Official Paper of Parkersburg, Aplington, New Hartford, Aplington-Parkersburg Schools, and Butler County
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NEWS - REVIEW
INSIDE Falcons finish with victory
Briefly. Butler County Recorder to host passport clinic
Maple Manor to host haunted hallway
The Aplington-Parkersburg girls’ cross country team earned its first-ever State Cross Country berth with a thirdplace finish at Thursday’s Class 2A state qualifier in Pella. (John Jensen/Eclipse News-Review photo)
Join us at Maple Manor Village on Monday, Oct. 31 from 5:30-7 p.m. for our annual haunted hallway. Children 12-and-under are encouraged to come with their parents for a scary time! Please enter through the south door of the care center.
Maple Manor to host free breakfast Join us at Maple Manor Village Independent and Assisted Living on Oct. 26 from 7:30 to 9 a.m. for our monthly eat and greet. Enjoy a free breakfast on us!
Maple Manor to host blood pressure, blood sugar screenings
Maple Manor Village will be at Todd’s Neighborhood Grill on Oct. 27 from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m. There will be a blood pressure and blood sugar clinic where you can receive a sweet treat.
Missionaries to speak at Parkersburg Methodist Church
Larry and Jane Kies will be speaking at Parkersburg United Methodist Church on Monday, Oct. 31. There will be a meal at 5:00 p.m. with the presentation following. They are missionaries with the General Board of Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church. Larry is serving as technical advisor to the Africa University Farm at Mature, Zimbabwe in southern Africa. Jane is teaching Intensive English to students from non-English-speaking countries at Africa University.
Scholastic BookFair planned during P’burg p-t conferences Scholastic BookFair will be held at Parkersburg Elementary during Parent/Teacher Conferences from 4 to 8 p.m. Oct. 25 and Oct. 27. If you want to shop longer, try out the Online Book Fair which is from Oct. 24-31. http://www.scholastic. com/bf/parkersburgelemschool
Calvary Baptist Church to host trunk-or-treat The 13th annual Trunk or Treat event will be held at the Calvary Baptist Churcht, at the corner of 5th and Wemple, in Parkersburg Saturday, Oct. 29 during Parkersburg Trick-or-Treat night, 6-8 p.m.
More Briefs on Page 9
In this week’s issue Obituaries ....................page 3 Opinion ........................page 4 Aplington News ..........page 5 Church News...............page 9 Records ..................... page 10 Classifieds.......... pages 14-16 Sports ...................page 17-20
The Aplington-Parkersburg boys’ cross country team will run at the State Meet for the second straight year after placing third at Thursday’s Class 2A state qualifier in Pella. (John Jensen/Eclipse News-Review photo)
Election 2016 Preview Auditor faces new challenger in nonparty candidate All Butler County eligible voters will have the choice for auditor on the General Election ballot, Nov. 8 at the polls or earlier at the courthouse. The choice is between incumbent Auditor Lizbeth Williams of Greene, who won the Republican primary this summer, or Leslie Groen, of rural Allison, who was nominated by petition. Williams is seeking re-election to the Office of Butler County Auditor. She focused on accounting and business management at North Iowa Area Community College and Hamilton Business College and has been employed in marketing research, grant writing and office management and was employed in the Auditor’s Office prior to being elected in 2012. “All of which afforded me the skill set necessary for the Office of County Auditor I now hold,” Williams said. Initially, Williams decided to run for auditor after having worked in the office as the elections clerk and was processing mental health claims for the region. “I gained experience and also exposure to the job responsibilities of the auditor, and was encouraged by the previous auditor and my peers to run for this office,” Williams said. “Serving as County Auditor for the past nearly four years has been a huge learning experience, and I continue to learn something new every day,” Williams said. “I really enjoy the duties and challenges of the position as well as the people I work with and represent.” If re-elected, she says, “I will continue to utilize my experience with policy and budgeting to help ensure the county maintains compliance with Iowa Code while also meeting the needs of its constituents. I will strive to maintain compliance, accountability and transparency in regard to all aspects of county government.” Williams can be reached at lwilliams@butlercoiowa.org or by calling
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Falcons qualify for State
Janice Jacobs, Butler County Recorder, will be hosting a passport clinic on Saturday Nov. 5, from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. at the Recorder’s office. This is your opportunity to apply for your passport outside of normal business hours. The Recorder’s office is open Monday – Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. If you have any questions, please call the office at 319-267-2735.
