1 an hour in in current hourly wages effective July 1, 2012 which would amount to a five percent hike in wages.

-- deleting the example authorization form from the dues checkoff section of the contract.

-- add a new section on sick leave to read “Accumulated sick leave may be used for illness or medical and dental appointments of the employee’s immediate family. Immediate family for this section is the employee’s spouse, child and parent including step, foster and legal guardianships.

-- change the last sentence on the language on injury reporting to read “The Iowa Workers Compensation Act allows the employer to refuse an injury claim for an unreported incident after 90 days.”

-- change a sentence in the reduction in force language to read “The layoff shall be accomplished in the following sequence: 1. Temporary; 2) Part-time; 3. Probationary; 4) permanent. The employee with the least bargaining unit seniority shall be the first to be laid off.”

-- Add a paragraph in the safety language to read: “Employees who carry cell phones during working hours shall be paid $30 per month as reimbursement for emergency and job-related communications.”

Language for the effective period would be changed to reflect the new July 1, 2012 beginning date for the agreement.

The union also wants to discuss the problems associated with the mechanic position currently held vacant.

Supervisors response

In response, the county supervisors are not offering any change in the current wage rates.

They agree to the deletion of the authorization form requested by the union under the dues checkoff section and to the updating the effective period of the contract.

In the leaves section, the supervisors did not accept the sick leave language change but is asking to make a change in the personal leave section to read:

“Employees are eligible for one personal day per fiscal year. Personal days are not cumulative and must be used within the fiscal year. Personal days not used will be forfeited. Personal leave shall be requested in advance and shall be by mutual agreement between the county engineer and the employee requesting the leave. Personal leave may be taken in one hour increments granted with permission of the county engineer or working foreman.”

The county proposal would reject the change in the mileage reimbursement language, not change the injury reporting language, not change the reduction in force language and not add the paragraph about cell phone usage. It does not address the request for discussion on the open mechanic position.

Meanwhile the county raises issues for negotiation of its own.

Under the grievance section the last sentence that reads “Any non-probationary employee discipline, suspension or discharge is subject to be grieved” would be deleted.

In the overtime section, the language would be changed to delete the provision for overtime after eight hours in a day and delete the second paragraph on compensatory time.

The insurance portion of the contract would be changed to read: “Group health insurance benefits are available to eligible full-time employees upon application. The employer shall pay up to $747.72 for single coverage and up to $857.72 for family coverage for the group health, dental and vision insurance plans designated by the employer. Premium amounts above the county’s contribution will be paid by the employee. An employee’s participation for group insurance coverage shall cease immediately upon termination of employment.”

A change in the safety section would change Class B to Class A.

Both sides reserved the right to add, delete or modify their proposals during the course of bargaining.

  Governor Terry Branstad and lieutenant governor Kim Reynolds brought a town meeting on their blueprint for improving education in Iowa to Mount Ayr Tuesday, Oct. 25, in a meeting in the Mount Ayr Community high school auditorium.

The state leaders are sharing information about the plan and gathering feedback to help refine the proposal.

Branstad said that another draft of the plan with a budget to implement it over the next 10 years would be presented for the next legislative term.

The goal of the new program is to better prepare and equip students to succeed in the international marketplace.

“Students need a versatile set of skills to be able to analyze information and think creatively,”  Branstad told those attending.

Iowa schools led the nation in 1990 in student achievement but have dropped in rankings and other states have improved their student achievement.

Also important is how students in Iowa stack up with students around the world and high goals are being set to compete at this level as well.

The centerpiece of the program is to have a great teacher in every classroom and a great principal in every building and giving support so this can happen.

Setting high expectations for all students, putting in place fair measurements to make sure expectations are being met and putting in place ways to broaden educational experiences of Iowa students are also part of the plan.

Lieutenant governor Reynolds gave more of the details of the plan.

To work on improving teacher quality, the GPA required to be a teacher would be raised to a B average. Entry level salaries would be increased to $28,000 to attract more of the brightest students.

To help strengthen instruction, a four tier system for teacher pay would be put into place -- with teachers able to move to the new system or stay in the current lane and step system. New teachers would be involved in the newer system.

There would be apprentice teachers, career teachers, mentor teachers and master teachers. Master teachers would teach 50 percent of the time and mentor other teachers 50 percent of the time.

New principals would start as apprentices and programs to allow principals to spend more time as instructional leaders would be put in place.

To help with high expectations for students, the core curriculum would be strengthened in schools across the state and methods for better testing would be developed.

There would be a new kindergarten assessment and end of program exams for some high school courses.

Children who could not read by the end of the third grade would be retained until they could read under the plan.

A similar plan in Florida moved with 13.2 percent retention to 5.9 percent retention over several years.

Innovation would also be encouraged, making it easier for charter schools to be started and providing more first rate online learning options. Working to make sure parents are actively involved with students and the school system would be another effort.

One possibility down the road would be to lengthen the school day or provide school on more days to per year, it was noted.

  Daylight Savings Time falls back, giving people an extra hour early Sunday, Nov. 6.

At 2 a.m. clocks are officially set back an hour, meaning that it will be getting darker earlier for coming months.

Clocks need to be set back Saturday evening before going to bed to ensure not arriving to Sunday activities an hour early.

The time will “spring forward”  again in the spring.

  Voters will be choosing city officials, Sun Valley Improvement board members and making a decision on a public measure to provide $9 million for county road improvement when they go to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 8.

The election will be unlike the usual municipal election cycle when rural residents aren’t involved as all residents of the county will be voting on the road bonding measure in this election.

Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the election. Expanded polling places will be in effect because of the municipal  elections.

Voting will be done at seven sites across the county for the election.

Voting for town elections for Beaconsfield and Ellston will be done at the Ellston Community Center.

Voting for the towns of Benton, Delphos and Maloy will be done at the Waubonsie Community building in Benton.

Diagonal voters will vote at the Diagonal community building. Kellerton voters at the Kellerton community building,  Mount Ayr voters at the Ringgold county courthouse, Redding voters at the Redding Frontier Hall and Tingley voters at the Tingley community building.

County voters outside of county towns will go to the polling place they usually vote in.

Sample ballots and notice of the election are included in today’s Mount Ayr Record-News.

Taking a page out of the playbook for Iowa caucus success of visiting all of Iowa’s 99 counties, Senator Rick Santorum from Pennsylvania brought his campaign for president of the United States to Mount Ayr Monday afternoon.

Santorum shared his ideas on boosting the economy, education and values issues among others with the dozen or so people who attended his town hall meeting at Jamie’s Coffee Mill and Deli.

Ringgold county was his 77th stop in his effort to gain grassroots support for his campaign by visiting all 99 of Iowa’s counties. He has held 160 town hall meeting visits with groups like the one on Mount Ayr in his effort to gain caucus support here.

Santorum said he made an effort to get into rural areas of Iowa for a couple of reasons.

When he ran for the U. S. Senate in Pennsylvania in 1994, his time visiting Pennsylvania’s rural counties and the support he garnered there helped him defeat a Democrat incumbent.

As the only candidate who will visit all 99 counties in the state as part of the lead up to the caucuses, he hopes that his efforts to reach all areas across the state will bear fruit.

Another reason he has made the effort is that he has focused on rural issues and was the first member of the ag and rural affairs committee of the Senate from Pennsylvania in 100 years, he noted. He served there with Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley.

Rural issues have been an important part of the efforts he has made in his legislative career in the Senate, he noted.

Economic plan

His economic plan for the country focuses in on manufacturing, which is also very important to rural economies, Santorum said.

One of the things we need to do for rural areas and the economy overall is to rebuild our manufacturing base, he said.

He noted that in many small communities there have been manufacturing plants of one kind of another that have boosted the local economies and he hopes to turn the tide to help make it possible for manufacturing plants to return.

First and foremost he would cut tax rates and then eliminate a lot of the deductions and exclusions that are currently in the tax code.

He would hold on to the five biggest exemptions which benefit the most Americans. These include the deductions for charitable giving, kids (to make sure families are not disproportionately taxed for having children), health insurance, mortgage interest and retirement savings.

The rest of the individual tax deductions would be dropped in Santorum’s plan.

For corporations, the tax rate would be cut from 35 percent to  17.5 percent while getting rid of deductions and exclusions there as well.

To help boost jobs, any corporation foreign or domestic that manufactures something in the United States would not have to pay any tax on its profits from manufacturing.

“This would make us competitive enough to attract many manufacturing jobs back to the United States,” he noted.

He also believes that this would help repatriate some of the $1.2 trillion in profits that companies are holding in foreign subsidiaries because bringing those profits back to the United States would be taxed so heavily.

To help boost increases in jobs, he would also review regulations that the government has on businesses.

If a regulation costs businesses more than $100 million to fulfill, he would repeal or replace the regulation to be less financially onerous.

Helping with stable energy costs would also be a big help to allowing businesses, especially manufacturers, to grow.

“We need to work toward cheap and reliable sources of energy,” he noted.

He would let “all flowers of energy bloom” and let the market work to produce the best and most economical energy, getting rid of government subsidies on energy supplies.

More electrical energy needs to be produced from all possible sources and he would be in favor of drilling for oil wherever it can be found.

He noted how important natural gas will be for the future as well, saying that new finds in Texas and Pennsylvania mean that the United States should have a stable supply of natural gas for the foreseeable future.

He noted that when he left the Senate in 2007, natural gas was selling for $12, but that has fallen to $3.60 because of a boom in supply.

“With smaller taxes, stable energy costs and less regulation, businesses would have a better opportunity to flourish,” Santorum noted.

“We may not be able to compete to regain jobs which rely only on cheap wages, but for businesses where labor is a smaller component and some of these other aspects more important, it will be more and more possible for companies to return.

  It’s been a couple of decades since the dream of a new jail for Ringgold county was first talked about by county sheriffs and almost five years since Ringgold county voters approved a one-cent sales tax to fund one.

Finally the new Ringgold County Law Enforcement Center is getting ready to open and the public will have the opportunity to tour the new facility tonight (Thursday) from 6 to 8 p.m.

Sheriff Mike Sobotka and the staff will be on hand to give people a tour of the facility that is hoped that most residents will not be using as an inmate once it becomes operational.

The dream began with the three sheriffs that preceded sheriff Mike Sobotka beginning to talk about the need for a facility to replace the 1927-era jail that the county has had all these years.

“Someone said that the jail was set up then to house chicken thieves and much has changed in how jails are set up an run since then,” Sobotka said of the new facility.

Sobotka says that the new jail should be able to last as long as the last jail. “I’ll be disappointed if it doesn’t,” he commented.

Visitors will gather in the lobby on the north side of the building for the tours. They will go through the administrative portion of the building first, then see the booking area, view the five pods for holding prisoners (three male and two female), go through the “exercise yard” room and view the control room where the dispatching and jail control equipment in housed.

  Want to see what all movies at movie theaters across the country will all look like by 2012?

View your next film at the Princess Theater in Mount Ayr to see the digital technology that most theaters will be changing to in the next year or two.

What a difference it makes in picture and sound quality.

It’s sort of like the difference between  regular television and high definition television. With digital projectors there is no flicker, there are no streaks down the screen from scratches to the film, there are no bad seats in the house from the front row on back.

With the new digital sound system, sound surrounds the audience in new ways.

And the Princess Theater is the first theater in the area to make the change.

Beginning with last weekend’s  showing of “The Dolphin Tale”, movies shown at the Princess Theater are shown on a new $60,000 NEC digital projector that was recently installed.

Also part of the package is sound equipment and a scaler that will allow any DVD to be increased in size to fill the screen at the theater.

But the projector and its computer equipment do more than just show a film (whoops that’s a word that is losing its meaning).

The system is hooked into the light dimmers in the theater so when the trailers for new movies are shown the lights go down to one stage and when the feature comes on the lights go on down. When the credits start to run, the lights come back up part way to help people find their way out.

It’s an amazing piece of equipment that allows the operator to program in all of these kinds of items when setting up the evening’s entertainment.

Another big change is in the way movies arrive.

In the past, big reels of film were delivered to the theater. Now the movie comes on a computer hard drive.

The digital movie is then downloaded into the theater computer for use and the hard drive returned. The theater then receives a digital “key” that unlocks the movie to be shown for the days it has been scheduled. If the movie is to be “held over”, a new computer key is sought.

  Approval of the notice to bidders for the bathhouse/FEMA safe room project at Judge Lewis Park, a discussion of employee health insurance, an amendment to the water and sewer rates, some sewer line projects and more were part of the regular meeting of the Mount Ayr city council meeting Monday night.

In addition the council approved two proclamations for awareness months, approved a tax abatement request and talked about a variety of other topics in miscellaneous business.

Bathhouse project

The board approved the construction schedule, notice to bidders and notice of public hearing for the construction of the new bath house and Federal Emergency Management Agency safe room at the swimming pool at Judge Lewis Park.

The new building will be built on the east side of the present pool as the first phase in what is hoped to be a replacement of the pool as well.

The project will include eventual demolition of the current bath house, fencing, concrete work, construction of the new bath house and site utilities among other things.

The building will be built with a FEMA grant as well as matching funds raised by the Mount Ayr Aquatic Center committee.

A public hearing on the project was set for Monday, Nov. 7, at 6:30 p.m. at city hall.

Bids will be opened Thursday, Nov. 17, and the award of bids is set for Monday, Nov. 21, at 6:30 p.m.

A notice to bidders is included in today’s Mount Ayr Record-News.

Burbach Aquatics, Inc. of Platteville, WI, is the firm designing the project.

Employee health insurance 

The council had a discussion about health insurance options for the city employees at the meeting as well.

Several options for insurance for employees have been gathered and were shared at a meeting.

Ted Wood told the council that he felt the city employees would be more comfortable with a traditional plan than a Health Savings Account approach.

Having some flexibility with the health insurance options that was not available with union employees has meant that great savings can be found.

The council is looking at an Alliance Select plan that costs $839 a month for family coverage. This is half the rate of the old union policy.

No decision on the health insurance was made at the meeting. The council decided to focus its November 7 meeting on a review of an employee handbook and an insurance discussion.

Employees will be invited to attend the meeting to review the handbook and the council hopes to be able to make its final insurance decision at that time.

  Details were worked out on how to cover the duties of secondary principal Ken Harrison, who recently resigned to take a position in Chariton, in a special meeting of the Mount Ayr Community school board Wednesday, Oct. 12.

Superintendent Joe Drake brought a recommendation on staffing to the board which will be tried at least until the semester break and the board approved it.

Under the plan elementary principal Lynne Wallace will serve as principal for both the elementary and secondary schools and several other staff members will pick up added duties.

For adding the other building in her principal duties, Wallace will receive $25,000 for the rest of the year if the plan works well.

Guidance counselor John Larsen will pick up some of the minor discipline issues when Wallace is not present in the high school building and will receive an extra $4,000.

Athletic director Delwyn Showalter will take some added responsibilities when Wallace cannot make it to sporting events and receive an extra $2,000.

Secretaries Diana Arends, Cindy Stephens and Kathy Triggs will each receive an extra $500 stipend for additional secretarial duties.

