The
Graphic - Advocate Wednesday
|January 20, 2016|Volume 127| Issue 3
Rockwell City Office 712-297-7544 • advocate@iowatelecom.net - Lake City Office 712-464-3188 • lcgraphic@iowatelecom.net
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County political parties gear up for 2016 caucus lot, Schreier said. On the Democrat side, groups will meet at five locations, based on voter townships. Residents of Lincoln 1 and 2 and Greenfield townships go to the senior center in Manson. Butler and Williams township residents go to the Pomeroy Community Center. Union, Reading and Cedar township residents go to J.J. Hands Library in Lohrville. Rockwell City and Twin Lakes residents, as well as people living in Garfield, Lake Creek and Sherman townships will the courtroom in the Calhoun County courthouse in Rockwell City, and are asked to enter the building through the west door. Residents of Calhoun, Jackson and Elm Grove
By Erin Sommers
Graphic-Advocate Editor The things that make Iowa’s political caucuses different from primary elections are some of what make the events so special, Calhoun County Republican Party Chairman Kevin Schreier says. “This is the true grassroots process,” Schreier said last week. “It’s kind of a more personal approach to the whole process. For a lot of people at this level, it gives them a voice (in politics). That’s the nice part about it.” Calhoun County Democrat Party Chairwoman Faith Blaskovich said she sees the caucuses as a collaborative process, in which supporters of one candidate get a chance to try to sway other voters to their point of view. At the Democrat caucuses, small groups of voters in each precinct sit down, say who they are supporting, then, if a candidate doesn’t have enough supporters to receive any caucus votes, other voters begin that process to convince their fellow voters to join their side. The 2008 caucus, in which Barack Obama was the winner, was a high point in recent caucus history. “There were lots of spirited discussions,” Blaskovich said. “We enjoy that.” With Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton running close races in Iowa this year, Blaskovich anticipated a good turnout – as long as weather is good – and more discussion and polite debate. In 2012, a big year for Republican candidates in Iowa, Calhoun County Republicans had about 400 people attend the caucus. This year, the
A sign supporting Repulican candidate Donald Trump is seen in a Rockwell City Friday morning. Iowa’s caucuses are Feb. 1. GRAPHIC-ADVOCATE PHOTO/ERIN SOMMERS
GOP slate is even more crowded, with more than a dozen candidates still in the running. “I think we’re going to have that many again,” Schreier said. “We might even have a few more.” GOP officials are asking caucus attendees to use the east door of South Central Calhoun Middle School to enter the building. When people get inside, they’ll check in at their pre-
cincts. Voters who aren’t registered can do so at the site, and both parties allow voters to switch parties for the caucus. Doors open at 5:30 p.m., with speeches from candidates’ representatives starting at 6:15 p.m. in the auditorium. Schreier said the goal is to finish speeches by 7 p.m., at which point people will break into their precincts. First order of business is
selecting a chairperson for the precinct, then picking delegates to the county central committee. Following that, voters can offer their typed planks – positions and opinions they would like to see the county party include in its platform this year. Selecting candidates is one of the later steps in the process. “It takes a little longer” than just attending a primary and casting a bal-
Supervisors begin budget meetings By Erin Sommers
Graphic-Advocate Editor The Calhoun County Historical Society, boosted by a $50,000 donation, is working to build a new machine shed at the Rockwell City property. Representatives of the society’s board met with the Calhoun County Board of Supervisors Thursday to present the group’s annual budget request. Treasurer Toni Kerns said the donation, received in November, was earmarked specifically for a machine shed. “We would like to have a specialty type of display,” board member Dale Gentry added. Another idea, he said, was to create a workshop where volunteers can work on some of the donated machinery. The volunteers with the skills to do that work, typically farmers for the older farm equipment, usually have time to do that in winter, so an enclosed and heated area would work well for that, Gentry said. The group would also like to be able to move different displays through the building. The board members said they did not yet have a time frame to build the shed and, because they just received
the donation, hadn’t gotten construction estimates. The historical society asked the Supervisors to provide $30,000 next year, the same amount the supervisors approved for this year. The Calhoun County Expo Board is hoping to bring a learning center to the expo this year, Treasurer Hillarie Meyer said Thursday morning. The hands-on center would be in one of the hog barns. Hog entries to the fair have declined the past several years, leaving one building open. “This is my dream for this year,” Meyer told the Supervisors. “We’re going to have farm facts in there. A lot of counties are making small learning centers, (which are) constantly full.” The center would include animals children could see up close. The expo board added a sand box near the livestock area last year, and children used it all through the fair, President Kelly Meyer added. Another goal is to bring a corn box for children to play in. One expense for this year is adding posts for another half dozen or so new camping sites, Hillarie Meyer said. The expo board is not asking for an increase in funding, she added. On Jan. 13, Supervisors reviewed
Graphic-Advocate Editor Calhoun County employees picked up 5 percent fewer prescriptions this year than the year before, but the rising cost of prescription drugs, and the increasing prevalence of specialty drugs, hiked the county’s cost to cover those claims 45 percent, a Wellmark representative told the Board of Supervisors Jan. 12. Nationally, these increasingly complicated, special-order prescriptions are driving up prescription costs for all insurance providers, account representative Clark Nelson said. Wellmark estimated a 9 percent increase in Calhoun County’s health insurance costs, if the county sticks with the plan it selected for this year. That’s well below the estimated 21 to 26 percent insurance providers were asking the Iowa Insurance Com-
