Wednesday, November 23, 2016

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POSTVILLE

SERVING NORTHEAST IOWA SINCE 1892 LOCAL•2

VOLUME 125, NUMBER 4 | ONE SECTION, 10 PAGES

Calendar of Events Thursday, November 24

Country Christmas Craft Boutique The 38th annual Country Christmas Craft Boutique will be held Saturday, November 26, 2016 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Postville Community Schools. There are vendors in the Fine Arts Center, Northeast Iowa YMCA and the all-purpose room of Cora B. Darling School.

November 28 Compost and Leaf Pickup

The City of Postville final pick up for the season will be Monday November 28, 2016 for leaves and compost at curb side. The compost site is open between 7 a.m. - 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

With Thanksgiving being celebrated around the continental United States tomorrow, turkeys everywhere will be gracing holiday tables. As this special day approaches, turkeys across this great land dream of being pardoned in order to escape being stuffed and baked. This year, one lucky turkey in Iowa will be spared. Yes, the state of Iowa was represented in the spotlight of the nation’s historic holiday tradition as President Obama pardoned the National Thanksgiving Turkey, who hailed from Iowa. Through seven decades, the President has received a turkey from the National Turkey Federation during Thanksgiving week. As part of the White House event, recent custom has the

The Postville Board of Education, meeting in regular session Monday, Nov. 14 heard from Wendy Mihm-Herald and Cassie Martin concerning the NICC Career and Technical Education program. Speech students Sierra Gonzalez, Andrew Hernandez, Sapphire Miller, Emma Heins, Marcy Ixen, Aleesa Lavrenko, Litci Marroquin, Jennifer Bernal, along with their adviser, Derek Friederich reported on the trip they took this fall to Dordt College. They told the Board about the activities they took part in as well as the learning experiences. Architect Ed Wineinger visited with the Board and Administrators about upcoming proposed projects and cost estimates. The Board will meet in special session next week to determine upcoming projects. Joy Minikwu, RaeAnn Caldwell,

a.m. Pacific time and we were still on the old time schedule. We got to our surf point, put on our wet suits and made our way into the water. It was more difficult than usual to get into the water since the shoreline had a lot of volcanic rock. Once we got out on the water, the waves were bigger than what I am typically used to, but it was manageable. The biggest challenge was it was a

As part of her adventure, Meyer related that the trip to Waireinga/ Bridal Veil Falls was a sight to behold. She said, “We saw it shortly after a rain and it was so powerful and amazing to see. You could see it from lookouts from the top, middle and bottom.”

©2016 POSTVILLE HERALD 101 NORTH LAWLER ST. POSTVILLE, IOWA 52162 TEL (563) 864-3333 FAX (563) 864-3400 news@postvilleherald.com

CLASSIFIED•7

SHARON DRAHN

Waireinga/Bridal Veil Falls

USPS 006-515

OPINION•4

National Thanksgiving Turkey hails from Iowa

Kathy Ohloff and Susie Merrifield, all teachers in the district, were hired as migrant tutors. The pay scale was set at $25 per hour. Danielle Bucknell was approved as a volunteer high school girls’ basketball coach and Bobby Schultz was hired as an assistant wrestling coach. Pending a completed background check, Casey Johnson was approved as a volunteer cheerleading coach. RaeAnn Caldwell was approved as wrestling cheerleader coach and Paula Enyart as basketball cheerleader coach. Sandy Koester was hired as a substitute school nurse. She will fill in while school nurse Kari Sass is on maternity leave. Other hirees include: Lul Abdullahi and Kely Toj as migrant paraprofessionals at $11.35 an hour; Karen Meyer as a 1:1 kindergarten special education paraprofessional and Annette Deering as a junior high paraprofessional at $11.35 per

Meyer continues her surfing adventure in New Zealand as she explains the difficulty of a left hand break (Editor’s Note: Stacey Meyer, originally from Postville, is a 1993 graduate of Postville High School. She is the daughter of Byron and Eileen Meyer of Postville. Stacey is sharing her experience of her recent trip to New Zealand. Printed below is the second of a three part series.) The next morning it was up and early, out the door at 6 a.m. It wasn’t too hard since that was 11

AREA•4

Board of Education hears presentations, approves purchase of sound baffles for all-purpose room HERALD EDITOR

Saturday

SOCIETY•3

left hand break. The breaks that I surf in the Santa Barbara area are right hand breaks. Switching it up is a challenge since I take a regular foot stance when popping up on the board. Right hand breaks mean I face the wave, but left hand breaks would mean I’d face away from the wave making it a bigger challenge. The rest of the day was a good day overall with checking out a restaurant in town and doing a little shopping in the dozen or so shops. The next morning was the same plan, but the wind factors got in the way. I opted for a yoga session at one of the yoga studios in town. With four yoga studios and only a population of 5,000 people, apparently they like their yoga! The afternoon was a trip about 10 miles away to Waireinga/Bridal Veil Falls. If you ever take a trip to the north island, this is definitely a sight to see. The trail is only about .25 miles to the falls. We saw it shortly after the rain and it was so powerful and amazing to see! You could see it from lookouts from the top, middle, and bottom. Along the way, there was a little goat running around on the trail. The little guy was interested in us, but always kept a safe distance so we couldn’t catch up to him. Wild goats are fairly common in New Zealand. The final full day in Raglan consisted of surfing and shopping. While surfing this day, there was a young man about the age of 1012 years old that was absolutely dominating the surf with aerials. We found out later that he was a local with a sponsorship with RipCurl. RipCurl is a major designer, manufacturer, and retailer of surfing sportswear. The following morning, we set out for our drive south. Our final destination for the night was by the ocean in Opunake.