The additional salaries will be paid on a monthly basis in case the board decides to move to another alternative before the end of the school year.

If this method of handling the duties does not prove satisfactory for some reason, Drake held open the possibility of hiring an interim principal at some point to finish out the year. The name of former principal Darrell Bartling was mentioned as a possible candidate if this route is taken.

  Ringgold county area residents will have the opportunity to learn about the education transformation plan put forward by Governor Terry Branstad and Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds in a town hall meeting Tuesday, Oct. 25, at 11 a.m. at the Mount Ayr Community high school auditorium.

Brandstad and Reynolds will be on hand to make a presentation and answer questions about the education issues as part of a tour of the state to talk about the issues.

Sessions in Leon and Bedford are planned the same day in a swing through southern Iowa. The public is invited to attend the meting.

  Despite a presentation by Ringgold county officials to Iowa Department of Revenue officials illustrating where local officials did not feel the current law and rules were being followed, the department issued their final order concerning agricultural values this week.

The final equalization notice does not make adjustments in residential or commercial realty, but increases agricultural land and structures by 11 percent.

Once the state rollback is taken into effect, however, the actual valuation for ag land and buildings will slip by almost eight percent -- dropping the ag valuation in the county by $8.92 million in a time when actual ag land values are soaring.

It’s just as county assessor Neil Morgan has been warning for a long time. Taxable value in Ringgold county is being shifted from ag land and buildings to residential property at a rapid rate. For the first time in history, the residential property taxable valuation will outstrip the ag land and buildings taxable value in Ringgold county.

This will have implications that will soon be very recognizable to area taxpayers.

“The loss of ag value in concert with the residential rollback number will result in another very significant shift in tax burden toward residential property,” Neil Morgan noted. “It will also have significant impact on the Diagonal school districts taxable value as they have lesser amounts of residential value compared to agricultural values.  Officials there will be hard pressed to not raise already very high levy rates to maintain steady dollars.”

All in all, the changes mean that agricultural property has gone from handling 55 percent of the total county tax burden to 44 percent with residential property picking up the difference.

It is the contention of Morgan that if the Department of Revenue would use figures that more accurately reflect the productive use of land in Ringgold county that the ag land and building adjustment should actually be 35 percent for the coming year.

That would show an increase in taxable value for the ag land and property in the county that more fairly reflects what is actually occurring here.

Morgan has appealed the final equalization order on behalf of the county and will continue his battle to try to get some equity in how the agricultural formula for tax valuation is interpreted and enforced.

Local officials are considering whether to take the matter to legal channels.  Even if that were successful the effect on values for this winter’s budget purposes would most likely be too late.

       See the print or online editions for more details.

 The resignation of a principal, board reorganization, and various reports comprised the agenda of the Mount Ayr Community board of directors at their regular meeting Monday, Oct. 10.

Harrison resignation

The biggest piece of news coming out of Monday’s meeting was the resignation of Ken Harrison, MAC 7-12 principal. The resignation is effective October 21.

In his letter to the board, Harrison explained he has accepted the position of director of curriculum and instruction in the Chariton school district. He thanked the board, the teachers and the community for their support and friendship during his tenure as principal.

Superintendent Joe Drake told the board they had two main options to fill the principal’s position. One, they could seek an interim principal to finish out the current school year while advertising for a permanent replacement to begin the 2012-2013 school year. Two, current K-6 principal Lynne Wallace could assume the majority of the K-12 principal responsibilities, at least in the short term. 

He said the board could revisit the arrangement at the end of the first semester and decide then to go with an interim principal if necessary.

Drake explained that Wallace, who has certification as a K-12 administrator, would need assistance, especially at the high school level, with day-to-day student issues and supervisory duties. He recommended 7-12 guidance counselor John Larsen be named dean of students to help handle student issues while activities director Delwyn Showalter could assume additional supervisory duties. All would be paid stipends for the added responsibilities.

In his recommendation to choose the second option, Drake said moving Wallace into a K-12 principal position would give the district the best opportunity to continue moving forward with many of its current goals and initiatives.

The board set a work session for Wednesday at 5:15 p.m. to finalize plans for the transition.

On a side note, the community meetings arranged by Harrison in Redding, Tingley, and Kellerton for later this month have been postponed, pending the board’s decision to fill the position.

Diagonal sharing agreement

Drake informed the board of a meeting held Monday between the Diagonal administration and the Mount Ayr Community administration dealing with the ongoing sharing agreement between the two districts. Under the agreement, Diagonal and Mount Ayr  Community  share a certain number of academic classes as well as football, track and baseball. 

He said both sides felt the arrangement was working very well, and both shared the desire to maintain the agreement.

Minor revisions to the existing contract including simplifying the description of compensation for services shared as well as amending the annual review process. Both districts recommended that annual reviews be conducted by administration instead of both boards in joint session. 

Either board could still call for a special meeting if the need arose.  

  Some 91 walkers participated across Ringgold county as part of 291,000 Iowans who voted with their feet in favor of the new Healthiest State Initiative by participating in Start Somewhere Walks held across Iowa on Friday, according to estimates by walk organizers.

Start Somewhere Walks were held in each of Iowa’s 99 counties, including one led by Governor Branstad around the State Capitol complex.

Walk organizers had set a goal of 250,000 Start Somewhere Walk participants to best a walk world record currently claimed by Canada, which had 231,635 walk participants in 2007. Iowans beat that total even though it has less than one-tenth of the population of Canada.

Five walkers from Great Western Bank in Mount Ayr joined the group of 20 walkers on the square for a few rounds around the courthouse and another 36 people walked around the Mount Ayr Community high school track.

There were an additional 35 people who walked from the Tingley Mealsite at the Community Building to the pump and back. 

  Both the Diagonal School (preschool through 12th grade) and Mount Ayr Community elementary school took time out of their day on Thursday to walk with students around town as part of the making Iowa the Healthiest State in the Nation program. No school was held on Friday so these students participated on Thursday.

  Gordon Winkler, chief executive officer of Ringgold County Hospital in Mount Ayr, was named the recipient of the “Excellence in Leadership Award” at the Iowa Hospital Association’s annual meeting in Des Moines Wednesday,  Oct.5.  

Each year the award is presented to an outstanding Iowa hospital or health-system executive who shows achievement in local, state, and national healthcare affairs; leadership among peers, and contributions to the community. The recognition is to be a recognition of proven dedication to excellence.  

Specifically, Winkler was commended for his vision and leadership in bringing quality physicians to Ringgold county.  He was also recognized for the addition of an outpatient dialysis unit and the design and construction of Ringgold County’s new hospital.  

    Several preparatory steps to seeking a Community Development Block Grant for a drinking water improvement project, horse manure concerns, cement bids and a trick or treat night were among topics for the Mount Ayr city council at its regular meeting Monday night.
    The council also approved a pump maintenance contract, discussed a water meter plan, discussed street repair, discussed the garbage contract and talked about an employee handbook during the evening.
Water improvement project
     A public hearing on the intent to seek Community Development Block Grant funds and review of a request for qualifications for an engineering firm and a request for proposals for administering the grant were handled at the meeting Monday.
    The city intends to make improvements to the drinking water system to improve flows, remove inefficient routing and improve water quality for users, those present at the hearing were  told. Water for the city would be rerouted to no longer go through the old water treatment plant at the old reservoir just north of Mount Ayr as part of the plan.
    The proposed improvements will cost an estimated $548,000 of which $215,000 would be a Community Development Block Grant and $333,000 in Iowa Department of Natural Resources SRF loan funds.
    The application will be submitted by November 2.
    A survey of Mount Ayr residents is being done to determine that at least 51 percent of the funds would benefit low and moderate income persons.
    The council then reviewed the request for qualifications for engineers for the drinking water system improvements. Only one proposal was received -- that from MSA Professional Services. Several other firms were contacted but did not submit proposals.
    The council scored the application  on a score sheet used for Community Development Block Grant proposals. Following the process, the council voted to use MSA Professional for the engineering services for the water project.
    The council also reviewed the requests for proposals for administering the CDBG grant. Two submissions for the administration of the grant were received -- one from MSA Professional Services and the other from the Southern Iowa Council of Governments.
    The council scored the two applications on a score sheet again, including the proposed costs for the work. MSA, who offered to do the work for $13,500, scored 10 points better than SICOG, which offered to do the work for $17,500.
    The council then voted to approve the highest score and cheapest bid and give the contract to MSA Professional Services. The vote was 4-1 for MSA with Jim Feeback voting against the proposal.
Trick or treat night
    The council decided to set Trick or Treat night in Mount Ayr for Sunday, Oct. 30, from 4 to 7 p.m.
    The Tingley Halloween Fun Night is set for Saturday, Sept. 29,   and the first round of the football playoffs are planned for Monday, Oct. 31.

 

    Mount Ayr’s city council and the Mount Ayr Chamber of Commerce are partnering in a project to replace the welcome signs on Highway 2 and are asking for help from the public in the design.
    Everyone is invited to submit designs, pictures, sketches or ideas for the new entrance signs. The ideas will be accepted until December 1.
    Ideas and designs for new locations and additional entrance signage will also be accepted, including an arch over Taylor Street at Lynn’s Sinclair and Great Western Bank.
    A committee chaired by Lisa Conklin and including Brad Elliott, Burt Murpohy, Doug Rohrer, Michell Ricker, Kathy Hermann and Mary Ellen Devereux Taylor has been established.
    Ideas should be submitted to Michell Ricker, 600 E. Madison Street, Mount Ayr, IA 50854. She can also be contacted at 641-464-2264 or by email at bmricker@mchsi.com.
    To serve on the committee or share ideas call Lisa Conklin at 641-234-0361 or contact any member of the committee.

    Voters will be voting on city officials, Sun Valley Improvement board members and a public measure to provide $9 million for county road improvement when voters go to the polls Tuesday, Nov. 8.
    The election will be unlike the usual municipal election cycle when rural residents aren’t involved as all residents of the county will be voting on the road bonding measure in this election.
City elections
    There are races in Kellerton, Mount Ayr and Delphos for city spots while Benton, Maloy, Ellston and Redding will have to write in all the city officials in votes there.
    The candidate list was released by county auditor Laurie Greenman this past week following the filing deadline.
    In Mount Ayr, incumbent Don Solliday is running unopposed for mayor. There are four people running for the three open council positions. Incumbents Gerald Cannon, Jim Feeback and Wes Mathany are running again and Deloris Stutzman will also be seeking a spot on the council.
    Candidates in other communities in the county area include:
    Beaconsfield: Gary Smith is running for mayor. Incumbents Connie Neesen and Michael Neesen along with Steve Wolf are seeking the three council spots.
    Benton: No candidate for mayor or the three council positions.
    Diagonal: incumbent Lowell Johnson is running for mayor. Incumbents James Norris, Doug Ruby and Shon O’Kelley are running for new council terms.
    Blockton: Richard Brown is running for mayor. John Cavin and Jodi Rae Lawrence are running for the two open council seats.
    Clearfield: Sharon Brown is running for mayor. Phil Buchanan, Jason Cole and JD Mackey are running for the two open seats.
    Delphos: Rebecca Caldwell and Kevin Ray are running for mayor. Incumbents Lesa Saville and Bernie Rothman are being joined by Ruth Marie Saville, Ashley Ray and Debbie Roach as candidates for the three council positions.
    Ellston: No candidates for mayor or council.
    Kellerton: Kristina Nail is running for mayor. Incumbents Mathew West and Diana Euritt are being joined by Paul Fifer, Rodney Holmes and Debbie Munyon in seeking the three council positions.
    Maloy: No candidates for mayor or council.
    Redding: No candidates for mayo or counicl.
    Tingley: Nancy Jarred is running for mayor. Incumbent Jeremy Weeda and Robert Johnson as well as Sharon Case are running for the three council positions.
Sun Valley vote
    Residents of the Sun Valley Lake area will be voting on a member for the Sun Valley Rural Improvement Zone board.
    Rudy Lucia and Michael Hopkins are running for the one open position on the board.
Special election measure
    The entire county will be voting on public measure A on bonding for rural road improvements.
    Question on the ballot will be:
    Shall the county of Ringgold, state of Iowa, issue its general obligation bonds in an amount not exceeding the amount of $9,000,000 for the purpose of a major secondary road restoration project that will pave approximately 25 miles of roadway and resurface approximately 26 miles of roadway with seal coat, with the monies obtained from the sale of said bonds to be used to pay labor and material costs for said construction, including costs to prepare the roadways, roadway sub-bases and roadway culverts, and with said general obligation bonds to be payable over a period of up to 15 years?
    A 60 percent majority must vote for the bond funding for it to be approved.

    A Clearfield resident was arrested on drug charges following the discovery of a methamphetamine lab at his residence at 1528 122nd Avenue in Clearfield.
    Jason Wade Parker was arrested Sunday, Oct. 23, and charged with manufacturing an illegal substance (methamphetamine), possession of an illegal substance (methamphetamine) and possession of drug paraphernalia.
    He is in jail on a $100,000 cash only bond.
    During an investigation, the Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office discovered a methamphatemine lab at Parker’s residence.
    The sheriff’s office was assisted by the Iowa DNE clandestine laboratory emergency response team in dismantling and cleaning up the lab.
    Although the discovery of methamphetamine labs like this has been down in recent years, the numbers seem to be starting to increase again, noted sheriff Mike Sobotka.
    “The Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office is asking all citizens to be on the look out for suspicious activity and report it to the sheriff’s office,” Sobotka said.
    The discovery of the lab was done with the help of K-9 drug dog Murphy.

  A Mount Ayr teenager was killed and another one injured in a traffic accident Saturday morning following the Mount Ayr Community high school homecoming celebration.

Konner Evan Klommhaus, 15, was pronounced dead at the scene of a single car accident on 290th Street, a dirt road, just west of the intersection with 215th Street some five miles south of Mount Ayr.

Also seriously injured in the accident was Erik Joseph Freed, 15, of Redding, the passenger in the vehicle.

Both passengers were ejected from the car in the accident, which happened at approximately 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning, according to the Ringgold County Sheriff’s Office, which is leading the investigation.

According to a press release from the sheriff’s office, the cause of the accident is still under investigation.

Family began searching for the youth when they did not arrive home from the homecoming dance. Klommhaus and Freed were sophomores at Mount Ayr Community high school.

First  Responders, Mount Ayr Fire Department, Ringgold County Ambulance personnel all responded to emergency calls to help at the scene.

Freed was transported to Ringgold County Hospital by ambulance and later flown by Mercy One to Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines.

Several members of the football team, of which Freed is a player, gathered at the hospital in support of their injured teammate.

Word of the tragedy spread quickly through the school community, which had dealt with the death of a schoolmate at the elementary school on the final day of the 2010-11 school year.

The Mount Ayr Community Raiderette volleyball team dropped out of the Bedford tournament Saturday because of the tragedy.

Counselors were on hand Monday to help students deal with the loss of their classmate.

Word was that Freed might be released from the hospital later this week, if he continued to improve, after injuries suffered from the impact.

Funeral services were set for Wednesday, Sept. 28 at 2 p.m. at the Mount Ayr Community high school gymnasium for Klommhaus, the son of Debbie Klommhaus and Kory Klommhaus of Mount Ayr.