WEDNESDAY October 26, 2016 20 pages 144th Year • No. 43
Butler County Republican Party nominee, and current Auditor Liz Williams, faces a new contestant nominated by petition in the General Election on Nov. 8 (after winning a primary challenge against another candidate, who did not seek nomination by petition in the fall). the Auditor’s Office at 319-267-2670, Monday through Friday. Her Facebook page is, Butler County Auditor, Lizbeth Williams. LESLIE GROEN (nominated by petition, of Hickory Avenue, Allison) has been a business professional for 20 years, including as an internal bank auditor, as well as having held positions of senior customer service representative for brokerage and insurance products, annuity and pension specialist, and interior designer. Groen believes this year’s political activity has added to distrust in government, and she said: “I believe communication is key in getting taxpayers back on track towards building trust in our government… On the flipside, I want government to get back to respecting the taxpayer.” She said budgeting decisions “should always consider the taxpayers’ dollars being used to run government” and that this would open communication regarding budgeting. Her experiences likely to transfer to the auditor position include conducting internal bank audits and reporting results, creating and conducting employee training programs, conducting
Aplington-Parkersburg shows small enrollment increase By JOHN JENSEN Eclipse News-Review PARKERSBURG — The Aplington-Parkersburg Community School District showed a minimal certified enrollment gain for the 2016-17 school year. That was the report from Superinendent Jon Thompson last Monday as the A-P School Board hosted its monthly meeting. Thompson said the district was up five students, a lower number than the 15 he had estimated at the previous meeting. “There were less open enrolled students out than I thought, which would have added to our enrollment,” he said. “We have more total kids in the district but our total count went up five.” Thompson admitted that he wasn’t quite sure why there was a difference between his estimate and the actual number. “I checked it four or five times and it’s all electronic, so there’s no mistake there,” he said. “But that’s still positive. It’s the highest our enrollment has been for a long time – maybe since the late 1990s – so that’s good.” The Board also approved working with the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVIS) to help bring foreign exchange students to the district. Thompson said High School Principal Aaron Thomas had spoken to other schools that have used the group and liked what he had heard. “Sometimes kids will stay multiple years; sometimes they come from poor parts of the world and couldn’t afford to do something like this otherwise,” Thompson said. “It’s something Mr. Thomas greatly supports. “A lot of the kids we’ve had in the past … come from pretty well-to-do families and I think (the new program bringing different types of kids) is just something (Thomas) is interested in,” Thompson said. There is no cost to the school and the school would not be required to
take students that SEVIS brings to it. Thompson said money is available to pay the application fee to the program. There was brief discussion of the District’s new policy designed to keep spending closer to what is budgeted than it has been in the past. “We had the conversations during the year that I was hoping we would come in at about 98 percent of what we had budgeted and I always thought that was an odd thing,” Thompson said. “So there was, maybe, too high of a budget set. So we took a look at the anticipated spending this year, and that’s difficult because fuel and the prices of different things can change during the year, and so we tried to set the budget at what we think things will cost us this year.” Thompson said the idea is to spend 100 percent of the budget while adding that the District will track spending and make adjustments if it needs to. “If we get too far out of kilter halfway through the year or three-quarters of the way through the year you might have to cut off all discretionary spending or something along those lines,” he said. Thompson said he thinks the District will like the new policy though it could take time to get used to. The Board approved language changes to several Board policies, a lot of which Thompson said is the result of the change from No Child Left Behind policies to Every Student Succeeds Act policies, including the addition of coaches and peer educators to the list of those required to be mandatory reporters. There was also a change to the District’s weapons policy making the superintendent the person who can grant exemptions to the policy. The Board approved a starting wage of $8.20 per hour for substitute cooks, the same as regular cooks make. Thompson said it has been difficult to find substitute cooks at the previous rate of $7.30 per hour.
Leslie Groen, nominated by petition to run for Office of Butler County Auditor, is on the ballot in the Nov. 8 General Election. committee meetings and maintaining minutes, handling escalated customer service situations, submitting design bids, managing vendors, and maintaining website content. Groen said her top three work-ethic priorities are communication, integrity and collaboration. Communication – Though she has seen improvements in the past few years, “We have to get better about communicating government spending, programs available, services available (in person and online), elections process education, etc.,” Groen said. She recommended focusing on more and timely content on the county website, and to utilize social media. Integrity – “My number one priority has always been to raise four confident, caring, honest, and hardworking people who make the world a better place than it was before them,” Groen said, referring to her children. “In doing so, I try each day to hold myself to the following standards: 1. Doing what is right, not just what’s right for me. 2. Standing up for what I believe while and working with others for a common goal. 3. Admitting when I am wrong and asking for help. 4. Treating everyone the way I wish to be treated.”
See Elections Page 10
Aplington-Parkersburg eighth-graders pose at the Iowa Judicial Building during their field trip to watch the Iowa Supreme Court in session. (Courtesy photo)
A-P eighth-graders get unique court experience By JOHN JENSEN Eclipse News-Review APLINGTON — For most people, a trip to court is a traumatic event. Yet for Aplington-Parkersburg eighth-graders it became a learning experience. Earlier this month Aplington-Parkersburg eighth-graders visited the Iowa Supreme Court as part of Constitution Day activities. There they observed the Court hearing arguments in a case involving the Water Works Trustees of the City of Des Moines against the Boards of Supervisors in three north central Iowa counties. Teacher Patty Hoff, who coordinated the trip, said this was a unique opportunity for the students and one she jumped at when she saw it. “I thought, ‘I’ll probably never have a chance to see this or have the kids see this again,’ so we were fortunate enough to be chosen and we went down and watched.” During the session that the students watched, the Supreme Court justices were making decisions on some questions from lower courts. “From what I understand, the low-
er court needed some questions answered before they could make their decision,” Hoff said. “They put some questions to the Iowa Supreme Court saying ‘We need some guidance on this,” and the Iowa Supreme Court then said each side needs to bring us their oral arguments before we will make our decision that will help the lower court make their decision.” Students Reagan Schneiderman and Kaden Campbell talked about the experience, noting that they were surprised by some of the vocabulary used by the lawyers and how difficult it was to understand at times. They were also caught off guard by the fact that there were several judges questioning the lawyers instead of the traditional court setup with each side presenting arguments in front of a single judge. “The kids were surprised that (the lawyers) only had a certain amount of time to give their arguments and then a light turns on and their time is done,” Hoff said. “They thought that was fascinating because we didn’t know what to expect; none of us had ever seen that before.”
See Eigth-graders Page 3