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BY: ROB MAHARRY The Grundy Register GRUNDY CENTER- Lifelong farmer David Strickler has officially filed to run for the supervisor seat in district one as an independent, and in an interview with The Grundy Register, he made no bones about why he’s challenging incumbent Jim Ross: Strickler is opposed to any further wind energy projects in Grundy County. District one comprises the southwest corner of the county, including Beaman, Conrad and the Ivester area, where the supervisors gave the go ahead for the second wind farm project in the last three years with a unanimous vote in April. Strickler officially declared his candidacy on August 28 after securing the 18 signatures necessary to get on the ballot by petition. The independent candidate farms west of Grundy Center with his two sons, and he said that while he isn’t opposed to the idea of wind energy, he doesn’t believe that Grundy County’s fertile soils are the right place for turbines. According to a study released by the Iowa State Extension office, Grundy County has the highest Corn Suitability Rating (CSR) in the state at 84.7 (the next highest is Mitchell County at 77.7). “ I t ’s s o m e o f t h e b e s t production ground in the world. If you take a look at Iowa as a whole, you wouldn’t put windmills in Grundy County, and if you look at the United States as a whole, you might not even put windmills in Iowa,” Strickler said. “I’m not against wind energy; I just think there are better places to put windmills.” He went on to argue that while he believes in landowner’s rights, the turbines could have adverse affects on the property values of neighbors and negatively impact their quality of life. Strickler added that he and Ross, the Republican incumbent first elected in 2004, actually see eye to eye on most other issues but disagree about the county’s positions on wind energy conversion. Ross abstained from voting on the Ivester Wind Farm because he is planning to put turbines on his land and did not want to create a conflict of interest. “What has been done has been done. We can’t change that, but we need to move forward and go from here,” Strickler said. If elected, Strickler would support an ordinance change like the one recently rejected by the
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Thursday, September 15, 2016 Volume 92 - Number 37
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Conrad gears up for “Mystery at Wolf Creek” premiere By ROB MAHARRY The Grundy Register CONRAD- It’s a wrap: after months of auditions, filming, editing and preparations, “Mystery at Wolf Creek”—a My Town Pictures production that was filmed in Conrad in conjunction with the 25-year anniversary of its Main Street Iowa designation—will be shown to the public for the first time on Saturday afternoon after a red carpet introduction for the stars of the movie. Four of the actors and Conrad Chamber/ Main Street Director Darla Ubben caught up with The Grundy Register last week to discuss the making of the film, the plot and what it’s like to become a movie star. Heath Rhinehart stars in “Mystery at Wolf Creek” as Peter Lansing, a washed up fiction writer from Chicago who embarks on a retreat to his agent Lazlo’s (Eugene Ubben’s) hometown of Conrad in search of motivation and rejuvenation. Joining them are their wives (played by Gina Dinsmore and Amanda West), and when Mr. Lansing fabricates the story of a murder that “allegedly” happened in Conrad long ago to help him with an idea for his new book, chaos and hilarity ensue as the writ-
“Mystery at Wolf Creek” stars Eugene Ubben (left) and Heath Rhinehart (center) film a scene for the movie, which will premiere this weekend, in April. Scott Thompson (right) and My Town Pictures directed the film. (Photo courtesy of Darla Ubben) er attempts to clean up the mess he’s made. “The fun is figuring out the ups and downs and how he gets that turned back on him at the end,” My Town writer and director Scott
Thompson said. “If nothing else, he’ll get a great book out of it.” Thompson, who hails from Wisconsin, is no stranger to this area: last year, he filmed “Promise Me” in Grundy Center, and he has also
made movies in New Providence and Eldora throughout his 15-year career. Over 90 people auditioned for See Conrad page 4
Local author shares story of abuse, forgiveness By Michaela Kendall The Grundy Register GRUNDY CENTER – It took her a long time, but decades later at the age of 72, Jean Baldwin says she is finally comfortable sharing her story with others. Jean, who was one of seven children of Margaret Otto, grew up in nearby Eldora in the 1950’s. At a very young age, the children were deserted by their father. Not long after, they began to witness their mother’s descent into cruelty and abuse. Some of Jean’s earliest memories, starting at the age of five, are of her and her six siblings being subjected to physical, mental and emotional abuse by their mother. That abuse would continue on through the rest of their lives, and the effects of that abuse would prove to live on long after their mother was gone. “She was very cruel to us, extremely cruel to my younger brothers and sisters,” Jean said of her mother. In the book that she wrote to tell her story, titled “Why, Mama?” Jean describes scenes from her childhood; memories of her mother pushing her sister down the stairs, kicking and beating all of her children, threatening, humiliating and degrading each of them, and refusing to show them an ounce of the love and care that a