mission to approve last summer for people buying health insurance on their own. Nelson said he knew of businesses using Wellmark services who would be asked to pay up to 40 percent more for next year than this year. The insurance discussion was an early step in the process to set Calhoun County’s budget for next year. The county can decrease that proposed increase by making some changes to the prescription drug plan, the county’s benefits coordinator, Phil Wanoriek of Benefits, Inc., told the Board of Supervisors Jan. 12. In some ways, Calhoun County’s insurance usage is fairly typical for an organization of its size, Nelson said. Calhoun County’s employees and spouses who are using the plan are slightly older than average, which can drive up how much money the county, which is partially
A sign showing support for Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton is seen in a Rockwell City yard Friday morning. Both political parties will host the first in the nation caucuses Feb. 1. GRAPHICADVOCATE PHOTO/ERIN SOMMERS
Lake City pool receives grant for water slide By Erin Sommers
Graphic-Advocate Editor
The Calhoun County Historical Society, which runs the Calhoun County Museum in Rockwell City, recently received a $50,000 donation to help build a new machine shed on the property. GRAPHIC-ADVOCATE PHOTO/ERIN SOMMERS
a number of the public uses of Twin Lakes Christian Center, which the county has given a small amount of funding to for several years. Those public events include hosting a pre-
County faces 9 percent insurance hike By Erin Sommers
townships, as well as Lake City, will go to South Central Calhoun High School auditorium in Lake City. All five sites begin caucusing at 7 p.m. Voters there will break into their precincts and discuss whom they support. Candidates must meet a certain percentage of supporters to receive any support from the caucus. That threshold is set on caucus night, depending on how many delegates the caucus is eligible to send to the county convention and how many eligible caucus attendees there are. Blaskovich said party officials will report the results via a smartphone or tablet application directly to state officials.
self insured, spends to pay claims. The 45.5 percent of members 45 and older filed more than 83 percent of the insurance claims, Nelson said. About two-thirds of the employees and family members receiving county health insurance paid less than $1,000 out of pocket last year, Nelson said, meaning just one-third made up the bulk of the claims. The county’s insurance board, comprised of representatives from each county department, asked the Board of Supervisors Thursday for a few more days to talk about the potential cost increases. One point of possible contention is who would cover an increase – ranging from $20 to $50 a month – to bolster the county’s self insurance fund. Insurance board members indicated they would like to see the county pick up part of that increase, but didn’t present a formal recommendation.
cinct for elections, the annual pumpkin patch, renting space to community and governmental groups for meetings and opening the coffee shop on Wednesday mornings.
The second summer at the Lake City pool may involve more slipping and sliding than the first. Lake City Pool Project members learned last week they received an almost $100,000 grant from Vision Iowa’s Community Attractions and Tourism Committee. “It’s a competitive grant,” Marci Duncan said. “We knew we would have to have a thorough application.” The group filed the application in October and made three trips to visit with Vision Iowa board members to talk about the project. Lake City’s small population was a good thing when it came time for the committee to hand out the awards, said Duncan, who has been working on the pool project for several years. “They award a certain percentage (of grants) to communities of 10,000 or less,” she said. “That was to our advantage, obviously.” City Administrator Lee Vogt is contacting the pool project contractor to see what needs to happen to get the slide installed, Duncan said.
Calhoun County native, 3 children die in Boxholm fire By Erin Sommers Graphic-Advocate Editor A Calhoun County native and her three young children died in a house fire Sunday morning in Boxholm. Amber Sorenson, 27, Riley Sorenson, 9, Autumn Sorenson, 6, and Brayden Sorenson, 4, were found in the home early Sunday, after firefighters were able to contain the blaze. Amber Sorenson was a 2006 graduate of Rockwell City/Lytton High School. According to the Boone County Sheriff’s Office, the 911 center received a report of a structure fire. Deputies responding to the call found the house fully engulfed with f lames. They unsuccessfully attempted to enter the home. The Boxholm Fire Department requested assistance from Pilot Mound, Boone, Dayton, Grand
Junction, Ogden, Paton, Lehigh and Gowrie. All four victims were taken to the state medical examiner’s office in Ankeny. Firefighters and rescue personnel were hampered in their efforts to fight the fire due to the extremely cold temperatures. Highway 169 was temporarily closed for a time and traffic was rerouted. The state fire marshal is investigating the fire to try to determine a cause. News reports say John Sorenson, Amber Sorenson’s husband and father of the three children, was working at the time of the fire. A GoFundMe account has been set up for the Sorenson family. As of Monday morning, more than $26,000 had been raised. No obituaries had been released as of press time Monday. The Graphic-Advocate will update this story online as more information becomes available.
The goal is to have the double loop, open flume water slide in place for this summer’s pool season. City officials are also working on adding night lighting and a donor wall at the pool, Duncan said. The new pool opened in July.
A group of boys plays basketball at the Lake City pool during the pool’s grand opening in July. Pool project volunteers announced last week they had received a grant of almost $100,000, which will cover the cost of installing a slide. GRAPHIC-ADVOCATE PHOTO/ERIN SOMMERS
Lake City man charged with terror threat By Erin Sommers
Graphic-Advocate Editor A Lake City man is criminal charges after threatening employees at Shady Oaks Care Center. According to a police report, Brighton Mims made “threats to kill or harm employees and staff ” at the care center, where he had been a certified nursing assistant since September. Court records show Mims was released on a $5,000 cash bond, ordered to have no contact with Shady Oaks employees and appointed a public defender. Mims’ arraignment was set for Jan. 25. No additional information was available. A message left with a Shady Oaks official did not respond to a request for comment last week.