Proudly Serving All Of Keokuk County Since 1860 PO BOX 285, 114 E. WASHINGTON ST. SIGOURNEY, IOWA 52591
$1.25
KEOKUKCONEWS@MIDAMERICAPUB.COM 641.622.3110
WEDNESDAY, MAY 11, 2016 NUMBER 19, 155TH YEAR
5th and 6th Grade Tackle Football Registration
Wednesday, May 11 from 6-8 p.m. at Knights of Columbus Hall, Harper. Forms available at Sigourney and Keota Elementary Schools.
Sigourney Public Library
Sigourney Public Library will hold “Toddler Time” every Monday morning from 11:30 a.m. to noon.
Sigourney Health Care News
May 11 Carnival day come play our carnival games and enjoy funnel cakes, lemonade shakeups Beal’s 2 p.m.
Bingo at Sigourney Health Care and Assisted Living
Bingo at Sigourney Health Care and Assisted Living is Tuesdays at 2 p.m.
Manor House Sing-a-long
Sing-A-Long at Manor House Care Center in Sigourney is every Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. The entire community is encouraged to attend.
Manor House News
Lunch and Fun with an International Buffet, Wednesday, May 11 at noon. International Fashion Show, Thursday, May 12 at 2 p.m. Concert with Sheets w/Music, Friday, May 13 at 2 p.m.
May Blood Pressure Check Calendar
Manor House nursing staff check blood pressures, provide a personalized record, share activity calendars, and provide a treat for each participant. This is a free service and the public is welcome. Thursday, May 12 What Cheer Community Center at 9 a.m. Wednesday, May 18 Keota Senior Dining Site at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, May 15 Hedrick Housing in the Community Room at 9 a.m.
Members of the Pekin High School Choir perform during High School State Large Group Contest on Saturday, May 7.
Pekin hosts State Large Group Contest By CJ Eilers News Editor Pekin School District hosted several school choirs and bands from around Iowa for the High School State Large Group Contest for the first time in 10 years on Saturday, May 7. The event serves as an ending for music programs, allowing students to know how they’ve improved of the school year as individuals and mainly as a group. For Pekin, this year’s contest being held at the school was great for convenience. “It’s a lot easier for traveling for the students and it’s also an opportunity for the community to see us hosting and watch other students perform,” Brenda Hagedon, Pekin’s band director said. Ensembles perform in front of a panel of three judges, each who are band/choir directors with years of experience under their belts. As they listen to the performance, they take notes by rating forms and voice recorders for the bands to hear afterwards, giving them advice on what needs to be worked on, what
went well, and other comments. The judges award the ensembles a division rating on a scale of I-III, I being the highest division. The Pekin high school concert band were the first ensemble up in the morning, performing “Variation Overture” by Clifton Williams and “Semper Fidelis” by John Phillip Sousa. The band was awarded a Division I rating by the judges. “The band performance went awesome. They did a great job,” Hagedon said. “We had our concert Tuesday night so we had a chance to polish things up since then.” Pekin’s mixed high school choir also had time between the concert Tuesday to prepare for the State Contest, performing “Let Beauty Awake” by Robert Louis Stevenson and Michael Larkin, and “DiraitOn” by Morten Lauridsen. The choir received a Division II rating. “I’m very proud of how they performed and I hope they feel the same way about it,” Derrick White, the choir’s director said. “I feel our group was a lot tighter, and our issues on Tuesday were cleaned up.”
For both directors, they felt that having Pekin host the State Contest provided students with a great learning experience. “The students see how much work goes into putting something like this together and appreciate more what other schools have to go through when we attend one of these events,” White said. Results Choirs Mediapolis II Louisa-Muscatine I Mediapolis I Eddyville/B/F II Louisa-Muscatine TCC I West Burlington II Pekin II Albia I Wapello II Columbus Junction II Bands Pekin I Eddyville/B/F II Albia III Wapello I Columbus Junction III Mediapolis I Louisa-Muscatine I West Burlington I
Cookoff at SS Peter & Paul Church Needs Chefs
Any chef interested in participating in the June 25th 2nd Annual Cookoff at SS Peter & Paul Church at Clear Creek must sign up by Friday, May 20. Call Jon Baker at (319) 461-5900 or Mick Berg at (319) 4613281 to sign up.
Ollie Alumni Tea
The Ollie Alumni Tea will be held in the Ollie Community building May 28 1-4 p.m. Refreshments will be served. A short business meeting will be held at 2:30 p.m.
Keokuk County Public Health
Keokuk County Public Health Immunization Clinic is the third Wednesday of each month from 1 to 4 p.m. This is a free clinic for children without insurance or underinsured. Blood pressure checks are also available on a walk-in basis.
Food Pantry
Keokuk County Community Services food referrals are Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. at the Courthouse in Sigourney.
News-Review Deadlines
The News-Review deadline for all articles, classified ads and display advertisements is Friday at noon. To submit an article or news tips, email keokukconews@midamericapub.com or call 641-622-3110.
In This Issue Church Calendar...........Pg. 10 Classifieds.................Pg. 6, 7 Milestones.................... Pg. 3 Opinion/Editorial........ Pg. 4, 5 Local..................... Pg. 2, 3, 8 Records....................... Pg. 8, 9 Savage Eye..................Pg. 11 Sports.............. Pg. 12, 13, 14
Norm’s honor flight group outside the amphitheatre at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier during there tour of Washington D.C. on Monday, April 18.