An obituary is included in today’s Mount Ayr Record-News.

  Claire Andresen was crowned queen and Matt Sobotka crowned king of the Mount Ayr Community high school homecoming activities this past week.

“Raider Strong” was the theme for the homecoming activities, which began with dress up days during the week and ended with the homecoming dance Friday night following the football victory over Wayne.

Another spirit building event early in the week was the hall decoration contest. Placings for this contest included first for the seniors, second for the juniors, third for the sophomores and fourth for the freshmen.

The jersey auction held Thursday night raised $4,540 for the high school football program, after a meal served by the Friends of Football organization.

The queen coronation was then held where Andresen, daughter of Lyle and Stacey Andresen of Kellerton was crowned queen.

Other candidates included Megan Doubleday, daughter of Mike Doubleday and Christine Doubleday of Mount Ayr; Taylor Lynch, daughter of Deb and Bill Lynch of Redding;  Amanda Perigo, daughter of Roland and Fran Jackson of Mount  Ayr and Tim Perrigo of Omaha, NE, and Katelyn Warin, daughter of Joe and Donna Warin of Maloy.

Crowning the queen was last year’s homecoming queen Rebecca Pennington.

Following the queen coronation the powder puff football teams played to a 7-7 tie in a game on the high school gymnasium floor. That was followed by a senior parents’ skit

The evening was capped with the coronation of Sobotka, son of Gary and Darla Sobotka of Mount Ayr, as homecoming king.

Other king candidates include Harley Hamilton, son of Chad and Tina Bounds of Redding; Matt Kerns, son of Steven and Becky Kerns of Clearfield; Dustin Lyden, son of David and Annette Lyden of Diagonal; Dustin Pritchett, son of Richard and Michelle Jackson of Kellerton and Shaun Pritchett of Delaware, and Alex Sobotka, son of Gary and Darla Sobotka of Mount Ayr.

Crowning the king was last year’s homecoming king David Showalter.

Princess and prince for the crowning ceremonies were Hannah Russo, daughter of Mike and Danise Russo of Kellerton, and Colton Dredge, son of Clint and Allison Dredge of Mount Ayr. 

Activities begin Friday afternoon with the homecoming parade.

Named as winners of the three divisions of the parade were:

Class floats: 1. Seniors class; 2. junior class; 3. sophomore class; 4. freshman class.

School organizations: 1. Sites For Learning Little Raider cheerleaders; 2. Little Raider Preschool; 3. Sites For Learning Little Raider football teams.

Community: 1. Lynn’s Sinclair; 2. Great Western Bank; tie for 3. U. S. Bank and Clearview Homes.

The winning senior float was on display at the football game.

The parade ended up back at the school football field for the pep rally for the school and community. There was a slime contest with secondary principal Ken Harrison receiving the bath of red jello.

Spirit awards for the week were announced at the pep rally. Winners for the activities of the week was the senior class.

At the high school football game halftime the Sparks drill team and the Mount Ayr Community high school marching band  performed. The queen and court and parents were also recognized.

The Mount Ayr Community Raiders won the football game 35-6 over the Wayne Community Falcons.

Following the football game, a homecoming dance was held in the high school commons with music by student council members serving as disc jockeys.

  Kickoff to the fall season in Ringgold county comes each year with the annual Beggar’s Bash in Mount Ayr.

The Halloween preview, now in its 11th year, will be held Sunday, Oct. 2, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Judge Lewis Park in Mount Ayr.

More than 50 groups set up booths around the walking track in the park to hand out treats. There will be games and rides as well.

There is a nominal $1 admission fee for all those attending, with the proceeds going to the Support Our Schools organization.

People are invited to dress up and take the walk around the park, share in the treats and have a good family time.

Each year 800 people or more take part in the big event.

  A plan for new entrance signs for the city, questions about city garbage and recycling service, purchase of a new Bobcat, moving ahead to seek a grant to aid the drinking water project and more were handled by the Mount Ayr city council at its meeting Monday night.

New entrance signs

The entrance signs to the city of Mount Ayr need to be redesigned and rebuilt, a committee of local residents has determined.

Michell Ricker was on hand at the council meeting Monday night to suggest a plan for getting the signs replaced.

She said she felt a South Central Iowa Community Foundation grant could be obtained to pay two-thirds of the cost of the project and that the Mount Ayr Chamber of Commerce said it would be willing to split the rest of the cost with the city of Mount Ayr. An early estimate of the cost is $10,000.

The signs would be placed again in locations on the east and west edge of town where current signs are located so that new permission would not need to be sought from the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Ricker is also suggesting that the signs be lit at night as a welcome to the city.

As the council talked, it was mentioned that a suggestion had been made to try to develop an archway through which traffic would be invited to the square from Highway 2 and 169 up Taylor Street. This would be another possibility explored by the committee, it was noted.

The committee, which also includes Lisa Conklin, Burt Murphy, Brad Elliott and Doug Roeher and possibly other members, will review suggestions for signs and develop three proposals to take to the chamber of commerce.

The signs chosen by the chamber would then be brought to the city council for a final approval before work moved forward, the council was told.

Council members endorsed the plan, asking the committee to move forward with its plans and pledging their share of the cost for the project.

  A special election to issue general obligation bonds to provide for work on county sealcoat roads was set, a canvass of the school election reported, department head training held, ADA approved doors discussed and courthouse security reviewed as part of the Ringgold county board of supervisors meetings this past week.

Road election set

A special election on bonding for $9 million to allow work on sealcoat roads in the county will be held Tuesday, Nov. 8, along with the city elections.

That was the decision of the supervisors as a way to try to get ahead of maintenance issues on county roads.

The alternative to the bonding would be to gradually allow all sealcoat roads to go back to gravel surfaces over time.

An article detailing the program will be included in next week’s Mount Ayr Record-News.

The question that will be put to voters in the election will be:

Shall the county of Ringgold, state of Iowa, issue its general obligation bonds in an amount not exceeding the amount of $9,000,000 for the purpose of a major secondary roads restoration project that will pave approximately 25 miles of roadway and resurface approximately 26 miles of roadway with sealcoat, with the monies obtained from the sale of said bonds to be used to pay labor and material costs for said construction, including costs to prepare the roadways, roadway sub-bases and roadway culverts, and with said general obligation bonds to be payable over a period of up to 15 years?

The measure will be public measure L on the ballot.

The measure must receive at least a 60 percent majority in the vote to be passed.

  “Raider Strong” is the theme for the Mount Ayr Community high school homecoming activities, which come have the culminating activities today (Thursday) and Friday.

Tonight a supper, jersey auction, king and queen coronation, power puff football game and skits are planned

Friday will include the parade, pep rally, Band Boosters cookout, football game and homecoming dance.

Activities will get underway Thursday night with a supper served by the Friends of Football at 5:30 p.m. in the high school commons.

At 6:45 p.m. the football jersey auction will begin as activity moves into the high school gymnasium for the rest of the evening. Funds raised go to help the football program.

The queen coronation will be held at 7:30 p.m.

Queen candidates include Claire Andresen, daughter of Lyle and and Stacey Andresen of Kellerton; Megan Doubleday, daughter of Mike and Christine Doubleday of Mount Ayr; Taylor Lynch, daughter of Deb and Bill Lynch of Redding;  Amanda Perigo, daughter of Roland and Fran Jackson of Mount  Ayr and Tim Perrigo of Omaha, NE, and Katelyn Warin, daughter of Joe and Donna Warin of Maloy.

Following the queen coronation there will be a skit and the powder puff football game between high school grades. The senior parents’ skit will be followed by the king coronation.

King candidates include Harley Hamilton, son of Chad and Tina Bounds of Redding; Matt Kerns, son of Steven and Becky Kerns of Clearfield; Dustin Lyden, son of David and Annette Lyden of Diagonal; Dustin Pritchett, son of Richard and Michelle Jackson of Kellerton and Shaun Pritchett of Delaware, and Alex Sobotka, son of Gary and Darla Sobotka of Mount Ayr.

Princess and prince for the crowning ceremonies will be Hannah Russo, daughter of Mike and Danise Russo of Kellerton, and Colton Dredge, son of Clint and Allison Dredge of Mount Ayr. 

Activities begin Friday with the homecoming parade at 1:30 p.m. The parade will organize two blocks north of the Mount Ayr square, come around the square and then head back to the school for the pep rally for the school and community, which  will be held at the football field at 2:15 p.m. There will be a faculty pie in the face contest as part of the festivities.

School will be dismissed at 3:10 p.m. for the day.

A Mount Ayr Community Band Booster cookout will be held before the football game at 7 p.m. with Wayne.

At halftime the Sparks drill team and the Mount Ayr Community high school marching band will be performing. The queen and court and parents will also be recognized as part of the halftime ceremonies.

Following the football game, a homecoming dance will be held in the high school commons with music by student council members serving as disc jockeys.

  Plans are underway for the annual Ringgold county CROP hunger walk to be held Sunday, Sept. 25, at 1:30 p.m. beginning at Judge Lewis Park in Mount Ayr.

Following the registration the actual walk will begin at 2 p.m. and will go through Mount Ayr this year.

The walk is held to raise awareness about people around the world who must walk to find food, firewood, freedom and other necessities of life and raise funds to help stop hunger wherever it exists.

Of the money raised by the effort in Ringgold county, one-fourth goes to local food projects like the food pantry at the Neighborhood Center while the rest goes to Church World Service or other designated relief agencies.

  In the only school election race Tuesday, Mount Ayr Community voters chose Chris Eaton to represent director district 1 for the next four years.

In other school board seats in Mount Ayr Community, Diagonal and Clearfield districts, there were no races and those on the ballot were elected.

All candidates were elected to four-year terms.

Mount Ayr Community district

In the Mount Ayr Community school district, Martha Ricker received 93 votes to 182 votes for write-in candidate Chris Eaton.

In director district 3, Patricia (P. J.) West was re-elected, receiving 250 votes.

Brandi Shay received 261 votes to be re-elected as an at-large candidate for the school board.

A total of sine 275 voters went to the polls in Tuesday’s election. All results are unofficial pending the canvass of the election.

Diagonal Community district

In the Diagonal Community district, all three seats up for election were at-large positions with those on the ballot being elected.

James Strange received 43 votes, Pamela R. Grace received 43 votes and Becky Stamps received 43 votes.

Clearfield Community district

In the Clearfield Community district, all three seats up for election were also at-large positions.

Bob Cameron received 20 votes, Becky Kerns received 24 votes and Chris Knox received 23 votes.

There were 24 voters taking part in this election.

Passage of new board policies, building projects, and financial information comprised the bulk of the agenda of the Mount Ayr Community school board of directors’ meeting held Monday, Sept. 12.

New Policies

The board adopted a series of policy updates, including the second reading of a new district employee technology policy. That policy outlines expectations and guidelines for employee use of  district technology, including email, internet, hardware and software. The district’s technology committee had reviewed the policy and recommended its adoption.

Another new policy passed its first reading. The board intends to offer an early retirement incentive again this year. A sample policy presented by superintendent Joe Drake set the eligibility requirements and financial incentives for long-term employees who are reaching retirement age. 

In summary, eligible employees would need to have worked in the Mount Ayr Community district for a minimum of 10 consecutive years, be age 55 or older by June 30, 2012, and inform administration of  their intention to retire by January 6, 2012. 

Financially, the district would award retirees a one-time payment in September. This sum would be calculated from the district salary schedule in this way: the salary at the employee’s education lane and experience step minus the salary at Step 5 in the same lane will equal the lump sum benefit. Extra duty and extended contract pay will not be included in the calculation. The policy would also allow the retiree to remain on the district’s health insurance plan at the employee’s expense until age 65. 

The board will vote to formally adopt the early retirement incentive policy at its second reading next month.

Superintendent Drake said there are three good reasons to offer an early retirement incentive on occasion. 

First, it acts a “pat on the back” for those long-term employees who have dedicated themselves to the district. Second, the retirement of long-time employees will save considerable money in the long term. In fact, the district can often save more than the incentive costs in the first year alone. 

Third, the early announcement of a retirement can help administration as it plans its upcoming budget. Knowledge of savings from a pending retirement can offset a possible need to cut staff or programs for the coming year.

A number of more routine policies recommended by the Iowa Association of School Boards were also adopted at the meeting. An update to the open meetings/public records policy included a paragraph that allows public access to information about an employee’s disciplinary discharge from service. The policy also clarified that a board may go into closed session to discuss sale of property if open discussion could potentially reduce the price of the property.

Another policy update concerned access to student records. Under the adopted guidelines, parents may view surveillance videotapes (such as bus behavior incidents) of their own student without consent from parents of other students in the tape. The other students, however, must be merely bystanders and not directly involved in the incident. 

In the case of mass participation in an incident, consent must be received from all parents of students involved.  

  A wide-ranging agenda was handled by the Mount Ayr city council at its meeting held Tuesday, Sept. 7, a day later than normal because of the Labor Day holiday.

The council looked at annexation of Loch Ayr again, only to not have enough members voting to reach an agreement, pulled back from a planned increase in the service fee for turning water service back on after it was shut off because of unpaid bills, talked about doing some cement work on the side of the street in front of Jamie’s Coffee Mill and Deli and many more items in the lengthy meeting.

A closed session to follow the open meeting brought about a decision to terminate the employment of Barry Schuster, who doctors say can no longer handle some of the city job requirements. Schuster is the last of the union employees in the city employ.

The council also set a date for a city-wide cleanup, dealt with a minimum water bill waiver request and talked about water and sewer issues at the meeting.

Annexation proposal dies again

Resolutions to set public hearing dates on the matter of voluntary annexation of a 50-foot strip  property linking Mount Ayr with Loch Ayr and the Loch Ayr property had a second strike out Tuesday night.

A motion was made to set a public hearing on the measure for Monday, Sept. 19, by Jim Feeback and Wes Mathany seconded it this time.

When it came time to vote, however, Gerald Cannon  abstained “until he could get more information on what the  annexation would do” and Mack Greene abstained, saying as a property renter he did not want to get into trouble by voting on a Loch Ayr issue.

As council member Brent Ricker was not present, the vote was a 2-2 tie.

City attorney Richard Wilson told mayor Don Solliday that he felt Solliday was authorized to vote on a matter in case of a tie, but Solliday said that was not his understanding and declined to vote.

The measure did not pass because there was not a majority of the members present voting for it.

  Next week is Homecoming week at Mount Ayr Community high school and the theme is “Raider Strong.”

Many of the traditional activities will be included such as Thursday night’s supper, jersey auction, king and queen coronation, power puff football game and skits.

Friday will include the parade, pep rally, Band Boosters cookout, football game and homecoming dance.

Events will begin Monday, Sept. 19, with the first of five dress up days.

The theme for Monday will be “They’ll Never See Us Coming.” Dressing up will be camo, ninja or anything else stealthy.

Tuesday will have  the theme “Dress Up and Support Our Troops.” Everyone is asked to dress up to support the cross country runners and volleyball team.

Wednesday will be “Strength in Numbers” day. The idea is to forget twins, more is better. Groups are invited to dress alike for the day.

