Steamboat theatre Page 2
Eldora Welcome Page 3 TUESDAY July 12, 2016
OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF HARDIN COUNTY
E L D O R A, I O W A
641-939-5051
V O L U M E 1 50
www.eldoranewspapers.com
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Residents object to hog proposal
By: Rob Maharry Staff writer ELDORA- Hardin County is already home to more pork production than almost any other county in the nation— there are nearly a million hogs and only 17,000 people—but one proposed confinement near Pine Lake caused quite the stink at the Board of Supervisors meeting on Wednesday, as an attendee claimed it could “ruin recreational opportunities” and perhaps cost the city of Eldora and the county millions of dollars. “We’ve really got to stop this. It’s unbelievable,” said Steve Throssel, chairman of
the Iowa River Greenbelt Resource Trust who also owns land near the proposed confinement. “The beach isn’t ever going to be open again, and it’s going to stink.” The Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) would be built on the west side of X Avenue between Steamboat Rock and Eldora, only about a mile from Upper Pine Lake on land owned by Levi Prosser of Eldora. Those opposed to the project worried that the runoff would enter Pine Creek and Pine Lake, where the beach has at times been closed due to poor water conditions. Throssel and four other landowners had
devised a plan to establish a Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) wetland, dam and settling pond, which would have included $2,000,000 in state funding, in the area northeast of Pine Lake, but he said that the construction of a CAFO would render the public works project useless and only make the situation even worse, especially as Governor Terry Branstad has professed to make water quality initiatives a top priority in light of the Des Moines Water Works lawsuit. According to Throssel, two landowners have already backed out since learning of the proposed swine operation.
Because the 2,499-head CAFO falls just one short of the 2,500 threshold that would allow the county’s supervisors to take a vote on it, it goes straight to the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) master matrix, a scoring system that can be used to evaluate the siting of permitted confinement feeding operations. The supervisors indicated that because the project scored enough points to pass the matrix, they would likely be unable to do anything about it regardless of their personal feelings. Throssel has requested an injunction from County Attorney Rick Dunn to temporarily
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halt construction, but Dunn indicated in a subsequent interview that he could not act independently and would only pass on the request to the supervisors. Throssel added that under a clause that grants “discretion of the directors,” the DNR could still reject a CAFO even if it meets the matrix’s minimum requirements, but that discretion, however, has never been exercised since the master matrix was first instituted in 2003. “I’m not trying to restrict a farmer from having private property rights, but I do think (continued on page 3)
The fair now has an artist in residence
You name it, he carves it, fish and teddy bears and more.
Newsbriefs Leader Dog Program
Hardin County Historical Society is sponsoring a program on Leader Dogs. Lois Jones, Iowa Falls, will talk about the Lions Leader Dog Program on Sunday, July 17 at 2 p.m. at the Eldora Public Library. Come and learn how blind people, children, and inmates all benefit from this program. Refreshments will be served.
Walter Sayer Post 182 mtg
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.
Greenbelt Foot Clinic
Greenbelt Homecare of Eldora will be holding foot care clinics during the month of July throughout Hardin County. The schedule of services and locations are: July 19 -Ackley, Grand JiVanté, or in-home; July 26 – Hubbard, in-home. Clinics will be held from 8:30 a.m. 4:30 p.m. To schedule appointment please call 641-939-8444 or 1-877283-0959. Please inform the nurse if you are diabetic. The cost of the clinic will be $35. Gift certificates are available! (continued on page 2)
By Rick Patrie News Editor ELDORA – He has become a fixture at the Hardin County Fair, always one of the more popular features on the midway. The resident Michelangelo. He appears at a lot of fairs and when we first met him a couple of years ago he was going from the Hardin County Fair directly to the British Isles for a gathering of world wood carvers. Sculptor Gary Keenen from Des Moines was actually bound for the Iowa State Fair, the Kansas State Fair and then the British Isles. His summer’s are busy, and summer 2016 is no exception. The trip to England two years ago came by invitation, invitation to just 24 carvers, chain saw carvers, who have been invited to England for a exhibition/competition. Only six Americans got the nod, so if you thought the carver on the grounds of the Hardin County Fair was pretty good, you were right. Keenen carves or saws, depending on how you prefer, and in the engagement here, left his handiwork behind for the county fair people to auction off during the end of fair proceedings on Sunday afternoon. They garnered in the $100 and $200 a piece range to benefit the fair the next year.