Norm Glandon recounts honor flight
By CJ Eilers News Editor For 30 years, Norm Glandon proudly served in the Army Reserves. Drafted in 1948 after the end of World War II, Glandon found himself in Kansas, New Jersey and back in Iowa, working in communications. Washington D.C. was not one of those places Glandon got to experience, that is until last month. Glandon became one of thousands of Iowans to part in the Honor Flight, a program that allows U.S. veterans to visit several memorials in Washington D.C. for a day. Convinced by his daughter to go this year, Glandon left from Cedar Rapids at 7:30 in the morning for the Vietnam tour with her and several other veterans. “There were people at the airport to thank us for our service, which kinda gets to you,” Glandon said. After arriving in D.C. later that morning, greeted by a firetruck “baptizing” the plane with its water hose as a welcoming statement. More supporters, including high school students, also greeted the veterans at the gate. Glandon quickly noted that the organizers had to be quite organized to coordinate everything so well, even with the trip only starting for them. The Honor Flight Program, which officially began in 2005, has provided 159,703 veterans and 107,527 from 44 states a chance to visit war and national memorials. Glandon was assigned to a bus with 80 others to tour these memorials, located across the city. They toured the World II memorial, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial,
2nd grade students touring the Bus-eum’s exhibit on Iowa history.
Bus-eum rolls into Sigourney By CJ Eilers News Editor Why does the Iowa flag have an uncanny resemblance to the French flag? What is the state tree? Were German POWs really held on Iowa soil during World War II? All of these questions and more were answered as the Sigourney Public Library hosted the Bus-eum, a mobile exhibit that showcases the history of our state and tells the story of how 15,000 German POWs came to Iowa as the Second World War raged overseas in Europe. Michael Luick-Thrams is the executive director of TRACES, the non-profit organization that produces this exhibit, “Home in the Heartland”, that travels across Iowa. Luick-Thrams, with the help of docent Irving Kellman and library staff, gave more than 435 Sigourney students and residents a tour through Iowa’s past. They document the social history beginning in 1830 to 1930, hitting every county in the state over the course of three tours. “We talk about which ethnic groups came, where they come from and why, and what difference does it make,” LuickThrams said. “We’re afraid that if we don’t preserve the these stories and bring them out to a wider audience, they’ll be lost and we think they’re too valuable to allow that.” A portion of the exhibit also relates Iowa to World War II, concentrating on how German solider, who were captured in the war, were sent to camps around the U.S., including Iowa. TRACES interview more than 50 Germans that lived in these camps located in cities like Ottumwa, Algona, Eldora, Tama and Aububon. As veterans and these former POWs are aging and passing away, an emphasize has been put on the Iowa exhibits both
inside and nailed outside the bus. Students ranging from elementary all the way to high school were guided through three stages of the tour; first with the library staff introducing Luick-Thrams, Kellman and the history of Iowa. The two gentleman rotated groups through the Iowa exhibits before taking them to the second half of the bus for an educational video on the German POW’s and how they worked on farms during their time in the state. “What’s really exciting is the crowd is younger than usual,” Luick-Thrams said. “The library has been active and helpful. Without them, we could not have done this and we’ve had tremendous attendance.” Amanda Rostami, Sigourney Public Library director wanted to bring the Bus-eum to Sigourney after hearing great things about the exhibit. “We heard about it from another library who recommended it to us,” Rostami said. “They sent us information and said their community really enjoyed the experience.” “A lot of the students are learning about World War II right now in school. “ It brings in the realistic version of the war, instead of just what they read in their textbook,” Rostami said. “They’ve come back with good information and I’ve asking what they’ve learned and they been able to tell.” The Bus-eum is currently on their tour of counties along I-80 and down to the Missouri border, including Washington and Iowa county. They will continue their tour in the fall with dates in counties north of I-80 and west of I-35. For more information about TRACE, check out their website at http://roots.traces.org/ at-home-in-the-heartland
Michael Luick-Thrams, executive director of TRACES, talks to Sigourney High students about Iowa’s early history as a state.
Norm Glandon (center) sitting between his daughter Gail Pilkington (right) and Chuck Vannatta from Gilman on the plane to Washington D.C. on Monday, April 18. the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and passed by the Pentagon, just to name a few of the destinations. Every step of the way, the organizers called “the ground crew” were their to make sure this trip went comfortably. They provided lunch and made sure each veteran had the oppurtunity to get around as they pleased throughout the day. “I really was impressed by this honor flight, and the people who ran it. They looked after you,” Glandon said. “If you need water, someone turned around to give you water. Many needed wheelchairs, and the organizers would take you where you want.” When Glandon got home, more was in store for him. Residents and elementary students wrote letters of thanks to Glandon for his service without his knowledge. He spent a whole day reading all
the letters. To thank the students, he visited the elementary schools and to talk with them. For Glandon, the best most memorable part of the flight wasn’t the monuments, but rather the people: those who came out to the veterans and him for their service, the local students sending him letters, and especially the organizers. “They really ran the whole thing nicely,” Glandon. “They were so organized and I really appreciated that.” There are currently 21,032 veterans waiting for their chance to take the flight, and countless more that have yet to sign up. Though he wasn’t so sure about it at first, Glandon said he’s reccomending it to anyone who go out. “If you get a chance, you better take it,” Glandon. “It’s an experience that’s hard to beat.”
Irving Kellman discussing German POWs living in Iowa during World War II with Sigourney high school students and residents. Visitors also watched a video about the work POWs did while being held in cities like Eldora and Ottumwa.
The Bus-eum parked on the southern part of the town square on Wednesday, May 4.