Official Paper of Parkersburg, Aplington, New Hartford, Aplington-Parkersburg Schools, and Butler County
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clipse
NEWS - REVIEW
WEDNESDAY July 13, 2016 16 pages 144th Year • No. 28
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Butler County Celebrates, Remembers and Fights Back INSIDE A-P baseball wraps up regular season
Briefly. Butler County Farm Bureau to host annual meeting
ALLISON — The 2016 Butler County Farm Bureau Annual Meeting will be held on Monday, July 18, 2016 at the Allison Public Library meeting room starting at 7 p.m. At this meeting, Butler County Farm Bureau members will set official policies for the coming year, elect officers and directors, as well as discuss any other relevant Farm Bureau business. They will be discussing the results of the opinion survey and developing the policy positions Butler County Farm Bureau will promote at the local level, with the state legislature, and with the United States Congress and federal agencies.
Beaver Meadows to host July 16 tournament
By Lucille Leerhoff, Relay for Life Publicity and Event Chair “What a beautiful evening to be outdoors, mingling with friends and neighbors and enjoying good food!” was heard by many attending the ACS Relay For Life of Butler County was held July 8 at the fairgrounds in Allison with a great crowd in attendance. The rain the night before gave way to a great outdoor night. Organizers could not have been happier about being able to hold the outdoors fundraising event. Funds raised for the event are destined for research, advocacy, treatment and education. While the official totals are not yet in, Butler County put on a very successful Relay with the last reported total of over $61,000! The silent auction items, organized by Leanne Schipper, were highly popular again this year. Final totals will be released this week. Thank you to Jeff and Cindy Kolb for providing lively music, announcements and the great sound system for the event. The National Anthem sung by Carlee Soles and invocation was given by Pastor Craig Harris. The 22 Relay for Life teams had begun to form and sign up in late winter, and then spent several months raising funds before the Relay. Team Coordinator, Jamie Thompson, has put much
effort into the teams from throughout Butler County. The teams are the spirit of the Relay as each year some new ones are formed. Marnie Schmidt from M Photography, Greene, patiently took team photos throughout the evening. The photos were staged around Paul Miller’s two tractors, one pink and the other purple. Blake Rottink, the Honored Survivor for this year’s Relay spoke of his experiences with his cancer diagnosis and treatment. A big thank-you goes to Blake for sharing his story. The special luminary ceremony as dusk fell over the grounds included touching music and songs by Addyson Clark. At least 600 lighted luminaries lined a track within the fairgrounds as a time of silence in honor of those being remembered was held. The names of those remembered via either “In Honor Of” or “In Memory Of” were read by Pastor Ann Donat and Sherry Litterer. Silence fell upon the relay as everyone who could, walked the track during this special time of remembrance. Activities for the younger people were organized by Abigail Feldman who was assisted by Kristen Clark and Emily Leerhoff. The Fight Back Ceremony was prepared and presented by Lois Roose, Helen Debner, Vicki Majewski and Paulene Meyer. Joel Sult was the vocalist in this
Honored Cancer Survivor Blake Rottink and his support group make their way around the track as they lead off the survivor lap during Friday evening’s Relay For Life of Butler County. (Contributed by Lucille Leerhoff/Butler County ACS Relay) ceremony. With the event coming to a close, a pizza party was enjoyed by many in attendance. The pizzas were donated by Freeze Frame Bowling from Greene. A complete listing of contributors will be listed in next week’s paper. Many thanks go to all of the volunteers, teams and supporters who joined
to help make this event the success that it proved to be. It was truly a joint effort and a beautiful evening as many took time from their busy lives to recognize the fact that with just a little effort and one step at a time, much can be done to help find a cure for cancer. Butler County residents can be assured that they indeed have done their part to fight back.
A celebration party will be held on Tuesday, July 26 at the Allison Public Library meeting room from 6-7 p.m. and is open to all team members. Please come or send your comments about this year’s event and plans for 2017. Mark the calendar now, as the 2017 Relay for Life of Butler County will be held on Friday, July 7.
PARKERSBURG — The Beaver Meadows Golf and Country Club will host its annual Bogeys and Barbecue Tournament July 16 beginning at 10 a.m. For more information see the Beaver Meadows Facebook page or contact the club.
AP Women’s Connection seeks local chair
The A-P Women’s Connection, sponsored by StoneCraft Ministries, is looking for a person to chair the group. The group meets every two months, usually on the third Monday of the month. The new chair will start in October. If interested please call Linda Kessler, (319) 346-1374.