Thursday is “LiveStrong to Make the RaiderStrong” day. Everyone is asked to wear yellow that day.

Friday is “Raider Spirit” day with everyone dressing up in Raider colors.

Activities will get underway Thursday night with a supper served by the Friends of Football at 5:30 p.m. in the high school commons.

At 6:45 p.m. the football jersey auction will begin as activity moves into the high school gymnasium for the rest of the evening. Funds raised go to help the football program.

The queen coronation will be held at 7:30 p.m.

Queen candidates include Claire Andresen, daughter of Lyle and and Stacey Andresen of Kellerton; Megan Doubleday, daughter of Mike and Christine Doubleday of Mount Ayr; Taylor Lynch, daughter of Deb and Bill Lynch of Redding;  Amanda Perigo, daughter of Rollin and Fran Jackson of Mount  Ayr and Tim Perrigo of Omaha, NE, and Katelyn Warin, daughter of Joe and Donna Warin of Maloy.

Following the queen coronation there will be a skit and the powder puff football game between high school grades. The senior parents’ skit will be followed by the king coronation.

King candidates include Harley Hamilton, son of Chad and Tina Bounds of Redding; Matt Kerns, son of Steven and Becky Kerns of Clearfield; Dustin Lyden, son of David and Annette Lyden of Diagonal; Dustin Pritchett, son of Richard and Michelle Jackson of Kellerton and Shaun and Mary Pritchett of Delaware, and Alex Sobotka, son of Gary and Darla Sobotka of Mount Ayr.

Prince and princess for the crowning ceremonies will be Hannah Russo, son of Mike and Danise Russo of Kellerton, and Colton Dredge, son of Clint and Allison Dredge of Mount Ayr. 

Activities begin Friday with the homecoming parade at 1:30 p.m. The parade will organize two blocks north of the Mount Ayr square, come around the square and then head back to the school for the pep rally for the school and community, which  will be held at the football field at 2:15 p.m. There will be a faculty pie in the face contest as part of the festivities.

School will be dismissed at 3:10 p.m. for the day.

A Mount Ayr Community Band Booster cookout will be held before the football game at 7 p.m. with Wayne.

At halftime the Sparks drill team and the Mount Ayr Community high school marching band will be performing. The queen and court and parents will also be recognized as part of the halftime ceremonies.

Following the football game, a homecoming dance will be held in the high school commons with music by student council members serving as disc jockeys.

    Voters will go to the polls Tuesday, Sept. 13, to choose members for the school boards in Ringgold county area school districts.
    Mount Ayr Community and Diagonal voters will also be choosing a representative to the Southwestern Community College board of directors.
    Sample ballots are included inside today’s Mount Ayr Record-News to help voters have a chance to view the ballots prior to going to the voting places.
Mount Ayr Community district
    In the Mount Ayr Community school district, three spots on the school board are available.
    In director district 1 Martha Ricker is running unopposed on the ballot, but Chris Eaton has announced a write-in campaign for this post.
    In director district 3 Patricia (P.J.) West is running unopposed. In the at large district, Brandi Shay is running unopposed.
    The directors will serve four year terms on the school board.
    All participating voters in the Mount Ayr Community school district will vote for  all three district posts. Voting will be done in the Ringgold county courthouse lobby between noon and 8 p.m.
Diagonal Community district
    In the Diagonal Community district, all three seats up for election are at-large positions and all run for four years.
    On the ballot are James Strange, Pamela R. Grace and Becky Stamps.
    Voting will be done in the Diagonal Community Building from noon to 8 p.m.
Clearfield Community district
    In the Clearfield Community district, all three seats up for election are also at-large positions that run for four years.
    On the ballot there are Bob Cameron, Becky Kerns and Chris Knox.
SWCC board
    Voters will choosing a director in director district number seven for the Southwestern Community College board to fill a vacancy.
    Cindy Cox is running unopposed for a four year term on the board to represent this area.

    Iowa Workforce Development is rapidly deploying access points across the state to bring workforce services closer to Iowans while closing some of the regional offices that have served the state.
     “The access point system provides Iowans with the opportunity to utilize workforce services in a convenient location close to home,” indicated Iowa Workforce Development director Teresa Wahlert.  “With over 135 access points, 16 regional centers and three satellite offices we have more than doubled our access for Iowans and we will continue adding locations throughout the year.”
    Ringgold county currently has one of the access points at the Neighborhood Center in Mount Ayr at 202 N. Taylor Street. There is one desktop set up located there.
     Continually updated information on access points is available at www.iowaworkforce.org in the announcements section. Individuals can connect with a workforce professional at (866) 239-0843 or live chat at an access point.  
    The access is available from 8 a.m.  to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturdays.  Staff members will continue to be available from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday within the regional centers and satellite offices.
     Iowa’s redefined workforce will have greater availability to the public with evening and weekend hours, something not available in the current delivery model.  Additionally, IWD will continue to enhance technology based services throughout the new system for the benefit of all clients.
    Iowa Workforce Development and partners, provide comprehensive workforce services within the 16 integrated IowaWORKS offices.  24/7 access to employment services, unemployment filings, job postings and more is available at www.iowaworkforce.org.

    The Ringgold County Development Corporation has been working with the Iowa Workforce Development regional research bureau to complete a laborshed employment study for the Ringgold county area.
    This study will develop the potential labor force from which the Ringgold county area employers draw their employees based upon commuting patterns into the region. The study will assist existing and potential new businesses in better understanding the areas labor force and characteristics regardless of political boundaries.
    The area’s laborshed boundary is based on the place of residence of individuals working in the Ringgold county area. For the success of this study, employers are being asked to provide aggregate counts of their employees by ZIP code by place of residence. This reporting will give us a good understanding of where each community’s worker force resides.
    Once that laborshed area is determined, a confidential household telephone survey will be conducted in those areas. The questions will cover topics like employment status, wages, benefits, education and occupation.
    Survey results will then be applied to demographic data to develop a total potential labor force for the laborshed as well as estimates for various labor force characteristics.
    The results for each county and regional analysis will be available at http://iowaworkforce.org/lmi/labsur/index.html.
    Anyone with questions about the laborshed employment study project can contact Ryan Murphy at 515-281-7505 or Karen Bender at the Ringgold County Development Office at 464-3704.

    Preliminary enrollment figures for Ringgold county area schools inched up from the same figures this time last year for the new 2011-12 school year.
    Mount Ayr Community had an increase of one student, Clearfield had an increase of two students and Diagonal showed an increase of seven students, according to the figures.
    These figures are not the official enrollment numbers that will be reported late in the month, but they are comparisons with preliminary figures reported early in the school year in previous years. Weighted enrollment is not taken into account in these figures -- just the number of actual students in classes of Monday, Aug. 29.
    In the Mount Ayr Community school district enrollment held steady with an increase of one student. The total number of students being served increased by seven because Diagonal is sending six more students this year. Diagonal has 11 freshmen, six sophomores, nine juniors and three seniors taking some classes in the MAC district.
    In Diagonal, preliminary enrollment figures show enrollment increasing seven from 119 last year to 126 for the current school year.
    The Clearfield district has two more elementary students than last year. There are 39 students in the elementary school program there, up from 37 last year.
    There are a total of 58 kindergarten students enrolled in the three districts compared to 66 at this time last year. The 58 ties for the the second lowest number of kindergarteners in the past eight years.
    There were 44 kindergarteners in 2009-10, 62 in 2008-09, 60 in 2007-08, 66 in 2006-07, 69 in 2005-06, 58 in 2005-06, 66 in 2003-04 and 69 in 2002-03.

    A big weekend of activity is planned in Diagonal as the Diagonal Lions Club present their annual Labor Day Celebration Sunday and Monday, Sept. 4-5.
    A pre-celebration sand volleyball tournament is planned Saturday, Sept. 3, beginning at 10 a.m.
    The big activity beings Sunday, Sept. 4, with a fun walk at 8 a.m., an outdoor church service at 9 a.m. and a pedal pull at 11 a.m.
    A collector’s showcase, a new event prior to the antique appraisal, will be held at the Diagonal Community Center at 11:30 a.m. Free antique appraisal will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. in the Diagonal Community Center.
    A car and motorcycle show will be part of the celebration with registration from 10 a.m. to noon and judging beginning at 1 p.m.
    A hot rod garden tractor pull will begin at 12:30 p.m.
    The United Church of Diagonal will be celebrating its 100th birthday from 1 to 4 p.m. The time capsule contents from the 1911 time capsule will be on display.
    A micro mini tractor pull exhibition will be held at 1 p.m. as well.
    The Tad Bainum Memorial Burnout Contest will be held at 1:30 p.m. in a new event for the celebration.
    There will be a fishing derby at Fogle Lake beginning at 2:30 p.m. for kids ages five to 16. Prizes and poles are available.
    A disc/frisbee golf tournament will be held at 3:30 p.m., sponsored by the H.E.L.P. Youth Pod.
    A big tractor distance pull gets underway at 3:30 p.m. with tractors and trucks in 10 classes taking part.
    At 4 p.m. there will be a nickel scramble and there will be a fireworks display at Fogle Lake at 9:30 p.m. after the tractor pull.
    Activity gets underway Monday, Sept. 6, with the mammoth parade at 10 a.m. with the theme “30 Years of the Space Shuttle Program.”
    A pet show will be held at the park shelterhouse following the parade. Bicycle races on the dirt track begin at 11:30 a.m.
    There will be a beanbag toss tournament at 1 p.m. and free watermelon served all afternoon.
    At 1 p.m. there will be a celebrating drag and brag and a garden tractor pull begins at 1 p.m.
    A pickup and farm tractor distance pull begins at 2 p.m. and the annual duck regatta will be held at 5 p.m.
    Both days there will be junior class fund-raiser games and homemade ice cream and lunch will be available in the park both days.
    The printing museum and genealogy center will be open Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday.
    Gary Keenan will be doing tree carving in the park both days as well.
    An advertisement in today’s Mount Ayr Record-News gives more details.
   

     A series of  open forums will continue this week around Ringgold county to discuss the future of the sealcoat road system with the public.  
    The discussion will center on the failing condition and future funding of sealcoat roads throughout the county.
    The Ringgold county board of supervisors has directed county engineer Zach Gunsolley to set up the informational meetings to bring the issue to the public.
    Meetings have been held in Benton and Kellerton and will continue in Tingley, Diagonal and Mount Ayr to cover the information.
    The meeting in Tingley is set tonight (Thursday, Sept. 1) at 7 p.m. at the Tingley Community Center.
    Meetings are also set for Tuesday, Sept. 6, at 7 p.m. at the Diagonal Community Center in Diagonal and Thursday, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m. in the Ringgold county courthouse assembly room.
    Most of the sealcoat roads in Ringgold county have suffered advanced deterioration in recent years due to winter/spring thaw cycles and saturated ground conditions.  The last major sealcoating campaign by the Ringgold County Secondary Roads Department occurred in the 1990s, when trucks and large agricultural equipment were much less common.
    Costs have increased for sealcoating roads to the point that expenses for sealcoating roads are five times that of converting sealcoat roads back to a gravel surface.
    Flat state and federal revenues, rising construction costs, and bad weather in recent years has forced the Ringgold County Secondary Roads Department to focus all available state and federal funding to saving the county’s concrete and asphalt roads, some of which are years overdue for repair.  
    Consolidating available funding to protect the existing pavements in the county has left the sealcoat road system financially abandoned.
    Following the open forum meetings, the supervisors will set up a special election for the public to decide the future of the sealcoat road system.    
 

    It was a banner year for Ringgold county high school students taking the ACT test for the class of seniors which graduated in 2011.
    For the first time in  a dozen years the Mount Ayr Community school scores beat both the state and national averages. Meanwhile Diagonal was able to have its best results since the 2006-07 school year.
    While students across Iowa average a score of 22.3 and students across the nation had a 21.1 average score, the 37 Mount Ayr Community students taking the test had an average score of 23.0, besting both numbers. The three Diagonal students taking the test last year had an average score of 21.0, the best there since 2007.
    “I believe these scores are a testament to the emphasis teachers place on quality, engaging instruction and from the effort and resolve the students showed preparing for the tests,” MACHS principal Ken Harrison said. “I also feel the school board and parents played an integral part by making ACT’s a priority for the high school.  These scores are an example of what we can accomplish when we are all pulling in the same direction.”
    Improving the ACT test scores for the MACHS students has been a focus of school administration for several years, but this is the first year there has been such a big jump in scores.

   A series of  five open forums will be held in August and September to discuss the future of the sealcoat road system in Ringgold county with the public. 
    The discussion will center on the failing condition and future funding of sealcoat roads throughout the county.
    The Ringgold county board of supervisors has directed county engineer Zach Gunsolley to set up the informational meetings to bring the issue to the public.
Meeting schedule
    Meetings will be held in Benton, Kellerton, Tingley, Diagonal and Mount Ayr to cover the information.
    The first of the meetings will be tonight (Thursday) at 7 p.m. at the Waubonsie Center in Benton.
    Other meetings are set for:
    Tuesday, Aug. 30, 7 p.m. -- Kellerton gymnasium in Kellerton.
    Thursday, Sept. 1., 7 p.m. Tingley Community Center, Tingley.
    Tuesday, Sept. 6, 7 p.m., Diagonal Community Center, Diagonal.
    Thursday, Sept. 8, 7 p.m., Ringgold county courthouse assembly room, Mount Ayr.
    Most of the sealcoat roads in Ringgold county have suffered advanced deterioration in recent years due to winter/spring thaw cycles and saturated ground conditions.  The last major sealcoating campaign by the Ringgold County Secondary Roads Department occurred in the 1990s, when trucks and large agricultural equipment were much less common.
    Costs have increased for sealcoating roads to the point that expenses for sealcoating roads are five times that of converting sealcoat roads back to a gravel surface.
    Flat state and federal revenues, rising construction costs, and bad weather in recent years has forced the Ringgold County Secondary Roads Department to focus all available state and federal funding to saving county’s concrete and asphalt roads, some of which are years overdue for repair. 
    Consolidating available funding to protect the existing pavements in the county has left the sealcoat road system financially abandoned.
    Following the open forum meetings, the supervisors will set up a special election for the public to decide the future of the sealcoat road system.

