News
ALL-STATE:
• Easter egg hunt
Osceola’s Easter egg hunt is planned Saturday, March 26, on the courthouse lawn. It starts at 10 a.m. with the story of Easter told by Pastor Chuck DeVos. A rain date is scheduled Saturday, April 2.
I-35’s Griglione, CD’s Boothe named to all-state teams
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Rec center update: Potential to work with school, receive FEMA safe room funding By AMY HANSEN
OST news editor ahansen@osceolaiowa.com
The recreation center project in Osceola is turning into something more than just a pipe dream. City officials are really looking to band together to make this dream a reality. During an Osceola City Council meeting Tuesday, March 2, Ty Wheeler, city administrator/clerk, first pointed out city and park board officials recognize Clarke
Community School District officials are having a new facility discussion as well. “We identified early on, if we were going Wheeler to look at our rec center project, we would want to make sure that this ends up becoming a competing project with the school for the public support,” Wheeler said.
The council was asked to grant city staff permission to contact the superintendent and school officials to begin discussions and attend meetings with its own board, and it was granted. FEMA safe room Next was the subject of more avenues for potential funding of the project. Wheeler said FEMA has opened up its safe room (tornado shelter) grant again. The idea is a safe room would integrate well into a rec center project.
“We could be taking advantage of some grant money to fund part of the building of this facility in whatever form it may take,” he said. “That’s something we would have to jump onto now.” Wheeler needed the council’s permission to move forward by working with Southern Iowa Council of Governments (SICOG) to gain more information in that area. This was also granted during the meeting. Mayor Thomas Kedley recalled when he was a track coach for
Clarke, and they were in a bad storm near Nevada. He said one of their gymnasiums was a safe room that could withstand 200- to 300mph winds. “Here in Osceola, we have a 1960s bomb shelter underneath the post office, and it can’t fit 5,000-plus citizens in it,” Kedley said. “I think this is a public need.” ‘Time is now’ Hopefully, more grants and opportunities beyond FEMA could Please see REC CENTER, Page 10
Severe Weather Awareness Week, spotter trainings on the horizon By AMY HANSEN
OST news editor ahansen@osceolaiowa.com
Now that we’re a third of the way through the month of March, it’s a good time to be reminded again of Severe Weather Awareness Week. The week is planned March 21-25, and each day has a different weather-related theme during the week. “That’s when we encourage everybody to test their plans for going to a Mathias shelter,” said Allan Mathias with Clarke County Emergency Management (EMA). “It’s a good time to do that every year.” The statewide tornado siren is planned approximately 10 a.m. Wednesday, March 23. It goes through all the stages from the watch to the warning. Mathias said the awareness week is also a good time for people to make sure they can hear the storm
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sirens throughout town. He said they’ve heard people talk about hearing the noon whistle but not the storm sirens. “A lot of that depends on the wind conditions and the weather – how far you can hear those sirens,” Mathias said. Storm spotter training Severe Weather Awareness Week is especially important this year in Clarke County because it is the county’s turn to host storm spotter training sessions. The training is planned 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 15, in the auditorium at Clarke Community High School, 800 N. Jackson St. It is taught by the National Weather Service. The program lasts approximately an hour and a half. The class is free, and everyone is welcome to attend. This will be the only time it is offered this year in Clarke County. For questions, call Clarke County EMA at 641-342-6654. “You learn what to look for in the storms and get some ideas on where to go. It goes through a lot of details about the storms,” Mathias said.
OST photo by KELSEY HAUGEN
Farming parody: The Peterson Farm Bros perform one of their parodies called “I’m Farming and I Grow It” during a 4-H
event sponsored by Union, Adair, Clarke and Ringgold counties in the gym at East Union Community School in Afton Sunday, Feb. 28. Pictured, from left, are Kendal, Nathan and Greg Peterson. The Peterson Farm Bros are siblings who farm together near Assaria, Kansas, and seek to promote agriculture in an educational, yet entertaining way through social media and public speaking.
More city council: Kedley issues city ‘challenge,’ new stop signs to pop up By AMY HANSEN
OST news editor ahansen@osceolaiowa.com
The first thing Osceola Mayor Thomas Kedley did during an Osceola City Council meeting Tuesday, March 2, was issue a “challenge” to the local citizens. It was all about what people can do by taking care of the city. “I would love to see public pride in Osceola,” Kedley said. “With winter coming to an end and spring upon us, I’d love to see citizens getting out, cleaning up their Kedley yards, taking pride in their property and getting those cars out of front yards.” The time for spring cleaning is coming up, and Kedley wanted to be sure his message got out to one and all. New stop signs There are three intersections where the city of Osceola is looking to add stop signs. Two of the intersections are the The Meadows development and affect the east and west traffic. The first stop sign is for the east-
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In August, a new stop sign and warning sign at the intersection of Park and Jefferson streets was put up. Osceola City Council has approved similar signs being place at the intersection of Adams and Jefferson streets, which is near Clarke Community Elementary School.
bound traffic at the intersection Rueter Drive and Wildflower Drive. The second is for westbound traffic at the intersection of Rueter Drive and Sunflower Lane. However, the third area to get a stop sign is more traversed, especially by children going to and from Clarke Community Elementary School. The city has already put up a stop sign at the intersection of Park and Jefferson streets, which is along the
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safe route to school area. However, a stop sign is needing to go up at the intersection South Adams and East Jefferson streets. Council members also wanted to pre-warning signs to be placed along with the intersection’s stop sign, which is near the elementary school “That’s kind of a rough intersection anyway,” said Councilman Dennis Page. “So, it’s probably a good idea to make people stop.”
Don’t Forget New editorials
Check out new editions of “The Fry Times” and “Back in Time” on page 4.
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