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Fall Sports Preview B-Section
August 25, 2015
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF HARDIN COUNTY
E L D O R A, I O W A
641-939-5051
www.eldoranewspapers.com
V O L U M E 84
• N O. 41 •
$1.00
Newest Calkins antiquities go on display with new year Nature center harvests a much expanded collecion of pre-historic artifacts By Rick Patrie News Editor HARDIN COUNTY – A wellknown Central Iowa figure in the field of antiquities, Jeff Ulch, is the big donor behind the Calkins Nature Center expansion. Ulch’s is work that puts a premium on peace and quiet. So not surprisingly, his name had been kept secret for now-almost a year into the project. But, over a year ago he had quietly told Calkins he would be donating a huge piece of his collection of prehistoric Greenbelt artifacts to the nature center. The destination is explained in part by Ulch’s old school ties to Ellsworth College. It is a mother lode of pre-history. Ulch has been collecting artifacts
since just about the day he could walk, says Chris Barber of the Calkins staff. Barber and the rest of Calkins, along with designers, archeologists and anthropologists, and of course the contracting crew, have been pushing since last fall toward completion of an addition on the Calkins Center. It will not only house Ulch’s collection but expand the work area needed to better display the current stock of Native American and geological artifacts already familiar to Calkins visitors. The new collection is distinguished from the current in one important way. It will include materials coming from deeper into the past of the Iowa River story – collectables that trace back to the
very earliest evidences of human occupation of this area. That means back to 12,000 BC and some. Barber, a biology major, says the project has inspired him to widen his field of reading interests. “You think about it, the Egyptians were just building pyramids, and already human activity here was seven thousand years old. These were people who worked with the very tools that crop up in streambeds today.” So, Calkins has added another 900 square feet of work and storage area to accomodate the windfall. The new wing has fresh space for management and storage, for a laboratory and for office space, but the lion’s share goes to public (continued on page 3)
Roughly half of the south extension of the nature center headquarters is new. What’s left is for staff and designers to complete the large display complex inside which will be home to a much enlarged collection of Native American and prehistoric tools and artifacts – just about all found along the Iowa River here in central Iowa. A prominent collector donated a substantial portion of his life’s work to the nature center about a year ago. Jeff Ulch has ties to Ellsworth College which, along with the Hardin County Conservaton Commission, has helped create the nature area near Iowa Falls. Ulch brings artifacts dating back over 12,000 years, much of them found in the river valley between here and Marshalltown.
Slate of school Fresh tastes at the board candidates farmers market
By Rick Patrie News Editor ELDORA NEW PROVIDENCE – The E-NP School district is conducting board of education balloting this September, and it has four seats open. None contested. Three current school board members will seek re-election while one long time member is retiring. For a time it appeared there might be one seat left and the school was encouraging interested residents to consider a candidacy. With the deadline passed, the one at large post which had been open is now being sought by Nick LaVelle of Eldora. At large members represent the district as a whole, while other members represent portions of the district. Board members Nancy Callaway
Newsbriefs SH Athletic Boosters will be selling SH apparel
The South Hardin Athletic Boosters will be selling SH apparel at all home Friday night football games. We have adult and youth t-shirts/sweatshirts, adult jackets, stadium chairs and blankets, duffle bags, and stocking caps as well. We hope to see YOU at the field!!
Roll-Harless Post 3974 mtg. August 25
Rolls-Harless Post 3974, Veterans of Foreign Wars meet on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the American Legion Post at 1215 Washington St., Eldora.
To clarify The Smokey Ridge Muzzleloaders rendezvous is at the Setchell area preserve on September 5-7. The preserve is on the gravel road about a mile directly west of the Pine Lake Corn Processors ethanol plant. The public is welcome.
and Jolene Teske have filed for re-election, and member Maggie Vander Wilt is seeking re-election but seeking the District 3 post held by Lori Kohart who is retiring. VanderWilt had served in that at large position for the last term. The board election is on September 8. The deadline to pre-register to vote for the school elections is August 28 at 5 p.m. This applies to registration in person (including registration at driver’s license stations) or by mail. Also on the ballot from this area are Jacob Bolson of Hubbard and Marland Winter of Hubbard contesting an open seat on the Hubbard-Radcliffe board of education. At the same time Leon Schwartz of rural Alden is running unopposed for another HubbardRadcliffe seat on the board, as is Tracey Pearson of Radcliffe.
By Rick Patrie News Editor HUBBARD – Apple growers were due a good year, and this looks like one. Hail and untimely frosts have combined over the last three years to short change the crop in this area, but John and Maride Brinkmeyer of Hubbard say that 2015 is a great year to be in the apple business. Of course, he says any year is a great year to be in the apple business, Mother Nature or no Mother Nature. The couple has 300 trees concentrated on about two acres of a six-acre plot of ground tucked into the south side of Hubbard. They grow several varieties and brought some new faces to the Eldora farmers market this year. The apple harvest normally starts about mid-August and runs
just short of mid September for the Brinkmeyers. It is a hobby, he says, but a hobby where once in a while you can get paid for enjoying it. The couple has been in the apple business for a quarter century. They sell out of a stand at the orchard site and hit the farmers markets. He says, all those years ago he was first attracted to the house site on the south side of Hubbard, but felt an obligation to make it pay too. “I just woke up in the middle of the night and found myself saying apples,” he says. The rest is years of the family working together and friends helping out. And loving it. “I love it. Eveyone loves it,” John said. “It is that great hobby and sometime makes money.” (continued on page 3)
Maride and John Brinkmeyer
Hardin County winners become State Fair winners by Rick Patrie News Editor HARDIN COUNTY – Two cookout winners at the Hardin County Farm Bureau annual cookoff earlier this summer went on to equal success at the state fair last week. The Hardin County Farm Bureau reports that cooks from the county stormed through the state farm organization’s cooking contest at the state fair in recent days. Robert Harms of Alden won first place in the beef category of the 52nd annual Iowa Farm Bureau Federation Cookout during the Iowa State Fair. He took home $150 provided by the Iowa Beef Industry Council. You can find Harms’ recipe at https://www.iowafarmbureau. com/article/2015-Farm-BureausCookout-Contest-Recipes. Earlier this summer, Harms was a winner at the Hardin County Farm Bureau cookout contest. The victory allowed him to enter the state contest. At the same time, Denny Hanson of Alden won first place in the turkey (continued on page 2)
Pictured (left to right): Iowa State Fair Queen Ellen Schlarmann of Jones County, Robert Harms, the beef category winner, and IFBF vice-president Joe Heinrich.
Pictured (left to right): Iowa State Fair Queen Ellen Schlarmann, Denny Hanson the turkey cook-off winner, and IFBF vice president Joe Heinrich.