Keenen has been at this for sixteen years, and became serious about it at the encouragment of his wife. One thing he told a few people was – he will carve just about any favorite animal type, but not a specific pet. He won’t do your dog, for instance, though he will be happy to do a dog representative of a specific breed. Doing a pet is like doing a portrait of grandma. Expectations too high. This is chainsaw carving after all. Keenen’s work is found all across the Midwest, in very public as well as private venues. You can find it in front of churches, libraries, museums. It inspires faith and a lot of whimsy in different places. The trip to England of a couple of years back was actually his second there. He was to something called the Sculptree Festival there in 2007. He was the only American invited that year. You can check his website easily found under his name for a sample of his work. His commissions are spread all over Iowa and in the midwest states, a number in Arkansas. Check out the photos of the work in prgress out at the county fair last week, shown on page 2. And find coverage of the fair in the Friday Index.
Sculptor Gary Keenen (2014)
Endowing your community Youth hunter safety can have tax advantages program set Hardin County Community Endowment
by Rick Patrie News Editor HARDIN COUNTY – Tam Elerding, Hardin County Community Endowment Foundation Program Director urges anyone thinking about passing some of their wealth on to favorite local projects, to consider the community endowment and consider its tax advantages. “As we meet with donors to analyze and discuss their charitable goals in the second half of 2016, they are strongly considering an opportunity to support the causes they care about while receiving a unique tax credit. Iowa community foundations, including the Hardin County Community Endowment Foundation, provide exclusive access to the Endow Iowa Tax Credit. “Giving through the Endow Iowa program allows Iowa taxpayers to receive a 25 percent Iowa state tax credit, in addition to the federal charitable income tax deduction, for charitable gifts.
“Endow Iowa provides unique opportunities to meet philanthropic goals while receiving maximum tax benefit. Given the popularity of Endow Iowa, and the limited number of tax credits still available in 2016, now is the time to make a gift that gives back. Other things for you to consider: “A variety of gifts qualify for Endow Iowa Tax Credits including cash, real estate, IRA charitable rollovers, appreciated securities and outright gifts of retirement assets. “Tax credits of 25 percent of the gifted amount are limited to $300,000 in tax credits per individual for a gift of $1.2 million, or $600,000 in tax credits per couple for a gift of $2.4 million, assuming both are Iowa taxpayers. “Eligible gifts will qualify for credits on a first-come/first-serve basis until the yearly appropriated limit is reached. If the current available Endow Iowa Tax Credits have been awarded, qualified donors will
be eligible for the next year’s Endow Iowa Tax Credits. Hardin County Community Endowment Foundation encourages donors to act as early in the year as possible to ensure receipt of credits as soon as possible. “All qualified donors can carry forward the tax credit for up to five years after the year the donation was made. “Endow Iowa Tax Credits allow donors to have even greater impact on the causes they care about both now, and into the future, by stretching dollars donated to Iowa charities. Endow Iowa Tax Credits available for 2016 are less than $3 million as of June 22nd.” If you have questions, or need more information about Endow Iowa, please feel free to contact Tam Elerding, Hardin County Community Endowment Foundation Program Director, at endowhardinco@gmail. com or (641) 373-1379.
by Rick Patrie News Editor HARDIN COUNTY – For all younger aspiring hunters, the Hardin County Conservation commission teaming up with the DNR has a shortcut session to certification coming up. Hardin County Conservation, in partnership with the Iowa DNR, will be offering a Hunter Safety Field Day Certification Course from 5:008:00 p.m. on August 16th, 2016 at Calkins Nature Area. The Hunter Safety Certification is required by law for all Iowa hunters born after Jan. 1, 1972 in order to obtain a hunting license. A person must be 11 years-old or older to enroll in the course, but those who are 11 and successfully complete the course shall be issued a certificate of completion, which becomes valid on that person’s 12th birthday. To attend this field day, participants must first complete the online portion of the Hunter’s Safety
Course which can be done through either of these two vendors: https://www.hunter-ed.com/iowa/ http://www.huntercourse.com/usa/ iowa/ Once you successfully complete the online course, a course fee will be assessed. This cost covers the online course, and the Field Day is free. The Field Day will cover firearms safety, safe hunting techniques, and there will be a live fire – weather permitting. Preregistration is required; enrollment is limited and typically fills quickly. Enrollment for the Field Day can be done here: https://register-ed.com/programs/ iowa/152-hunter-education-fieldday-course If you have any questions you can contact us at 641-648-9878 or calkinsnatureareahccb@gmail.com You may also contact the DNR Central Office at 515-281-5918 or www. iowadnr.gov