Don’t miss the Grundy County Fair Souvenir Edition In this week’s Grundy Register
The Grundy Register Serving Grundy County since 1928
Thursday, August 15, 2013
www.TheGrundyRegister.com
Volume 89 – Number 33
Board ready to accept tornado safe room bids
By JOHN JENSEN The Grundy Register GRUNDY CENTER — The Grundy Center Community School District’s plan to build a tornado safe room has become a reality. Monday night the local School Board approved a resolution giving Struxture Architects authority to let bids for the project. The $1.11 million project will be funded primarily by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), though the local school district must pay to build a vestibule between the junior/senior high school and the tornado safe room, which will be located just north of the football stadium/ track complex. FEMA eligible expenses are $803,000, with the school paying the remaining amount. In addition to use in the event of an emergency, the facility will also provide the School District with much-needed classroom space for its fifthgraders. It will feature three classrooms with nearly 1,000 square feet of room each as well as two other smaller classrooms. It will also feature a selfcontained heating, ventilation and air conditioning system with geothermal energy). Doors and windows will appear and act normally, though they will also have a steel casing that would be put into use if the building were ever to be used for an evacuation. Bids for the project will be opened at the Sept. 11 board meeting, with hopes of construction beginning in October. The District would like to move into the building by the beginning of the 2014-15 school year. The Board also discussed upcoming changes to the Good Conduct Policy that determines how much time students must sit out of athletics or other extra-curricular activities if they are found guilt of conduct outlined in the policy, which includes both legal and school-related issues. Secondary principal Steve VanderPol reported on several meetings he had with parents during the summer to determine what they would like to see in the policy. He said the biggest thing they asked for was the possibility of different punishments for students actually involved in violation of the policy and those who were merely there when the violation happened. Discussion also centered on who appeals of Good Conduct Policy violations would go through as well as how parents would be notified. Currently parents have the option of appealing violations to the complete School Board, something that is not allowed in other disciplinary situations except expulsion hearings, which can legally be held in closed session. The policy must still be reviewed by the District’s lawyers and will go into effect once officially passed by the School Board later this year. For a second consecutive meeting, the Board discussed the District’s cell phone policy. Last month the Board passed the first reading of a policy amending the current policy to one that requires specified District employees who have district supported phones to purchase their own phone and then receive a stipend from the District. Board members had several questions about the policy they previously passed, including the “market rate” stipend that they had agreed upon. Director Bob Johanns noted that the policy could allow employees with a lower-cost plan to get a larger stipend than they are spending on their bill. There was also discussion about whether to set the reimbursement rate at 100 percent, noting that employees will also use the phone, which they purchased on their own, for personal use. The Board passed the second reading of the policy and then in a separate motion set the stipend rate for the upcoming school year at $50 for eight district employees whose phones do not require a data plan and $100 for seven who do need one. The Board also approved purchase of a new school bus, as had previously been budgeted for. The low bid of $88,712 came from School Bus Sales of Waterloo for a 2014 Bluebird All-American with seating for 78 passengers. IN OTHER BUSINESS, THE BOARD: • The Board also approved the hiring of a pair of junior high coaches. Bob Johnson will coach the Spartan junior high football team this fall while Todd Zinkula will coach the school’s girls’ basketball team; • Approved a contract with Vanco for online payments and approved an amended contract with Premier for copiers contingent upon the contract only be moving forward and not retroactive to last year; • Approved an open enrollment request for a student entering transitional kindergarten from the AGWSR School District.
What’s Happening
Thursday, Aug. 15 Grundy Center Blood Drive Community Center 12:45 - 5:45 p.m.
Grundy Center Farmer’s Market Courthouse Square 4:30 - 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 17 Jeep Mania Grundy County Fairgrounds All Day Monday, Aug. 19 Grundy County Supervisors Courthouse • 9 a.m.