   Blockton will be observing the Mormontown sesquicentennail with events Friday, Saturday and Sunday,  August 26-28, in the community which borders Ringgold county.
    Activities begin Friday, Aug. 26 when set up begins for the quilt show, 150 Show and Blockton memorabilia display at 9 a.m.
    At 6:30 p.m. the official opening ceremony will be held, followed at 7 p.m. by the Coon Ridge Band concert and dance and bingo. The Park After Dark, a youth activity at the minipark for middle school and high school youth begins at 9 p.m.
    Saturday, Aug. 27 activity begins when the inflatable attractions for kids opens at  9 a.m. and continued to 8 p.m.
    Also at 9 a.m. lineup begins for the adult parade with horses at the ballfield and all others at the elevator. At 9:30 a.m., lineup for the kiddie parade begins at the church. At 10 a.m. the kiddie parade for youth 12 and under begins. That will be followed at 10:30 a.m. by the sesquicentennial parade with the theme  “Then and Now – 150 Years of Change.”
    Entries for the parade are floats, vehicles, tractors, horses, motorcycles/ATVs and walking entries. Contact for the parade is Rick Ridge at 660-799-2443.
    A motorcycle ride for charity is planned at 11:30 a.m. or following the parade.
    At 1  p.m. the tractor show begins along with kids games and bicycle races. Kids are asked to bring their own bicycles.
    There will be both a tractor ride and a pedal pull for ages 10 and under beginning at 2 p.m.
    At 2:45 p.m. the beard and sesquicentennial dress contest begins, followed by the variety show at 3 p.m. Laura Wall and Connie Drake are handling the variety show.
    Brooke Turner will be doing storytelling at approximately 4:30 p.m. The antique tractor pull will be held beginning at 5 p.m.
    There will be a Brooke Turner concert at 7 p.m. and bingo will be played again.
    The Park After Dark, a youth activity at the minipark for middle school and high school youth begins at 9 p.m.
    On Sunday, Aug. 28, there will be a community worship service with the Gatewy Singers at 10:30 a.m.
    A car show beings at 1 p.m. along with the Gateway Singers concert.
    A flea market will run all three days at the park.  ($10 entry fee for the weekend).      
    The food stand will open every day at 7  a.m. The quilt show, 150 Show and  Memories of Blockton Show will run all three days at the Christian Church.  
    A local photographer with costumes and props will be available during the event to take old time photos of families, individuals and groups.
    Sesquicentennial cookbooks, calendars, t-shirts, caps and mugs are also available.

How is Ringgold county going to be able to try to keep up with road repairs?
    A series of meetings will be held around the county in coming weeks to discuss the problems with county residents, the Ringgold county board of supervisors decided in meetings this past week.
    With the way prices for road repairs have increased, current funding sources do not provide nearly enough funds to keep up with the needed repairs.
    If the county takes no action, roads will continue to deteriorate around the county, county engineer Zach Gunsolley has told the supervisors.
    He has done a study of the use of the county roads and which roads should have priority in being fixed.
    It would take more than $15 million in construction costs to fix all the roads in the county -- and this is talking about roads only and not bridges that need to be replaced or upgraded.
    Gunsolley has brought several options to the supervisors to look at what can be done.
    The option of just using the funding currently available shows many county roads deteriorating back to gravel over a 10 to 15 year period.
    An option that the supervisors is exploring in detail would need between $6 and $7 million to keep up a grid of top priority roads in the county while still letting some go back to gravel.
    To raise the funds for the road construction project, the county would need to pass a bond in a bond election, supervisors decided.
    Answering questions about  various options for the board along with Gunsolley was Larry R. Mattusch, field engineer for the Asphalt Paving Association of Iowa.
    Mattusch noted that counties all around the state are having the same problems.
    He talked about the best options to do asphalt roads if some of the surfaces are to be updated.
    When the meeting are held, figures on what it will cost county residents to upgrade the roads in taxes will be available.
    Board members noted that they felt that the residents of the county should make the choice on if the roads are to be worked on or if the roads will be allowed to continue to deteriorate.
    Details on the use that county roads receive have been developed in a formula determining the top priority roads for the county.
    More details of the county meetings to discuss the issues will be announced in coming weeks as the plans are finalized.
    Gunsolley told the board that rural residents needed to continue to make their case with the state Department of Transportation about the need for funding for county roads.
    The state legislature has more representation in urban areas and so efforts like the Time 21 infrastructure plan have lowered the percentages of state gasoline tax road use funds going back to counties and increased it for more urban areas.
    Road work for roads across the state have been underfunded for the last 10 to 20 years, Gunsolley noted, and it is showing up dramatically on county roads across the state.
    Efforts to get an increase in the gasoline tax have been made in the past, but though this would help, if the funds are shared under the new plans, counties would still be hurting, Gunsolley noted.
 

    With no change in the way property tax assessments are handled, Ringgold county will see a big drop in ag land values next year, meaning residential and commercial properties will have to pick up more of the load.
    This may not seem to make sense as ag property values are going up an average of 25 percent across the state but it’s the way the state’s property tax system works these days.
    By the time figures are run through the complex formulas used to determine ag value, the taxable valuation of ag land in Ringgold county will be cut eight percent for the asessments that begins January 1, 2011.
    If there are no increases in revenue for taxable bodies in the county, tax levies will have to increase to make up for the cut in ag land values as residential and commercial values for the county are remaining virtually the same.
    If increases in budgets are sought, this will mean even more of an increase for residential and commercial property.
    County assessor Neil Morgan, who has been battling the way the state figures the ag valuations, will be appealing the equalization order this year.
    According to the property tax equalization orders issued by the Iowa Department of Revenue  Monday, ag property values in Ringgold county are rising 11 percent.
    That comes, however, before the automatic four percent increase limit that the legislature has put on the values in any one year.
    Across the state some counties have seen ag land value increases of up to 45 percent and the state average is 25 percent, according to the way the Iowa Department of Revenue figures the formula.
    When the four percent limit is put on the increase across the state as a whole, this means that Ringgold county will see ag property taxes decline by eight percent.
    If the legislature had made one of the proposed property tax changes and limited the growth to two percent, Ringgold county’s taxable valuation would have fallen even more with the latest equalization order.
    This eight percent decline means that the taxable valuations for the county will be declining as well.  This puts a kink in budgets especially for Ringgold county and area school districts, which then must increase valuations to receive the same amount of revenue they have this year.
    The current equalization orders apply to January 1, 2011 assessments. This year the department is issuing 30 orders, including the one for agricultural valuation in Ringgold county.
    The equalization orders are preliminary now with the final orders made in October. Taxpayers then have an opportunity to appeal assessment changes to their local boards of review in October.
    Ringgold county assessor Neil Morgan believes that using actual sales for ag land as the basis for determining ag land values is more fair than using the Iowa State University survey of market value.
    He notes that the way the state is making the valuations, ag buildings will again see more of a decrease, meaning ag crop and pasture land will pick up more of the valuation in the agricultural taxes.
    As was pointed out in a series of articles in the Mount Ayr Record-News earlier in the year, there are a number of inequities in the way the agricultural formula works at present and Morgan will again try to work for changes that will fix some of these problems.

   

    The Mount Ayr city council’s running internal feud about all things Loch Ayr took a strange turn Monday night.
    A long-standing effort to annex Loch Ayr into the city limits, partly so that any property taxes on buildings on lots at the lake would come to the city, came to a screeching halt at the meeting Monday night.
    The process for the annexation began many months ago and city attorney Richard Wilson had been working on the project with county officials.
    The city had first requested a 25-foot strip of property to be annexed from county property along North West Street to provide the needed link with the lake.
    When it was determined that that was too narrow of a strip for legal standing, the county recently went through the process of allowing the strip to be increased to 50 feet to meet rules.
    The proposed annexation had also gone to the city zoning board, which recommended the approval of the voluntary annexation.
    All during this process there were no red flags raised by council members about the annexation process. In fact, the effort to get the work was being led by city attorney Richard Wilson.
    The next step in the process was to be to set a public hearing on the process which was to be set for Tuesday, Sept. 6, along with the next city council meeting. The meeting is on a Tuesday instead of Monday because of the Labor Day holiday.
    When setting the hearing on the matter of voluntary annexation of the 50-foot strip of land from Ringgold county was reached on the agenda, council member Jim Feeback made the motion to move ahead and was met by silence.
    None of the other four council members would say a word. Finally mayor Don Solliday declared that the issue had died for lack of a second.
    The next item was on the hearing for the city’s voluntary annexation of the Loch Ayr property into the city limits.
    Again Feeback made the motion and was met by silence. Mayor Don Solliday finally declared that this issue had died for the lack of a second as well.
    Council members who would not respond to the motion made no explanation of why they were wanting to drop the annexation proposal after the work that had been done to bring the annexation proposal to this point.
    It appeared that the four council members had discussed the matter to determine a course of action prior to the meeting.
 

    Ringgold county will be well represented at the Iowa State Fair when the fair officially opens for its annual run in Des Moines today (Thursday).
    The fair is scheduled through Sunday, Aug. 21 at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines.
    Many 4-H and FFA members will participate, there will be people active in open exhibit competition and residents will take part in many other ways as well.
    Ringgold County Fair queen Ashley Phelps rode in the fair pening parade Wednesday night and will also take part in the state fair queen contest.
    Advancing to the state fair as senior cowgirl and junior cowgirl contest participants will be Logan Wimer of rural Diagonal and Jessica Beatty of Creston. They won titles at the Ringgold County Fair to advance.
    Members of the Clearfield Lions Club will again be shuttling people around the fairgrounds for the 47th year of providing this service to fairgoers.
    Many local people will be helping man booths and exhibits during the fair as well. Among places where familiar faces may be seen are tourism, Cattlemen and Pork Producers venues.
    Several area residents will be showing livestock and participating in food classes beyond the 4-H and FFA competition, but to pre-fair information is available about these entrants.
    Preston Hayse will be named to the 4-H Hall of Fame at a ceremony on Sunday, Aug. 21. A separate story give details.
4-H projects at state fair
    County 4-H members who had projects advancing to the state fair, their club and projects include:
    Taylen Abarr, Ringgold Rockets, metal flower; Trevor Anderson, Ringgold Rockets, name painted in camouflage; Tyler and Cassidy Becker, Twin River Tornadoes, adopt-a-family project and CROP Walk project; Cal Daughton, Junior Farmers, deer antlers; Aaron Darrah, Sunshine Workers, covered wagon planter; Laura Davison, Maloy Shamrocks, geneology; Kyle Dolecheck, Maloy Shamrocks, quail photo; Elisha Doubleday, Ringgold Rockets, school bag kit and formal dress;  Mady Henson, Crooked Creek, tree photo and  old house photo;
    Caylie Hickman, Maloy Shamrocks, raising chickens; Jena James, Sunshine Workers, goat photo; Leigh James, Ringgold Rockets, cookies; Zach Murphy, Maloy Shamrocks, building photo; Allison Norris, Twin River Tornadoes, pine wood utility box; Sarah Reasoner, Tingley Toppers, nursing home service project; Brook Rychnovsky, Crooked Creek, coat rack shelf; Abbey Schafer, Maloy Shamrocks, refinished table; Laura Shervheim, Sunshine Workers, frugal costumes and fashionable business attire;
    Peter  Shervheim, Sunshine Workers, dinner rolls; Tessa Shields, Maloy Shamrocks, live to ride photo; Grant Staats, Tingley Toppers, chicken feeder; Hallie Still, Crooked Creek, blooms of love card and gem glass window; Taylor Still, Crooked Creek, summer days photo and screen print t-shirt; Katie Sobotka, Twin River Tornadoes, wooden welcome sign.
Share fun, education projects
    Two 4-Hers will be sharing projects in communications at the fair.
    Trevor Anderson will be taking an education presentation on gun safety, which will be presented in the session on Saturday, Aug. 13, at 1 p.m.
    Lew Knapp will share his bucket drum Share the Fun talent presentation on Sunday, Aug. 14, at noon.
4-H livestock entries
    A number of county 4-Hers will be taking livestock projects to the state fair as well.
    Shows and days they will be participating include:
    Monday, Aug. 15 -- Breeding swine show: Johnathan Triggs and Tyler Triggs.
    Tuesday, Aug. 16 -- Breeding beef show: Taylen Abarr, Cassidy Becker, Tyler Becker, Haylea England, Katelyn Holmes, Russell Holmes, Katelyn Warin, Megan Warin and Chloe Yoder.
    Wednesday, Aug. 17 -- Market beef show: Haylea England and April Shields.
    Thursday, Aug. 18 -- Dairy goat show: Amber Cox, Megan Reasoner, Sarah Reasoner.
FFA chapter participation
    Three chapter members will be taking part in FFA activities at the air.
    Logan Wimer and Morgan Quick will be showing their horse projects at the Iowa State Fair August 9-11.
    The events they will be participating in include barrel racing, pole bending, flag racing, halter class, western pleasure, reining and trail classes.
    Matt Kerns will serve as an FFA stage attendant.
Talent show participants
    Two Bill Riley talent show acts from the area have qualified for the state fair competition.
    Ryann Martin of Mount Ayr, Caroline McAlexander of Ellston and Sophia Grantham of Creston will have their clogging trio act participating. Desirae Trammell of Diagonal and Cayden Shilty of Creston have qualified with their clogging duet.
Public television coverage
    Iowa Public Television will again broadcast extensive coverage of the Iowa State Fair nightly at 9 p.m. August 15 - 20. These hour-long programs are among the network’s most-watched of the year.
    This year’s coverage will again be hosted by Mark Pearson, and will feature contest results, off-the-beaten-path stories, food, animals, music, and more. The network will also broadcast coverage of the finals of the State Fair Talent Championships Sunday at 8 p.m.

    There are no ballot contests for the school elections planned Tuesday, Sept. 13 this year after nomination papers were turned in this past week.
    Most terms for the candidates on the ballot are for four years.
Mount Ayr Community district
    In the Mount Ayr Community school district three seats are up for election.
    Incumbent Patricia (P.J.) West is seeking re-election to a full term for one seat and Martha Ricker will be on the ballot for the other open full-term seat being vacated by Jim Uhlenkamp.
    Incumbent Brandi Shay is seekting to fill an unexpired term on the board to which she had earlier been appointed.
Diagonal candidates
    In the Diagonal school district, three incumbents are seeking re-election to the board.
    They include Pamela R. Grace, Becky Stamps and James Strange.
Clearfield candidates
    In the Clearfield school district,
three incumbents are seeking re-election as well.
    They are Bob Cameron, Becky Kerns and Chris Knox.

    The third annual anniversary gala for the Princess Theater is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 27-28.
    The program will be offered at 7 p.m. on Saturday night and again at 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
    The program this year will feature Nashville’s Korbie Rae -- Mount Ayr’s own Korbie Rinehart.
    Others on the program include John Allen and family, Frank Hudson and grandsons Caden and Rylan Dorr, Leah Klejch and Kristy Gilliland.
    John Allen and family and Frank Hudson and grandsons will be singing songs as part of the program and Leah Klejch and Kristy Gilliland will be playing the violin for their portion of the concert.
    More details on the participants will be included in next week’s Mount Ayr Record-News.
    Proceeds from the ticket sale go to the Princess Theater operations. Advance tickets will be on sale at the Mount Ayr Record-News and the Princess Theater.

  It was kind of like a Publisher’s Clearing House award visit.

There were balloons, banners, a megaphone, confetti, silly string and more.

And along with all the fun came a check for $30,000 for the Princess Theater.

Tuesday morning five non-profits dedicated to children and young people’s development got a noisy surprise visit and a $30,000 grant each from the Dekko Foundation.  

The visits were part of the Dekko Foundation’s 30th birthday celebration. 

The five organizations were singled out for producing outstanding results during the Foundation’s Show Us Your Results Challenge.  To be considered for these special grants, organizations were asked to demonstrate how their work causes positive change to occur in the lives of children and young people.