Auxiliary to meet
The Auxiliary will meet Tuesday, July 19 at 11:30 a.m. at Todd’s Neighborhood Bar and Grill. The Vet’s Building at 12:30 p.m. for silverware and fruit cups with a meeting to follow.
Parkersburg Farmers Market
This week at farmers market you will find farm fresh eggs, freshly picked garden vegetables, home baked goods and unique gift items. Shop downtown Parkersburg Thursday from 4 to 6:30 p.m. for shopping and great conversation with old and new friends.
SWCD to meet July 21 at Beeds Lake
The Franklin and Butler County Soil and Water Conservation District Commissioners will have their joint regular meeting on Thursday, July 21, with the tour starting at 4:30 at Beeds Lake State Park in Hampton. The agenda includes: District activities, NRCS report, CRP Plans & revisions, CSP, EQIP, and State and REAP cost share applications. The meeting is open to the public.
In this week’s issue Obituaries ....................page 3 Opinion ........................page 4 Aplington News ..........page 5 Church News...............page 9 Records ..................... page 10 Classifieds.......... pages 12-14 Sports ...................page 15-16
Dr. Rannfeldt
G-R graduate uses small town lessons, works with Olympic athletes by MITCH KRMPOTICH Eclipse News-Review Reinbeck – Dr. Jason Rannfeldt is a 1989 graduate of Gladbrook-Reinbeck high school and he is the son of Ray and Sandy Rannfeldt. He is on his third rotation with the United States Olympic team. Dr. Rannfeldt has worked at the Olympic training center in Chula Vista, Calif. as well as at the Olympic training headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo. He is now taking on a new venture with the upcoming summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. “When they did the Brazil selection they called and asked if I would be the director in Lake Placid [,NY] while everybody else was in Brazil,” Rannfeldt said. “So there is a bobsled camp going on and the U.S. women’s hockey team and the Canadian women’s hockey team are going to be scrim-
maging and practicing together for a week while I am out there.” Lake Placid holds a special place in hockey lore as it is the location where the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” occurred. This is the game where the U.S. beat the Soviet Union in an improbable win to grab hold of the coveted gold medal. This event was riddled with political side stories and is often referred to as the greatest American victory in any sport. Dr. Rannfeldt will be working at the same rink that this game was played on. “I’m pretty stoked about that,” Rannfeldt said. “I remember as a kid watching that on TV. I’ve never gotten to see that rink, so I’m pretty excited about getting out there and doing that. It’s neat to go full circle and be out there.” Dr. Rannfeldt reflected on his experience growing up in small town Iowa and how that affects the way he works
today. “It makes you think a ton [about] others,” Rannfeldt said. “In a small town everyone takes care of everybody else and I loved that about growing up in Reinbeck. I think work ethic-wise … I was baling hay in the fields at 14 years old. The other part of that is I think my people skills are better because you talk to people more. I think that made a big difference.” Rannfeldt also talked about how athletes can notice the small town mentality during treatment. “People just take care of each other and people can tell that,” he said. “When I work with an athlete, so athletes get enough people who are trying to get something from them, when they know you’re genuine they’ll be loyal to the end. Growing up in a small town you can tell if somebody is genuine or not. I think that really came from small town values. I don’t think
I would have gotten the same values from a large city.” It’s no secret that advances in medicine have helped athletes to be able to compete longer and harder. For example, Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps will be completing in his fifth Olympics once the Rio Olympics begin. Dr. Rannfeldt commented on how far medicine has come and how it can aid Olympic athletes. “Look the cryotherapy now where you put your whole body in a cryotherapy chamber,” he said. “When I was in college we were putting ourselves in a metal whirlpool full of ice to recover. Now you have cryotherapy which is much more advanced. You have every kind of possible soft tissue therapy. You have all kinds of different things you can do to recover which means you can get better a lot faster and cut down on your injuries a lot more.” Even though Rannfeldt works more
with the winter Olympic athletes he still has an inside look at the Olympics as a whole. He mentioned that there are some specific events that the U.S. could excel at this year. “I think our track and field team is out of this world right now,” Rannfeldt said. “I honestly think we might take the 100 and 200 [meter races] depending on if [Jamaican sprinter] Usain Bolt gets his hamstring injury healed or not. If he’s not in it there’s a chance we win the 100 and 200, which we dominated until [Bolt] came around.” Rannfeldt also said to watch out for America in women’s and men’s gymnastics as well as wrestling. “As far as medicine goes I don’t know if anyone else is as advanced as the U.S. is,” Rannfeldt said.