Grundy Center, Iowa
Tuesday, Aug. 20 Bruce Braley visit Johnny Ray’s, Grundy Center 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Aug. 21 First day of School at Grundy Center, Dike-New Hartford, AGWSR, Gladbrook-Reinbeck Thursday, Aug. 22 Alzheimer Support Group Arlington Place, Grundy Center 6:30 p.m.
$1.00 Newsstand Price
New ‘Little Library’ finds home in Grundy Center By JOHN JENSEN The Grundy Register GRUNDY CENTER — There’s a new library in Grundy Center. Don’t worry Kling Memorial Library friends, the local public library is in no danger. Nancy Dolmage’s new library is a Little Free Library, built to distribute a few books at a time among those who wish to share what they have read and no longer need. Dolmage said she found the idea for her Little Library (located around on the edge of she and husband Dennis’ property on I Avenue) while reading American Profile, and then saw something similar in person while riding on a bike trail in Cedar Falls. “We talked to the man who built it, it was really nice,” she said. “It’s shingled and a little bit larger and has a wing off to the side, and actually it has a little stoop so a child could stand on it to get up to the children’s books or sit down and read. So I came home and kept pushing Denny about it and so he built the Little Library.” Using boards from a horse stable he had built and a door he purchased, Dennis built a simple structure with a sharply angled roof and a plexiglass window in the door so those interested can see what books are inside. “It has rained hard since he put it in and it hasn’t leaked,” Nancy said. Books in the library initially came from Nancy’s collection as well as a few from her daughter Sarah, who
Nancy Dolmage is pictured with the Little Free Library that she maintains in Grundy Center. (Courtesy photo) supplied many of the children’s books. “Some of those were really nice ones and were gone like that (quickly),” Dolmage said of her daughter’s books. The Little Library is strictly on your honor. The concept is for those
who take books to replace them with something else, though Dolmage said she is not at all worried about that aspect. “They don’t have to leave a book,” she said. “I don’t want people to think ‘Oh I can’t take one because I don’t have a book to leave,’ but I
know that there have been some adult books (in the library) that I didn’t have before.” Dolmage said she checks the library, which went up in July, about once a week. She makes sure See LITTLE LIBRARY page 2
Homespun Treasures opens new location By JOHN JENSEN The Grundy Register GRUNDY CENTER — When Dawn Meester-Bonk and her husband Steve opened Homespun Treasures less than a year ago, they had hopes and dreams that they would eventually outgrow their downtown Grundy Center location. Little did they know, however, how quickly that time would come. “We were hoping it would get big, but we didn’t plan on it getting this big this fast,” Dawn said. Just eight months after opening just behind Schuck Realty on Seventh Street, the Bonks recently moved their business at 101 Fourth Street on Grundy Center’s north side. “This is perfect for what we’re doing,” Steve said. Dawn, who has owned businesses before, said this business started while talking to friends about crafts they had sewn. “I was joking and said ‘Well I should open a store, and then I could sell all your stuff,’” she said. “Steve is a quilter, his mom (Val) sews and gives classes down at the college in Marshalltown, and so (I said) why can’t we do that here. I showed him the place on Seventh Street on a Wednesday and two weeks later we were open.” What began as a mere dozen Homespun vendors quickly grew
Dawn Meester-Bonk and her husband Steve Bonk recently moved Homespun Treasures to its new location on Fourth Street in Grundy Center. (John Jensen/The Grundy Register photo) to 40, many of whom are locallybased crafters. It wasn’t long before they filled the store with more merchandise than could be properly displayed, with some items having to be placed on top of others. “I know my vendors were
concerned about the space,” Dawn said. “(They asked), ‘Are you planning on getting bigger?’ (I said) ‘I hope so.’” Another issue with the old location was that it was located up a flight of steps and was not
The Grundy Register, P.O. Box 245, Grundy Center, IA 50638 Phone: (319) 824-6958 • Fax: (319) 824-6288 • E-mail: publisher@gcmuni.net, registerads@gcmuni.net, editor@gcmuni.net
handicapped accessible, making entry difficult or impossible for some potential customers. “We had a lot of people who didn’t come up because they See HOMESPUN page 2