Honored locally was the Princess Theater, which was singled out for giving young people a meaningful role to play within their community.  For less than $100 per student, the Theater has given hundreds of young people the opportunity to volunteer, practice their performance skills and experience the business side of a theater.  All of these are important building blocks to boost a young person’s changes for future success.  

   “We believe that the work of the Princess Theater helps to elevate the community’s culture of positive youth development,” says Sharon Smith, program director at the Dekko Foundation.  “It is clear to us that involvement with the Princess Theater can help a young person take meaningful steps toward economic freedom.”

On hand from the Dekko Foundation were Kim Davidson and Joanne Stutz. They surprised manager Karen Bender, who then call other board members to share in the fun. The grant will help push the fundraising for the new digital projector for the theater to the goal.

The Dekko Foundation invests in charitable projects that produce strong positive results in the areas of child and youth development and community development.  The Foundation was started in 1981, by entrepreneur and philanthropist, Chester E. Dekko.  

  Items from personnel to sewer treatment plan work and from waiving minimum utility bills to street work were handled when the Mount Ayr city council held its regular meeting Monday night.

Other topics for the council included an Alliant Energy franchise fee, boat and trailer bids, house numbering, cemetery road work and more.

Personnel matters

One resignation of a city crew member, disabling physical problems for an employee and moving two other employees from temporary seasonal help status to full time were handled by the council at the meeting.

Chris King, who had worked for the city for a few months, has resigned from the city crew.

He is certified to run the chemistry for the swimming pool, however, and the park board has hired him to continue to help keep the pool operating for the rest of the season.

City employee Barry Schuster has had permanent restrictions placed on the loads he can lift, carry or push and the council briefly discussed what his future with the city as an employee might be.

City attorney Richard Wilson has been talking with the workman’s compensation insurance company to see what options the city might have.

It was noted that the city did not have a position that seems to fit the disabilities that Schuster is working with.

Mayor Don Solliday suggested that the council wait for a report  from Wilson before taking any action, and the council agreed.

Two employees who were hired as temporary seasonal employees were moved to permanent employees at the meeting as well.

City maintenance worker I Bob Strange made the suggestion that the two have their status changed. The two employees are Ted Wood and Justin Koenen.

The council also gave Strange the go ahead to hire to temporary seasonal employees to replace Wood and Koenen.

The council voted to allow Strange to do the hiring of the new temporary employees. An emphasis is being made on developing a crew who can work well together, it was noted.

  All but two post offices in the Ringgold county area are on a list of 178 Iowa post offices that the U. S. Postal Service may close.

The United States Postal Service said it may close as many as 3,700 of its post offices across the country, or 12 percent of the total.

The closings are part of the announcement of an “expanded access program” which would put more locations in businesses, town halls, grocery stores and communiyy centers.

More than half of the post offices are in rural locations, according to Sue Brennan, a spokesman for the USPS.

In communities without a post office, the USPS plans to sell stamps and offer services through local retailers, Brennan said.

Mail delivery would continue out of postal service centers that remain open.

Not all post offices will necessarily be closed but all of the ones on the list are going to be “investigated” for closing.

Many of the post offices generate less than $27,500 in annual revenue, which seems to be one of the benchmarks being used in listing post offices that may be closed.

Seven post offices could close

In the Ringgold county area, post offices that are on the list for potential closing include Benton, Blockton, Diagonal, Ellston, Redding, Shannon City and Tingley.

If all of the post offices were closed, this would only leave Mount Ayr and Kellerton with post offices in the area.

    News of the home invasion at the farm home of Congressman Leonard Boswell near Lamoni on Saturday, July 16, has been reported nationally by many media.
    What people may not know, however, is that Murphy, the Ringgold county K-9 dog, played a part in the investigation.
About the incident
    At at approximately 10:45 p.m. on July 16, an armed intruder entered the home of Congressman Leonard Boswell.
    The Congressman’s daughter, Cindy Brown, was first physically assaulted and held at gunpoint while the intruder demanded money.
    Hearing Brown’s screams, Congressman Boswell entered the entryway and attempted to disarm the intruder, causing an altercation where the three fell down the stairs.
    Congressman Boswell’s wife, Dody, came in from her bedroom and yelled down the stairs at the intruder, who then ran up the stairs and put the gun to her neck.
    About this time Boswell’s 22-year-old grandson Mitchell Brown came running into the room with a loaded shotgun, which caused the intruder to run from the residence and into the fields around the house.
    Congressman Boswell sustained minor scrapes and bruises including a broken rib, but there were no serious injuries to any of the Boswell family.
    Arrested for the intrusion was David Palmer Dewberry, 20, formerly of Lamoni with a last known address of Fremont, NE, who was arrested in Independence, MO, on Tuesday, July 19.
    Also arrested for having a part in the incident was Cody John Rollins, 19, of Lamoni, who was arrested at his family home. Numerous charges have been filed against the two young men.
About the Murphy connection
    The Iowa Highway Patrol called in sheriff’s deputy Shannon Arends and his dog Murphy soon after the initial incident.
    Arends, along with sheriff’s posse member Tim Creveling, and Murphy soon picked up the trail of the intruder who had run into the dark in a field surrounding the residence.
    Murphy tracked the intruder for over a mile to the place in the road where the intruder was picked up by a vehicle.
    Along the way, Murphy discovered key pieces of evidence, through what the dog found is not being released at the present time by law enforcement authorities.

    Winners in the barbecue contest and several other activities were announced after the Ayr Days celebration in Mount Ayr Friday and Saturday.
    Entertainment was available Friday night and all day Saturday as the hot and sunny weather didn’t keep people from coming out for the event.
Barbecue contest winners
    One of the main competitions of the weekend was the Smokin’ in the Ayr barbecue contest.
    A total of 26 teams competed in the barbecue contest this year.
    Top five places when the scores for the three meat divisions were added up included:
     1. Smokin’ Divas, Becky McElvain; 2. Ferely’s Smokehouse, Shon O’Kelley; 3. Notorious BBQ, Kevin Trullinger; 4. Maloy Smoke Masters, Jason Lynch; 5. Smokin’ Up Westerville, Brian Deemer.
    In addition a trophy for the people’s choice award was presented. Winning the people’s choice award was Lotta Bull BBQ, Alicia Stogdill, captain.
    Brisket: 1. Smokin’ Divas, Becky McElvain; 2. Up In Smoke, Gary Johnston; 3. Beer-B-Quers, Tim Jones; 4. Good Golly BBQ, Steve Golly; 5. Notorius BBQ, Kevin Trullinger.
    Pork: 1. Smokin’ Divas, Becky McElvain; 2. Brian’s Beef, Brian Cox; 3. Notorious BBQ, Kevin Trullinger; 4. Maloy Smoke Masters, Jason Lynch; 5. Maloy Smoke Masters, Jason Lynch.
    Ribs: 1. Lotta Bull BBQ, Alicia Stogdill; 2. Ferely’s Smokehouse, Shon O’Kelley; 3. Sim Dog BBQ, Doug Padgitt; tie for 4. Maloy Smoke Masters, Jason Lynch, and Smokin’ Divas, Becky McElvain.
    Baked Beans: 1. Smokin’ Timber, Mark Stull; 2. Foggie Smokin’ Boys, Brent Ricker; 3. Maloy Smoke Masters, Jason Lynch; 4. 2 Shay BBQ, Cass Shay; 5. Good Golly BBQ, Steve Golly.
    Dessert: 1. Smokin’ Up Westerville, Brian Deemer; 2. Up In Smoke, Gary Johnson; 3. Smokin’ Divas, Becky McElvain; 4. Good Golly BBQ, Steve Golly; 5. Ferely’s Smokehouse, Shon O’Kelley.
    Barbecue teams set up shop just off the square Friday night and cooked away until the serving and judging Saturday afternoon.

    There may be another benefit to living in Ringgold county that has gone unnoticed by area residents.
    According to a study by the National Cancer Institute, Ringgold county is the county with the lowest overall cancer rate in the state of Iowa.
    Ringgold county had the second lowest cancer rate for men and the fifth lowest rate for women to gain the lowest overall cancer rate for any county in the state.
    Iowa, however, has a slightly higher cancer rate than the average in the United States.
    The cancer rates are expressed in the number of cases per 100,000 population and the study was done for the years 2003 to 2007.
    Across the United States, the rate of people diagnosed with cancer is 464.5 cases per 100,000 population each year for this period. In Iowa the rate was 472.7 for the period, ranking it 27th among the 50 states. Arizona with a level of 374.1 cases per 100,000 population led the nation with the fewest cases while Rhode Island, with 516.3 cases per 100,000 population had the nation’s highest rate.
    But back to Ringgold county.
    When taking into account all cancers in both males and females, Ringgold county and its rate of 394.6 cases per 100,000 population leads the state for the five-year period. It edged Winnebago county, which has a 395.7 rate.
    Area counties rank in the bottom half of the cancer rates in the state when all cases are recorded.
    Taylor county ranks fifth with a 419 rate, Union county ranks 13th with a 438.1 rate, Clarke county is 15th with a 442.1 rate, Decatur county is 20th with a 451.4 rate and Adams county is much different from the others with a rank of 50th and a rate of 471.9 per 100,000.
    On the other end of the spectrum, Page county has the highest overall rate with 541.2 cases per 100,000 population.

     Area school districts are making plans for registration next week for the new school year once August rolls around.
    Diagonal registration is Monday, Aug. 1; the Mount Ayr Community registration is Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 2-3, and Clearfield registration is Friday, Aug. 5.

    Ringgold county area residents can jump from one celebration -- the county fair -- to another -- the Smokin’ in the Ayr celebration in Mount Ayr -- this week.
    The Ayr Days celebration is set for Friday and Saturday, July 22-23 in Mount Ayr.
    A schedule of events is included in an advertisement inside today’s Mount Ayr Record-News. Several merchants are also having Ayr Days specials, which are shared on the back of this section of the newspaper this week.
Friday night activities
    Activities get underway Friday night with a set of events raising funds for the Mount Ayr Aquatic Center.
    A hamburger, chip, dessert and drink supper will be served that evening from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the U.S. Bank drive through. Advanced tickets for the $5 meal are being sold at the Mount Ayr Record-News, US Bank and Country Blossoms.
    At 6 p.m. a badminton tournament will get underway in Mable Rice Park on East Madison Street just east of the square.
    For card players, a Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament will be held beginning at 6 p.m., also to benefit the aquatic center effort. Those interested can contact Angie Glendennning at 641-340-5533 for more information.
    Music will be provided by the Ringgold County Outdoor Alliance on the stage on the square beginning at 6 p.m. as well.
    The barbecue contest begins Friday night as well, with teams setting up on East Madison Street and North Taylor Street on the northeast corner of the square.
    Barbecue contest organizer Ron Schafer says he hopes to have two dozen teams taking part in the event this year.  The cookers begin working on their meet Friday night for the contest that is judged on Saturday.
    Participants will be competing in ribs, pork, brisket, baked bean and dessert categories. The food will be available for sampling on Saturday.
Saturday events
    Activity around the square will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday, July 23 this year.
    The Lion’s Club will begin serving a pancake breakfast at the Ringgold courthouse shelter house at that time and continue until 10 a.m.
    The Ayrlooms Vintage Market located on the north side of the square and on the north courthouse lawn will get underway at 9 a.m. There are some 19 vendors planning to set up shop for the day. There will be antiques, garden and shabby chic decor, vintage farm items and repurposed junk for decorating along with several booths selling new items.
    This is a new project for the Ayr Days celebration and it is hoped that people will take advantage of the opportunities provided by the vendors who are coming to town.
    Also beginning at 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. are the inflatables and carnival games on the courthouse lawn. Tickets for the events can be purchased on the east side of the square.
    A full schedule of Kidz
Zone events are scheduled beginning at 10 a.m. on the east side of the square, sponsored by Sweet Escapes.
    From 10 to 11 a.m. there will be bowling, bingo, washers, bag toss and horseshoe contests. Face painting will be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There will be a bounce house available from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. as well.
    Water games including bucket races, shaving cream cap game, water balloon competition and a water slide will be held from 11 a.m. to 12 noon.
    At 12 noon, Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear will make a visit. From 12 noon to 1 p.m. there will be relay races such as a three- legged race, egg carrying contest, Cheeto head-partner race and potato sack races.
    From 1 to 2 p.m. there will be a Minute to Win It tournament. Dora The Explorer will be on hand for kids to meet from 2 to 2:30 p.m. From 2 to 3 p.m. there will be miscellaneous competitions such as a pop ring toss, ice cream eating contest and crafts. There will also be an all-day coloring contest.
    Between the Kidz Zone activities and the inflatables, there will be a whole day of fun for the young people.
    Music on the stage will begin on Saturday at 9:30 a.m., when the Midwesterners take the stage to play to 11:30 a.m.
    The Princess Theater will have an open house from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. sharing a history of Mount Ayr slide show.
    A new book of photos and captions of Ringgold county history -- “Images of America,” Ringold County” by Sharon Becker and Mike Avitt will be available at a book signing at the Depot Museum from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
    Another new event this year will be the visit to the celebration by Da Kuntry Pedler exhibit, a hillybilly truck with numerous collectables on it, on the west side of the square.
    The truck has items such as water squirters, whistles, horns, bells, sirens and rattley pots and pans, with words of wit and wisdom painted on it.
    There’s a washboard, corn sheller, mink pelt, rubber chicken, laundry plunger, spittoon and more. It’s decorated with a bear skin rug and even has a fake still.
    Rich and Pam Molden of Bellvue, NE, provide hillbilly humor along with their one-of-a-kind vehicle that will be on display.
    He engineered a number of gags into the truck’s design as well. The truck plays jokes on people and does things that are unexpected.
    A pie and ice cream social will be sponsored at the Ringgold County Senior Citizens Activity Center from 10 a.m. until the pies are gone. This is a freewill offering event.
    A pedal tractor pull gets underway at 10 a.m. on the east side of the square. At the same time a tractor show will begin on the south side of the square and the motorcycle and car show will be setting up on the south side of the square.
    Registration is set from 10 to 11:30 a.m. with judging until 1 p.m.
    Cars and trucks -- stock and modified -- will all be in the same group in age classes.  The year classes include 1949 and older, 1950 to 1959, 1960 to 1969, 1970 to 1979, 1980 to 1995, and 1996 to present. There are also stock and custom motorcycle classes.
    Prizes for the best all Ford, best all GM, best all Mopar, best of show car/truck and spectator’s choice will be given. There is a cash prize for first places and a custom cooler will be awarded to the best of show.
    For people interested in antiques, Ranee Roed will have a free antique appraisal event in the basement of the Mount Ayr Public Library from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. as well.
    Taking the stage to follow the Midwesterners at 11:30 a.m. will be the Conklin Family Singers.
    Two groups will be offering food for lunch for those attending. The Sons of the American Legion will be having their pork loin grill from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The First Christian Church will be offering beef burgers and walking tacos at the First Christian Church from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
    Basketball contests will be held in front of the Mount Ayr post office on the northwest side of the suare beginning at 12 noon with a three-on-three basketball contest, three point shooting contest and slam dunk contest.
    Taking the stage on the square from 1 to 3 p.m. will be the Mark Cruise Rockin’ Tribute to Country Music show, featuring Mount Ayr native Bill Welling.
    At 3 p.m. the big parade will be held with the theme “It’s All About Family . . . and Fun!”
    Organizers hope that people will use the theme to explore all kinds of family -- like school mates, church family, sports team followers and more to come up with entries.
    There will be kids and adult categories for the parade. Adult categories include antique or classic cars, organizations and churches, tractors, businesses, politicians and horses and riders/wagons.
    Line-up starts at 2 p.m. with the check-in area for both the kids parade and the grand parade at the corner of Fillmore and Jefferson Streets.
    Following the parade at 4 p.m. the barbecue contest food will begin being served. For a $10 price for adults and a $5 price for kids six to 12, people can sample the cooking of the contestants in the contest.    
    Taking the stage to play for the first round of evening entertainment will be the Rhythm Kings band on the stage from 5 to 9 p.m.
    At 7 p.m. the barbecue contest winners will be announced.
    There will be a 70s class reunion located at the Ringgold county courthouse assembly room beginning at 7 p.m. Bill Hightshoe will provide DJ music from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. to finish out the evening.
    For those who want to continue to share together on Sunday morning, the Mount Ayr Assembly of God church will be hosting services on the square at 10:30 a.m. Sunday morning. They will be serving a free meal following the services.
    Also scheduled for Sunday is the Ringgold Rough Riders horse fun show. Registration begins at 1 p.m. and the event begins at 1:30 p.m. There are non-horse games for youth six and under and horse games for all ages in the arena at the Ringgold County Fairgrounds.