mother should show her children. “I tried to go through life without being noticed. I felt like if I stayed quiet and out of the way my mother would forget I was there,” she said. “So I would hide while I watched her beat the other children. I knew I had to stay very quiet or I’d be in there getting beat, too.” In her book, Jean talks about all the unanswered questions she still has for her mother, such as: Why? “Why did you resent us?” or What? “What did we do to deserve this?” or How? “Do you know how deeply you hurt us?” Jean and her siblings went through their life of abuse not knowing who to talk to, not knowing how to get help. “Back in those days when I was young, you didn’t have many options, anyone to turn to,” she said. “People knew about child abuse, but it was always hushed up. Even in high school, we knew the principal probably knew what us kids were going through, but you couldn’t talk about it. You just kept See author page 3
Jean Baldwin, formerly of Grundy Center, will be holding a book signing for her first book, “Why, Mama?" at the Kling Memorial Library on Thursday, September 22, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Conrad council discusses fire station, downtown zoning By ROB MAHARRY The Grundy Register CONRAD- During its regular meeting last Thursday night, the Conrad city council received an update on the fire station project and discussed the potential of adding an ordinance that would not allow apartments in the lower levels of buildings on Main Street. According to the council, the fire station is coming along nicely and should be finished by the October 31 deadline. The city spent $1,000 to move dirt from the excavation across the street to fill in soil, and a pay request for $172,900 from Brycon, LLC, was approved unanimously. Near the end of the meeting, city clerk Denise Hoy led a discussion about downtown zoning, as the city does not currently have any rules in regards to what buildings in the business district can be used for. Council members agreed that they did not want to allow apartments on the lower level and potentially invite tenants
Work is in progress on the new fire station in Conrad, where beams have gone up, and the building is beginning to take shape. City officials hope the project will be finished by the end of October. (Rob Maharry/The Grundy Register photo) to leave things like grills and other possessions out on the sidewalk, and city attorney Todd Geer is expect-
ed to further research the issue and draw up a draft ordinance. City engineer Lee Gallentine re-
ported on potential storm sewer repairs on South Main Street, and he See council page 4
Main Street Grundy Center talks façade project
By Michaela Kendall The Grundy Register GRUNDY CENTER – A recent survey of Grundy Center’s Main Street district has evaluated the condition of downtown building façades, and opened up discussion on potential funding sources that could help the district revitalize historic building-fronts. The survey, which was commissioned by Main Street Grundy Center and implemented by AHTS Architects out of Waterloo, was aimed at identifying the condition of the individual buildings in Grundy Center’s Main Street historic Main Street district, while giving a closer look at the district itself in order to identify possible funding opportunities. This was done through a survey of each building’s façade (the front of the building on the outside) and discussions with building owners. Each building was then given a classification of ‘poor,’ ‘fair,’ ‘good,’ or ‘borderline,’ based on criteria such as the condition of the masonry, decorative accents, metalwork, windows, awnings, paint, foundation and other factors affecting the building’s façade. A breakdown of the survey reports that of the 35 buildings in the Main Street Historic District that were included in the survey, 39 percent of them are in ‘good’ condition, 39 percent are in ‘fair’ condition, 14 percent are in ‘poor’ condition and six percent are in ‘borderline’ condition. Three percent were omitted from the survey. Andrew Bell of AHTS Architects, who led the downtown façade survey, said that the classifications of ‘poor’ or ‘fair’ or ‘good’ are in no way reflective of building owners and the maintenance of the building, but simply how true the building is to it’s original, historic, state. He added that the buildings were not classified based on what’s inside the building, or whether or not the building looks ‘good’ or ‘bad.’ “[The classification] isn’t based on whether the building itself or the material looks good, it’s about whether or not the building and materials are true to their original condition,” Bell said. John Schuller, president of Main Street Grundy Center, noted that this survey was the first step in the process of a possible downtown façade project. By finding out any possible points of improvement in each building, and measuring the interest of the building owner in having these improvements done, MSGC and the city of Grundy Center can take steps towards finding possible funding sources to make the project happen. “Now our question really is: ‘Where do we go from here?’” Schuller said. He noted that it’s vital for the city to determine early on whether or not business owners are interested in participating in a façade revitalization project. If the city has enough interested business owners, they could start to pursue funding. One funding source that Schuller discussed with the council was the CDBG Downtown Revitalization Fund, a program that provides grants to communities for a variety of projects that contribute to comprehensive revitalization in historic city centers. In the past, the program has funded façade improvements to privately owned businesses. The GDBG Fund is a 50/50 matching grant, with a cap of $500,000, meaning that the most the fund will pay is $500,000 of the project as long as the city and business owners come up with the other $500,000, for a total of $1 million. See City page 3
The Grundy Register, P.O. Box 245, Grundy Center, IA 50638 Phone: (319) 824-6958 • Fax: (319) 824-6288 • E-mail: grundypublisher@midamericapub.com, grundyoffice@midamericapub.com, grundyeditor@midamericapub.com