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December 15, 2015 OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF HARDIN COUNTY
“People are scared.” by Rick Patrie News Editor ELDORA – Everyone else is talking about Donald Trump, and we asked Iowa Senator Charles Grassley what his constitutents seemed to be thinking about the current frontrunner for the Republican nomination for President. In particular, about his recent call to shut down the immigration of people of Muslim faith into the country – at least in the near term. We didn’t ask Grassley what he thought of the idea, but what was the feedback he’s been receiving from Iowa. Grassley says it registered overwhelmingly in support of Trump’s idea. Grassley said it can be explained very simply. “People are scare.” He went on to blame the Obama Administration for the overall situation in the Middle East, specifically Syria and Iraq. Grassley said that America’s enemies in the area are encountering no consequences for their acts, Grassley’s comments came during one of his phone sessions with smaller hometown media.
Newsbriefs Rotary Lasagna Dinner Dec. 18
The Eldora Rotary Club will be holding a Lasagna Dinner on Friday, Dec. 18 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. The meal will be held before the South Hardin Tigers vs. West Marshall Trojans basketball game in the high school cafeteria, 1800 24th St., Eldora. Tickets are $8. All proceeds are used to assist community and area charities! Tickets available from Rotary Club members or at the South Hardin High School at the door.
Santa and Mrs. Claus to visit the Eldora Library December 19
Santa and Mrs. Claus will be visiting the Eldora Public Library Saturday, December 19, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Bring your young children and grandchildren. Visit Santa. Play games. Make craft items with the Kiwanis Builders Club. Refreshments will be provided. This is a free event open to the public.
Hardin Co. Circle of Life to Meet Dec. 22
Hardin County Circle of Life, an inter-agency collaboration that empowers residents of Hardin County to a higher quality of life, will meet Tuesday, Dec. 22, at 10 a.m. at Hardin County Extension Office. The agenda for the meeting includes: discussion on outreach activities and a presentation by Parent Partners. The meeting is open to public and interested persons are encouraged to attend. For more information call Rocky Reents at 641-939-8444 or email areents@ greenbelthomecare.com.
Walter Sayer Post 182 mtg. Dec. 16
Walter Sayer Post 182, American Legion meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at the Legion Post at 1215 Washington St., Eldora.
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Brethren mission to Colorado After two years, still rebuilding
By Rick Patrie News Editor IVESTER – There is some good news. Not all is gloom and doom. For instance, every year Church of the Brethren Disaster Relief Services dispatches teams to help out in recovery efforts across the nation. This past fall the Northern Plains district of Brethren churches mobilized 14 members, and as it happened, under the coordination of a local man, Ivester’s Matt Kuecker.
The group went to Colorado in November for a 6-day work engagement, helping homeowners in northern Colorado who are still struggling to recover from a devastating flood back in September of 2013. The massive flood, now long out of the headlines, did damage to homes and communities which will in all liklihood never be undone. The flood destroyed 1,882 homes and damaged another 5,566. Since May, Brethren Ministries has been
providing teams of volunteers coming from church groups around the county, primarily helping to rebuild houses. A combination of seven churches and Brethren communities were represented in the work team drawn from the Northern Plains Region, home to Ivester. While on the mission, four single-family homes came up for work, including dry walling, painting, clearing, insolating, installing cabinets and framing. The group stayed at the First Congregational
Church in Loveland, with members there hosting. Participants on the area team included Ron Flory, Dale Mill, Bruce Johnson, Matt Kuecker, Dan Kuecker, Alan O’Neal, Heidi Berkenbosch, Shirley Hotovec, Mick Hotovec, Shelda Birkenholtz, Lois Kruse, Issac Beck Brunk, Dean Ayers and Ave Pritchard. Matt Kuecker from Ivester, who coordinated the work team, says that every year the church (continued on page 2)
Smiles in Eldora aisles By Rick Patrie News Editor ELDORA – They are smiling in the aisles at Hy-Vee here in Eldora, with word that the store has recently received one of just eight Customer Service Experience Awards given out over the whole Hy-Vee system in 2015. The store here in Eldora took one of two top spot in the corporations northern region. The company gives out awards for stores (like Eldora) in the 50,000 square foot and under category, and another award for stores 50,000 and more square feet. 2015 marks the second year of the corporate initiative. The contest is a takeoff on the secret shopper model, and has analysists dispatched from headquarters to come out and shop each store in the family of Hy-Vee groceries. They may visit several times a month, always unannounced and unknown to the staff. They just shop and observe. More than anything (continued on page 2)
Grassley: Farm bill appears to be working by Rick Patrie News Editor ELDORA – In a telephone session last week, Iowa Senator Charles Grassley says, despite concerns raised not so long ago about whether the Congress would fully fund the new farm bill’s crop insurance component, that issue’s been solved, and the Senator says it appears the current program is satisfying farmers and other stake holders alike. There are concerns for the ag sector, however, particularly corn farming, Grassley says. And one of them is about how to change perceptions at the Environmental Protection Agency concerning the value of renewable fuels in the nations gaspump mix. (continued on page 3)
The Eldora Hy-Vee store competed with other stores across the corporation’s northern region – stores in the 50,000 square foot and under category. Hy-Vee says its Customer Experience Program, which began in fiscal year 2014, is designed to put the evaluation teams into the shoes of real customers. Stores are rated by trained analysts who make shopping stops several times a month. They judge physical conditions, employee service levels and likely customer satisfaction. Stores from each of Hy-Vee’s four regions were recognized quarterly and then a final region winner is chosen at year’s end. Full and part-time employees from each of the top-rated stores will receive a bonus for helping their store excel in customer experience. Here are just some of the close to 60 staff that operate the Hy-Vee in Eldora and share in the award.
Former Eldora math teacher pens first novel By Rick Patrie News Editor ELDORA – Small world. Not long ago one of the new books arrived at the Eldora Library, and librarian Dan Gehring began to hear about the author, Jim Riggs. People here, the older ones anyway, remembered Mr. Riggs. He taught a good many of them. Back then he was not a writer of fiction, but the math teacher at the Eldora high school. Under thenprincipal Jim Sogard. Now retired from a long career in education, with side ventures into photography, Riggs has just published his first novel, and the natural thing to wonder is how one leaps from algebra and geometry to fiction. He says the signs were always there if you looked for them. One of the last things he did in Eldora was to engage the town library for a little
session in which he read some of his poetry. And the fiction was also a natural enough evolution, considering what got him interested in writing to begin with. Riggs was the keeper of the Riggs family history. He documented it, and he now says when he looks back, he realizes he recorded about 80 percent fact and 20 percent better than fact. It depended on the family character. Some lent themselves to simple truth telling, but some, like a great grandfather who sheriffed in the Dakotas, screamed out for a little embellishment. “But, I always made sure the reader knew what I was doing it. When I let my imagination wander with a family member’s story.” (continued on page 3) Former Eldora high school math teacher Jim Riggs’s new novel.