 

    Forget the talk about closing down the Mount Ayr airport.
    After a visit with airport commission members and other interested people the Mount Ayr city council is looking into ways that the airport could be revitalized instead.
    That discussion took up the majority of the regular meeting of the city council Monday night.
    In other action, a brief discussion of the upcoming meeting on the swimming pool with the board of supervisors was discussed, several drainage matters talked about, excess city items put up for sale and liquor licences renewed by the council.
Airport discussion
    Members of the Mount Ayr Airport Commission and other interested residents met with the city council to discuss the future of the Mount Ayr airport Monday night.
    Council member Wes Mathany opened the discussion with his questions about why the city should continue to operate the airport.
    “No one rents any of the hangars out there for airplanes anymore,” he noted. “No resident of Mount Ayr owns a plane that flies in or out of there. The upkeep seems extremely high for no more than the airport is used.”
    He noted that bills for upkeep are paid, the surface of the airport needs to be redone and there is no income coming in to help keep it open.
    “I’d hate to close it, but it doesn’t seem relevant for taxpayers of Mount Ayr anymore,” Mathany said. “Maybe we need to see about sharing responsibility with the county or just shutting it down.”
    Airport Commission member Dan Cunning said some history of the airport might help the council.
    “As a long-time member of this community, I’m glad to see progressive things happening,” Cunning said. “Closing the airport would not be progressive.”
    He said that the airport began back in the late 1960s when the Ringgold County Development Corporation had the opportunity to purchase 80 acres to have a development site.
    As part of the planning it was noted that having an airport adjacent to the site of the manufacturing plants would be a plus.
    Judge Charles Lewis, who also helped get the land for the Judge Lewis Park, gave the money so the land for the airport could be purchased. Another 10 acres was later added to the site to expand the runway to 2800 feet.
    Rex Shaha leveled out the land for the airport when it was built 43 years ago and over time various methods have been tried to have a hard-surface for the runway.
    Cunning listed a number of area residents who were active in flying years ago and noted that those numbers had declined now that owning a plane costs more and more.
    He said he felt a change in philosophy by the city about 10 years ago had contributed to the decline.  The city still has an airport commission, but the commission’s responsibilities for keeping up the airport were basically taken over by the city 10 years ago in a money-saving effort.
    “Without a group of people who were specifically trying to prioritize projects and work to keep the facility up the airport has suffered,” Cunning noted.
    The airport does continue to be used, Cunning told the council. He noted that crop spraying planes use the airport when spraying crops in the county, which he said was an economic benefit.
    He noted that from time to time an anethetist for the hospital flies into Mount Ayr, an example of business uses.
    “There is the recreational aspect as well,” he noted. After Peggy Sue’s restaurant was featured on a Des Moines television channel, Cunning got a call from an Indianola pilot who flew down to eat supper at the restaurant.
    It was noted that the city spent about $4,500 last year on airport upkeep.
    Commission member Craig Elliott said one of the problems the commission had faced years ago was that money in its budget had to be spent in the fiscal year in which it was granted.  There was never a good way to save up funds to be able to do a refinishing of the runway or other projects.
    He said he felt hangar rental was a function of the economy but that if the airport had an acceptable surface he felt people would be more likely to use it.
    With the oil and chip surface it currently has, rocks are blown up by the propellors and can do damage to the airplane. Some leased aircraft are not allowed to land on such a surface.
    “If we can get a nice surface on the airport runway I think you would see the airport being used more,” Dick Elliott from the Ringgold County Development Corp. noted, in supporting the continuance of the airport.
    Malcom Eighmy had just come from a hospital board meeting and noted that the hospital was concerned that the airport remain open as well.
    Kurt Shaha pointed out that he knew that when the Mount Ayr Parts plant was in operation the airport was used many times to fly in parts needed quickly by the plant.
    He said he was speaking as an individual and not as a county supervisor, but he felt the county might be able to help keep the airport open if needed.
    A question had arisen about FAA rules not allowing some expansion of the manufacturing plants near the airport. Cunning noted that he had checked out the questions with the Iowa Department of Transportation and didn’t think there would be any problem with the expansion of the Heartland Energy Solutions plant adjacent to the airport.
    Kelly Main said he had been investigating some ideas and felt that there were a few interested parties in the community who might consider helping fund a airport resurfacing project. He also noted that an asphalt plant would be locating in the area later this year and it might be possible to get an asphalt surface for the runway at the least expensive cost possible for awhile.
    “If we had a good surface on the airport we would have more planes land,” he noted. “As it is people are afraid of the surface and land their planes in Creston or Lamoni and then have someone pick them up.”
    Cunning noted that having the city own the airport provided a big advantage when insuring the airport for liability over what could be done if the airport was owned privately.
    After the discussion, Mathany said that the information shared has changed his mind on wanting to look at closing the airport and council members agreed that keeping the airport open was the way to go.
    Council member Brent Ricker also suggested that the airport commission be given a budget again and asked to become active in the management of the airport.
    Dick Elliott suggested that the council and commission get on the bandwagon and explore the possibilities of what an upgrade to the airport surface would do and how much it would cost.
    No official action was taken but the council seemed to be supportive of that plan of action.

   
   
   

    The parking lot expansion project, physician recruitment, health insurance renewal and the IT project update were just some of the subjects covered by the Ringgold County Hospital board at its monthly meeting Monday.
Parking lot expansion
    A report was given on the project to expand the hospital parking lot. The concrete in the parking lot has been poured and sawed and the sidewalk is to be torn out and there will be a new service drive established, the board was told.
    The decision has been made to go with two light poles with single light heads. The contour grading still needs to be done on the south side and finish  grading with top soil is yet to be done.
    Kathi Pfiffner with USDA has done a site inspection and approved the work. Kelly Main with TEK Builders expects to finish the project next week.
Physician recruitment
    Ringgold County Hospital has conducted one phone interview and, after doing a background check, the hospital decided not to pursue that candidate.
    A 2012 graduate had scheduled a site visit for last Friday but was unable to keep that appointment. That visit will be rescheduled.
    Mercy Network has hired a dedicated physician recruitment coordinator Cynthia Forsyth, to help with the recruitment process for the participating hospitals.

    It’s fair time in Ringgold county with the fair opening Wednesday and continuing through Sunday, July 17.
    4-H exhibit building judging was handled Wednesday as well as entry of a number of the contests. The first day of the fair was finished up with the queen and princess judging and Bill Riley talent show Wednesday night.
Activity today (Thursday)
    Thursday, July 14, activity begins at 8 a.m. with the swine weigh-in and stalling. Sheep and goat weigh-in and stalling begins at 9:30 a.m. and beef, horse, rabbit and poultry entries are to be stalled by 10 a.m. Beef weigh-in will be held beginning at 10:30 a.m.
    At noon the 4-H communications projects, including educational presentations, working exhibits and Share the Fun entries will be judged.
    The first livestock show of the fair is the 4-H  and FFA poultry show, which will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon, followed by the 4-H and FFA rabbit show at 2:30 p.m.
    A water balloon fight sponsored by the 4-H county council will be held at 3 p.m. There will be a chili cook-off and salsa contest sponsored by the Crooked Creek 4-H Club from 5 to 8 p.m.
    Photos for outstanding junior, considered for state and state fair exhibitors will be held at 5:30 p.m. At 6 p.m. the Ringgold County Fair cowgirl queen and princess contest will be held.
    Evening entertainment includes mutton bustin’ for kids at 7 p.m., followed by the annual rodeo at 7:30 p.m.
Friday activities
    Activity begins at 8 a.m. Friday, July 15, with the 4-H and FFA swine show. At 10 a.m. there will be games for senior citizens at the commercial building.
    At noon the 4-H and FFA goat show gets underway, followed by the sheep show at 1 p.m.
    Also at 1 p.m. the conferences for the 4-H bucket calf and bucket calf plus one contests will be held and games for Special Olympians will be held at the commercial building.
    At 2 p.m. a pedal tractor pull for youngsters will be held. The pet show will be held at 2:30 p.m. The 4-H County Council is sponsoring “Minute to Win It” and other games at 3 p.m.
    Also at 3 p.m. the 4-H and FFA dog show gets underway and the 4-H and FFA horse performance show begins at 7 p.m. that evening.
    The evening entertainment will be a truck and garden tractor pull which begins at 7 p.m.
Big day Saturday
    A big day of activity Saturday, July 16, gets underway with the 4-H County Council pancake breakfast fund-raiser from 6 to 9 a.m.
    The 4-H and FFA feeder calf show will be held at 8:30 a.m., with the calves released after the show.
    At 9 a.m. the 4-H and FFA breeding beef show gets underway.
    The annual baby contest will be held at 10 a.m., but registration begins at 9 a.m. in the commercial building. The check-in for the 4-H challenge recipe contest will be held at 9 a.m. as well.
    Judging for the 4-H recipe challenge begins at 10 a.m. The final 4-H  bucket calf and bucket calf plus one judging will be held at 11:30 a.m.
    The Pee Wee Wrangler show, where youth younger than 4-H age dress up with their calves will be held at 12 noon.
    The 4-H and FFA market beef show gets underway at 1 p.m. and there will be games for kids and adults at the commercial building at 1 p.m. as well.
    An open class feeder calf show will be held at 3 p.m. -- the same time as the beginning of the free ATV races. At 3:30 p.m. the swine carcass viewing will be held at Commercial Meat Processors.
    An Iowa State University veterinary camp for youth in seventh through 12th grades will be held from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. Pre-registration for the camp is necessary.
    The evening performance Friday night is by Vocal Trash, a group that adds vocals to the rhythms of percussion on various everyday items such as trash cans. Fireworks will follow this concert.
Fair wraps up Sunday
    Activity Sunday begins with archery shoot registration from 8 to 9 a.m. A National Archery in the Schools Program shoot for youth will be held and a 3-D Pop-up shoot for youth and adults will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Also beginning at 9 a.m. is the 4-H horse halter show.
    The annual mud run will be held at the fair beginning at noon on Sunday.
    At 12:30 p.m. the future 4-Her pet show sponsored by the 4-H County Council will be held.
    At 1 p.m. all 4-H and FFA animals not for sale and exhibits from the 4-H exhibit building will be released. The exhibit building exhibits need to be out by 5 p.m.
    Open class exhibits will also be held from 1 to 3 p.m.
    Youth pie baking contest entries are due at the 4-H office by 2 p.m. Sunday.
    There will be a sale supper at 5 p.m. Sunday, followed by the annual 4-H and FFA livestock and pie sale at 6 p.m.

    To say that the swimming pool season this year has been a challenge is an understatement.
    Working with a pool that is 48 years old -- more than double the life expectancy of some concrete swimming pools -- a number of problems have arisen this year, causing the pool to be closed.
    Earlier in the season it was noted that a drain in the pool had been recalled and needed to be changed out.
    Other problems have closed the pool for short amounts of time as the season has progressed.
    Last week the pool, that was built in 1963, was closed for five days when the water began to get cloudy when problems with the filter system developed.
    While the water problem wasn’t a matter of bacteria problems or chlorine levels, operating without a clear view of the bottom of all the pool is not a safety option, it was pointed out.
    Mayor Don Solliday at the recent council meeting noted there was a case of a pool in Massachusetts where the deep end of the pool was cloudy and it was marked off, allowing swimming in the shallow end. A person drowned and was not seen under the cloudy water, causing great liability issues.
    “Closing the pool down was the right decision my estimation,” Solliday told the council. “The managers had the city’s liability in mind.”
    City staff, council members and park board members got busy and sought help with the problem.
    Last week they dug a good deal of the sand out of the pool’s filter as part of the effort to get the filtering system to work better. A bucket brigade was used to move the sand from the filter outside.
    Water was drained in the pool and the pool refilled and is currently back in operation.
    Even with the efforts the adult swim times at the pool have been cancelled for the next two weeks as work continues.
    A state pool inspector was supposed to come to Mount Ayr Tuesday to review the situation and rule on whether the pool can stay open.
    The chlorine counts and bacteria tests are all within specifications, Leslie Murphy, who is a park board member and a member of the group heading up efforts for a new Mount Ayr Aquatic Center said this week.
    Without the pool filters working like they should, however, the problem is keeping the pool water and chemicals mixed like they need to be.
    The pool staff has been overvacuuming to help the filter system keep up and the water clarity issues seem to be resolved for the present.
    Solving the pool problems for the present are not a long-term solution, however, and the several closures of the pool this summer have helped spur efforts for a new pool.
    The Mount Ayr Aquatic Center project has been ongoing for several years now. The money has been raised, with the help of a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant, to build a new bath house that will also serve as a storm shelter for park users.
    Phase II of the project is to raise the $2 million needed for the aquatic center itself. The pool will have a walk in entry at one end and include slides and other items that are part of new aquatic centers.
    The problem is that the group supporting the project only has abut $35,000 raised for Phase II of the project.
    The city council is well aware of the need for a swimming pool in the city park, but mayor Don Solliday has noted that the city does not have the bonding capacity to build a new pool itself.
    Not having a swimming pool available in the whole county would be quite a blow to recreational opportunities. It was noted that there are two pools in Taylor county and three pools in Decatur county for residents to use.
    Questions have arisen about downsizing the current plans for the center, but Murphy notes that the plans are made to take care of the population that is expected to use the pool and making it too small would not be wise.
    Swimming pools are built with maximum capacities that would mean a smaller pool might have to turn people away.
    The aquatic center supporters will be holding activities at the Ayr Days celebration in another effort to raise funds, but these type of fund-raisers are not going to reach the $2 million goal before the current pool is closed down for good.
    Supporters have set a special meeting with the Ringgold county board of supervisors at the Ringgold county courthouse for Wednesday, July 20, at 7 p.m. to discuss if county-wide resources could be used to help with the project since the pool serves the county population.
    The meeting will be centered on the current and future issues of the Mount Ayr swimming pool. In addition, the status of the aquatic center project will be reported along with potential funding for the Phase II portion of the project.
    Interested parties form around the county are welcome to attend the meeting to learn more about the project and offer input.