SEE NEW ZEALAND, 2

hour. Denise Mauss resigned as the assistant volleyball coach and Donna (Sam) Becker as the head volleyball coach. Due to the fact that the Public Employment Relations Board has ruled that athletic directors are not eligible for Teacher Salary Supplement funds, and Daryl Schultz’s contact was stipulated as .7 teaching and .3 athletic director, he is not eligible for the Teacher Salary Supplement on the .3 part of his contract. In order to keep his pay at the same level, the teacher salary supplement funds will be replaced with general fund dollars. In order to alleviate and cut down on noise in the allpurpose (lunch) room, and at the recommendation of head cook Laurie Smith, it was decided to add sound baffles. The baffles will cut down the noise vibration for a better breakfast and lunch experience. The estimated cost of the baffles is $23,389.74. A bid submitted by Winona Controls in the amount of $9,300 to update boiler controls was also approved. In other action: Jeff Cox and Jamie Smith were named to the teacher negotiation team and Staci Malcom and JoAnn Jacobs were named to the support staff negotiation team. Curriculum director Jennifer Schutte showed bus safety and technology videos created by sixth grade students.

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president ‘pardoning’ the turkey, after noting the significance of a time of thanks for the nation’s many blessings, and the opening of the holiday season. Since 1947, the National Turkey Federation has presented a turkey to the President for Thanksgiving. This year’s turkey hails from Iowa and is the choice of National Turkey Federation Chairman, John Reicks. The Iowa Turkey Federation is proud to take part in this tradition as it is the sixth occasion for Iowa to supply the National Thanksgiving Turkey. Prior Iowa presentations have been to Presidents Johnson, Ford, Reagan and Bush. The tradition began with the first presentation by the National Turkey Federation to President Harry S. Truman in 1947.

Holiday Handbook inside today’s paper The Holiday Handbook, a supplement to the Monona Outlook Outlook, Postville Herald and Calmar Courier may be found inside today’s paper. As the holiday season is upon us, much valuable information may be found inside its pages. The Handbook includes, but is not

limited to, shopping information, including bargains galore; community holiday events and craft shows; tasty recipes and a coloring contest for kids of all ages and much more. Among the feature stories inside the pages are the Holiday Train, the Country Christmas Craft Boutique, NEIA YMCA Festival of Trees to name a few. As you begin your Holiday preparations, the Handbook is sure to be a real asset.

Council approves plans and specifications for wastewater treatment project; delays awarding bids until December SHARON DRAHN HERALD EDITOR

During the open forum portion of the Nov. 14 City Council meeting Libby Faffler, Administrator at the Good Samaritan Society, Postville Center, introduced her herself to the City officials. She invited them to come to the Center and see what they have going on. Engineer Dave Schechinger of Veenstra and Kimm explained the plans and specifications, form of contract and estimate of cost for the construction of the wastewater treatment facility. Schechinger explained that, prior to sending out for bids, the project was trimmed as much as possible. No one from the public spoke to the issue and following the closure of the public hearing, the plans and specifications were approved. However, it was decided to table the bid award until the December 12 council meeting in order to increase the borrowing limit. A second public hearing was held on the submittal of an application for a community development block grant (CDBG) from the Iowa Economic Development Authority for the City of Postville owner occupied housing project. Following the closure of the hearing, the nine points for the CDBG rehabilitation application were reviewed.

November Monthly Special

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They are: • How the need for the proposed activity or projects were identified. • How the proposed activity or projects will be funded and the source of the funds. • The date the housing fund applications will be submitted. • The requested amount of federal funds. The requested amount is $245,250 for the OwnerOccupied program. • The estimated portion of federal funds that will benefit persons of low and moderate income • Where (Postville) the proposed activity will be conducted. • Plans to minimize displacement of persons and businesses as a result of funded activities or projects. No one will be displaced. • The nature of the proposed activity which is to assist in the rehabilitation of six existing homes for low to moderate income families. The program’s mission is to stimulate Postville’s economy one home at a time. Following a unanimous vote, the Council accepted a resolution authorizing the submission of a CDBG application to the Iowa Economic Development Authority and the expenditure of funding to be applied to local match for a housing

fund. A representative of the Somali community, Mohamad Abdi, addressed the Council asking for support and direction from the City on behalf of their community. Among his concerns were translation and interpretation, after school programs, parent education, drug and tobacco programs, immigration services, citizenship classes and youth sports programs. After hearing Mr. Abdi’s concerns, the Council directed him to approach the school district and its administration. It was the consensus of the Council that many of the services he has requested are currently available and may already be in place. City Attorney Anne Kruse suggested that the group might consider forming a nonprofit organization in order to be eligible for grant funding. Rather than considering any major renovation at this time, the Council decided to add additional dust control applications to Mott Street. It was noted that City funding is currently focused on Post Street renovations and the wastewater treatment facility project. Fire Chief Jeff Bohr discussed with the Council the upcoming purchase of a new tanker truck. Bohr was instructed to get two bids prior to making a decision.


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