    Personnel items, budgeting, acceptance of bids, and a short list of other topics were handled by the Mount Ayr Community school oard at their regular meeting held Monday, July 11.
Personnel items
    Due to the resignation of Mike Still as at-risk director and activities director, the board voted Monday to hire longtime district teacher Delwyn Showalter to assume those duties.
    Showalter will retain his position as co-head football coach, but the district will need to hire a new social studies teacher to cover Showalter’s teaching assignment.
    During football season, high school principal Ken Harrison will cover some of the routine activity director duties.
    In making his recommendation, Superintendent Joe Drake praised not only Showalter’s longtime dedication to the district and its students but also his high esteem among other districts in the Pride of Iowa conference and in southwest Iowa in general.
    The board also renewed the sharing agreement with Creston that allows Eric Ehlen to teach one class of physical education in Mount Ayr and to retain his position of head wrestling coach in the district. Ehlen then spends the remainder of his contracted day in the Creston system. His salary is split 80/20, with Creston picking up the majority of the contracted amount.
    District business manager and board secretary Janette Campbell was reappointed to that position for the coming year.
    In a final personnel item, director Jim Uhlenkamp announced he would not seek reelection to the board in the upcoming election. Uhlenkamp cited a need to devote more attention to his doctoral dissertation as impacting his decision.

    So what does a 65 and a half year old retired Irish physics professor do for adventure?
    How about hopping aboard his bicycle and riding across the United States.
    That’s just what Joseph Ferris of Cushendall, County Atrim, Northern Ireland is doing this summer, and Monday found him coming through Mount Ayr.
    Ferris, who was born and spent his first 25 years in Scotland, shared a bit of his story when he stopped in at Peggy Sue’s mid-morning for a break.
    When he was planning his trip across the United States, Mount Ayr caught his eye and was one of the places he included on the trip.
    And why does Ferris point out that he is 65 and one-half? In Ireland you land a free bus pass when you’ve reached that age. You can travel anywhere in Ireland by bus for free.
    Ferris’s plan is to bicycle across the United States in about 65 days -- traveling from New York City to Los Angeles, CA.
    On Monday he was on day 22 of his trek and had made his way through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and most of Iowa. He’s making about 60 miles a day, taking rest days when he feels he needs them.
    His big question for the immediate future was how he would get across the flooding Missouri River.
    His typical day is to get up early and put in 30 miles in the morning, to rest in the middle of the day when it is hottest, and then to finish up another 30 miles in the afternoon.

  Preparations are in full swing for the annual Ringgold County Fair, which is set to open Wednesday, July 13.

A special section in today’s Mount Ayr Record-News gives many details of the activities of the fair. This story also hits the highlights of the activities planned beginning next week.

Wednesday, July 13, the 4-H exhibit building will open at 8 a.m. for club booth set up. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the open class exhibits will be set up in the commercial building.

4-H exhibit building project judging and 4-H challenge exhibit judging will be done from 2 to 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon.

Check-in for dog, pet, poultry and rabbit show exhibitors will be held at 5 p.m. without the animals needing to be present. There will be a supper for 4-H and FFA families provided by Great Western Bank at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

From 6 to 8 p.m., state fair selection will be done in the 4-H exhibit building.

Evening entertainment will be the annual Ringgold County Fair queen and princess contest and Bill Riley Talent show, beginning at 6:30 p.m. At 6:15 p.m. prior to the contest and talent show, the South Central Iowa Community Foundation grants will be presented.

Thursday, July 14, activity begins at 8 a.m. with the swine weigh-in and stalling. Sheep and goat weigh-in and stalling begins at 9:30 a.m. and beef, horse, rabbit and poultry entries are to be stalled by 10 a.m. Beef weigh-in will be held beginning at 10:30 a.m.

At noon the 4-H communications projects, including educational presentations, working exhibits and Share the Fun entries will be judged.

The first livestock show of the fair is the 4-H  and FFA poultry show, which will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday afternoon, followed by the 4-H and FFA rabbit show at 2:30 p.m.

A water balloon fight sponsored by the 4-H county council will be held at 3 p.m. There will be a chili cook-off and salsa contest sponsored by the Cooked Creek 4-H Club from 5 to 8 p.m.

Photos for outstanding junior, considered for state and state fair exhibitors will be held at 5:30 p.m. At 6 p.m. the Ringgold County Fair cowgirl queen and princess contest will be held.

Evening entertainment includes mutton bustin’ for kids at 7 p.m., followed by the annual rodeo at 7:30 p.m.

Activity begins at 8 a.m. Friday, July 15, with the 4-H and FFA swine show. At 10 a.m. there will be games for senior citizens at the commercial building.

At noon the 4-H and FFA goat show gets underway, followed by the sheep show at 1 p.m.

Also at 1 p.m. the conferences for the 4-H bucket calf and bucket calf plus one contests will be held and games for Special Olympians will be held at the commercial building.

At 2 p.m. a pedal tractor pull for youngsters will be held. The pet show will be held at 2:30 p.m. The 4-H County Council is sponsoring “Minute to Win It” and other games at 3 p.m.

Also at 3 p.m. the 4-H and FFA dog show gets underway and the 4-H and FFA horse performance show begins at 7 p.m. that evening.

The evening entertainment will be a truck and garden tractor pull which begins at 7 p.m.

  Ringgold county had the best fourth quarter on record when it came to sales tax collection in the fourth quarter of 2010, which ended December 31, 2010, six months ago.

While the state average of retail sales was slipping 1.3 percent on the average, Ringgold county sales soared after a decline that was recorded between 2008 and 2009.

Sales for the three months totaled $13,385,399, up $6,391,843 or an amazing 47.75 percent from the dip to $6,993,556 recorded in 2009. The sales total in 2008 was $9,454,785, so this was still almost a $4 million increase over the 2008 figure.

The biggest change came in the utility and transportation sector, which accounted for most of the increase. Building materials and food items also showed increases.

All surrounding counties except Union county also showed increase of some kind for the quarter, with sales in four of the five counties exceeding the state average.

Decatur county showed a sales increase of 8.81 percent for the quarter -- up $743,799 to $8,442,074. Decatur county’s sales in 2009 had showed a dip from 2008, but the increase surpassed the 2008 total of $8,313,269 as well. This is a new record in retail sales for the quarter.

Taylor county sales were up $386,500 or 6.23 percent over the previous year to $6,204,251. This was the second best showing in Taylor county in the past 10 years.

Clarke county showed an increase of $323,584 or 1.75 percent for the period to $18,442,267. This total was surpassed in 2008 when sales totaled $18,610,021.

Adams county showed an increase of $20,014 for the quarter, up .34 percent, to $5,802,732. This total has been surpassed three times in the past 10 years.

Union county struggled in retail sales for the quarter, dropping $2,275,608 or 7.48 percent to $30,420,907. This was the seventh best total there in the last 10 years.

  Wednesday, June 29 was a milestone for the Grand Valley Museum building. It returned back to its former home at the old school grounds in Kellerton.

  Daniel Borntrager of Promise City, Iowa, and his crew, which includes Titus and his son-in-law Andy, prepared the building for the move. They were assisted by Dick Jackson, Harold Cooper, Rex Miller, Bill Fifer, and John Euritt, all of Kellerton. The Borntrager crew then supervised the move with Dee Euritt and Sharon Becker standing by as cheerleaders.

  The move required Alliant Energy to lower a street light power line and Mediacom to lower a fiber optic line.

About one hour after the building was on the move it was next to the foundation of its new locatin.

  The Foland School was constructed by Michael and Elizabeth (Sowerwine) Foland on their farm located northeast of Grand River. Upon the closure of country schools in  Iowa, it was moved around the year 1960 or 1961 to Kellerton. Grand Valley Community School utilized the building as a band and chorus classroom.

  When Grand Valley Community School closed, the building was moved uptown on Decatur Street, next door to city hall. It is one of the few remaining one-roomed school houses that remains intact as it was built over 130 years ago.

  The Kellerton Restoration Committee has been working on the project for the past two years with the goal of relocating the building back to the former school grounds and restoring it as the school museum. Included in the plans are Kellerton items of historical and genealogical interest.

  The State Historical Society of Iowa awarded a $10,000 HRD/REAP grant for the project in June 2010. This grant money along donations has funded the project to date.

  Additional funds will need to be raised for the completion of the restoration phase. Donations may be made to Ringgold Community Foundation, 201 E. Monroe, Mount Ayr, Iowa. In return, a letter of receipt of a charitable donation will be mailed back to all donors.

  Several Fourth of July celebrations are planned around the county for the holiday weekend which ends with the Fourth of July on Monday this year.

Full scale celebrations are planned at Kellerton and Clearfield and fireworks displays are planned in other communities.

Kellerton plans

Kellerton plans its Fourth of July celebration on Sunday, July 3 in the Kellerton city park.

A parade will be held at 12:30 p.m. with lineup at the ballfield in the south part of town. Southern Iowa Parks and Recreation will be serving a lunch from 12 noon to 2 p.m.

Games will be held in the park from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. with a kids tractor pull at 2 p.m. There will be bingo at 2 p.m., water fights at 3 p.m. and a cake walk at 4 p.m.

Supper will be served from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. by the Kelleton volunteer fire department and Billy Hightshoe will be the DJ for a dance with music from 4:30 to 9 p.m.

Fireworks are planned at 10 p.m.  by the Kellerton Fire Department.

Clearfield plans

The 58th annual Clearfield Lions celebration will be held Sunday, July 3 and Monday, July 4, in Clearfield.

Activity will begin Sunday with a 9 a.m. church service in the city park. There will be a tractor and truck pull beginning at 7 p.m., sanctioned by the Northwest Missouri Tractor Pullers Association.

Activity begins Monday, July 4, with sandlot volleyball at 9 a.m. There will be a baby contest at 1 p.m., kids games at 2 p.m. and a pie contest at 3 p.m. Homemade ice cream and pie will be served at the Lions Club hall from 4 p.m. until it is gone. A pet show at the Taygold Community Store will be held at 5:30 p.m. followed by the Fourth of July parade with the theme “Take Pride in America,” beginning at 6:30 p.m.

There will be a pedal pull at 7:30 p.m. a dance on the slab to Coon Ridge Band from 8 to 11 p.m., kids rides, bingo, food stands and more.

Antique tractors are invited to carry state flags in the parade. They will start assembling at 4 p.m. west of the Clearview Home.

Fireworks will close out the day at 10:15 p.m., followed by a drawing for money.

More details are included in an advertisement in today’s Mount Ayr Record-News.

Benton fireworks

A fireworks display is planned in Benton Friday, July 1, at sundown in the Benton city park.

There will be a potluck dinner beginning at 7 p.m. that night. People are encouraged to bring their lawn chairs for the event.

Sun Valley fireworks

Fireworks are planned at Sun Valley Lake on Saturday, June 2, at dusk. Rain date for the display is Sunday, June 3, at dusk.

  Two personnel items were handled when the Mount Ayr Community school board held a special meeting Wednesday, June 22.

The resignation of Mike Still as at risk/alternative school teacher and athletic director was accepted and Staci Holm was hired as a special education teacher for the disrict.

Still has been a district employee for nine years and is resigning to take the position of high school principal for the Lenox school district.

The board approved the release of Still from his contract for the coming school year with the stipulation that up to $1,000 can be charged for advertising and other expenses because of the late resignation. The board thanked Still for his service.

Staci Holm was hired on step 2-1 of the salary schedule at $27,431 before teacher quality funds are figured in.

She is a graduate of Morningside College in Sioux City. She is working on her master’s degree in special education and has a provisional license for her K-12 instructional strategist II MD endorsement which she needs for this position.

She had four years of experience as a work-study student in an autism classroom in Sioux City and has directed a special education camp for adults for several years.

She taught at Creston last year in her first year of teaching. She will be assigned a mentor and be part of the mentoring and induction program.

Holm will be responsible for working with five students with autism at the Mount Ayr community school and will be supervising four teacher associates.

  Some $3,104,519  has been awarded to Ringgold county residents and county entities  to recover from the June 1, 2010 tornado and flooding event that occurred, according to Ringgold County Emergency Management coordinator Teresa Jackson.

Of the amount, $2,369,535 came from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to county governmental groups for roads, bridges, parks and other repairs from the storms. Another $300,000 came in state assistance to the county and $253,986 came in  FEMA assistance to individuals. There was $80,000 worth of aid through the local Southern Iowa Council of Governments for a loan/grant program to aid in recovery and the state provided $60,000 in individual assistance.

In the past five years Ringgold county has had four federal disaster declarations.  If the County Emergency Management Commission is not compliant with all their state and federal requirements then neither the county nor the individuals would be able to apply for these funds, Jackson explained.

    Options for covering the city’s water distribution and sewer plant operation needs, closing out two city projects, discussion of a water study and more were handled in a 3 1/2 hour Mount Ayr city council meeting Monday night.
    In addition the council held another lengthy discussion about adding lots at Loch Ayr, were updated on possible trash recycling plans, decided against providing cement for drainage work for a private individual, made library board appointments, approved cigarette permits and supported a  certified work ready region application.
Plant operator needs
    The city of Mount Ayr needs to meet a July 1 deadline for a certified water distribution operator and October 1 for a certified sewer plant operator and talked about options at the meeting Monday night.
    Kevin Stocker for City Administration and Management Professionals Services was present at the meeting to make a proposal to the board.
    He offered to provide water and wastewater facilities operations for the city. He would be onsite four days a week and 12 hours a week and be the operator in charge of all facilities. He would train all city staff on operation of the facilities and assist with staff taking certification exams to get them certified  so the city could have a local operator.
    In addition he would develop a capital improvement plan for the city which would list and prioritize the projects that are needed in city infrastructure.
    His contract would also provide a water and wastewater rate review, cost benefit analysis of hauling sludge to Des Moines vs. land application, help with budget preparation, develop RFP and RFQs and attend one council meeting a month.
    He also would offer services such as grant administration, ordinance review, staff scheduling and coordination, administration and grants and the like for additional compensation.
    Total cost for the year-long contract with Stocker would be $72,392.   
    Another option for the council is an application from Dan Shepherd, who has a grade II water distribution and a grade II sewer license.
    He is currently working at an ethanol plant in Hartley but would like to move back to southern Iowa.
    He is a Corning high school graduate and worked for the city of Bedord from 1977 to 1992. He has operated water and sewer plants and natural gas utilities.
    He was paid $22 an hour at his last municipal job, it was reported.
    Bob Strange also noted that people from the staff at the city of Lamoni were going to be coming over to help train present city staff on the operation of the sewer plant in the meantime.
    The council may hold a special meeting to determine how to meet the July 1 deadline for a water distribution operator.