100TH VICTORY
TODAY’S LETTERS
Creston/O-M wrestler Seth Maitlen earns 100th career victory Tuesday evening as Panthers clinch Hawkeye 10 duals title. More in SPORTS, page 9A. >>
Read the latest letters to the editor and Argus Hamilton column on page 4A of today’s newspaper.
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City’s franchise fee passes during first reading The fee ordinance was amended prior to the first reading with franchise fee being imposed at 2 percent in October 2015, then increase to 3 percent in 2016, 4 percent in 2018 and 5 percent by 2020.
By KYLE WILSON
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The first reading of the city’s franchise fee passed 4-3 Tuesday evening, despite strong push back from citizens and business owners. This fee — if passed at two more readings — would increase all electric and natural gas bills inside city limits including residential, industrial and commercial property. The only exemptions under the fee will be city-owned properties. This franchise fee was originally proposed at 5 percent, but was amended prior to the first
reading Tuesday evening. The amended version imposes a 2 percent franchise fee starting Oct. 1 2015, then will increase to 3 percent in April 2016, 4 percent in April 2018 and 5 percent by April 2020. City council members voting in favor of this amended franchise fee Tuesday were: Nancy Loudon, Gary Lybarger, Marsha Wilson and Randy White. Against were Rich Madison, Ann Levine and Dave Koets.
CNA managing editor kwilson@crestonnews.com
The need Mike Taylor, city administrator, has said the franchise fee is needed during this difficult budget year because “revenue streams for cities are drying up and this is one way to capture additional revenue.” Taylor said implementing this franchise fee would generate an estimated $600,000 annually. That extra money would be used
in two main areas: public safety and city streets. “We didn’t just come off turnip truck with this franchise fee,” Wilson said Tuesday. “We’ve beat ourself to death finding areas where we can cut. We’ve cut equipment and some services. It’s just not an easy budget year. I’ve been sitting up here (on the council) for 18 years and this is probably the darkest I’ve seen it.”
Secondary affects Madison said, in good conscious, he couldn’t support this franchise fee because of the affects it will have on local industry and
those on fixed incomes. He added this fee would have a lot of secondary affects. “This will increase utility costs for the schools and hospital, which they will then likely have to turn around and tax for,” Madison said. At 5 percent, GRMC was facing an extra $35,000 in utility costs annually while Creston School District and Southwestern Community College were estimated at $12,000 and $18,000, respectively. Madison added that another secondary affect— under this Please see FRANCHISE, Page 2
SWICO revitalizes discussion for Highway 34 expansion
Obama challenges Republicans in State of the Union speech
By JAKE WADDINGHAM
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says it’s time to turn the page after years of economic hardship at home and wars overseas. But Republicans in charge of Congress say Obama the voters already took care of that last November — and they’re the proof. “Much of what he did tonight ... new taxes, new spending is sort of the same old thing that we’ve heard over the last six years,” said newly installed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, not long after the president wrapped up a State of the Union speech studded with veto threats and challenges to newly empowered congressional Republicans. “What I had hoped was the president was going to focus on areas of possible agreement. There are a few: trade, tax reform, infrastructure,” added McConnell, who was on the receiving end of a presidential barb about climate change. House Speaker John Boehner, McConnell’s partner atop the leadership of the new, Republican-controlled Congress, agreed. “Finding common ground is what the American people sent us here to do, but you wouldn’t know it from the president’s speech tonight,” he said. The two Republican leaders spoke after Obama declared the “shadow of crisis has passed,” with the economy growing and joblessness falling. He unfurled an agenda on taxes, spending, social programs, energy and foreign policy notably at odds with Republican priorities, although he ended with a plea for the two parties to “debate without demonizing one another” and find compromise where possible. The speech was the sixth State of the Union address of Obama’s presidency, and the
CNA associate editor jwaddingham@crestonnews.com
RED OAK — The Southwest Iowa Coalition (SWICO) took the first step toward working with the Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) to expand Highway 34 to four lanes from Highway 275 in Mills County to the Interstate 35 interchange near Osceola. The goal of Thursday’s meeting was to revitalize the expansion discussion to compliment the recently completed bridge on Highway 34 across the Missouri River. The bridge reopened October 2014. Larry Winum, SWICO Infrastructure Committee co-chairperson, and IDOT District Engineer Troy Jerman led Thursday’s discussion. “It is going to be a long process,” Winum said. “You have to get on the five-year plan before you are even in the picture, as far as the Iowa DOT is concerned. Once you are on the plan, there is funding committed to it.” Jerman said the new bridge is carrying around 2,500 vehicles daily, about 500 more vehicles than the IDOT originally projected. An increase in traffic count on Hwy 34 is one of many factors that will encourage the IDOT to actively look at expanding the highway. Winum said the expansion could divert some traffic away from Interstate 80, helping prolong the life of one of the state’s main transportation arteries.
Finding funding Another hurdle for the expansion project is when funding will become available. Two major construction
CNA photo by JAKE WADDINGHAM
An increase in traffic count on Hwy 34 from the new bridge across the Missouri River is one of many factors that will encourage the IDOT to actively look at expanding the highway.
projects on Highways 20 and 30 are already underway. A future revenue source could be from a gas tax or user fee, which was highlighted in Governor Terry Branstad’s 2015 Condition of the State speech Jan. 13. “If you are going to talk about economic development, you have to talk about your roads and bridges,” Winum said. Branstad told the General Assembly that it is time to find a bipartisan solution that will increase funding for the state’s bridges and roads. “Without action, Iowa’s roads and bridges face an uncertain future. Our farmers will find it more difficult in delivering commodities to market,” Branstad said, who called on lawmakers to help him craft a bipartisan ap-
proach to funding the repairs. Winum said more information from the state representatives about how a gas tax or user fee could benefit them locally could help boost support. Iowa State Senator Tom Shipley echoed Winum’s idea that expanding Hwy 34 could spark more opportunities for econmic development in southwest Iowa and encourage businesses to utilize the area more often. Shipley Shipley added federal funding for road projects have several “caveats” that limit where the Please see HIGHWAY 34, Page 2
Concerns raised about bullying within NV cheerleading squad By BAILEY POOLMAN
CNA staff reporter bpoolman@crestonnews.com
GREENFIELD — Concerns about bullying within the Nodaway Valley cheerleading program were raised during the Nodaway Valley School Board’s regularly scheduled meeting Jan. 12, and the board members plan to look into the situation in the future. Mindy Eblen, the mother of a cheerleader in the program, spoke to the board and a crowd of approximately 40 citizens about her concerns. “There’s been a lot of bullying going on within the squad, and it’s been going on for months. It’s been brought to the attention of the sponsor,” Eblen said. “I feel like if there was more pres-
ence with the sponsor in the program, in the practices, in the games, that this would not be happening. It would have been stopped immediately.” Other issues, such as lack of new cheerleading uniforms, were also brought up during the meeting. The Nodaway Valley cheerleading sponsor is Kendalyn Huff. Huff was not present at the meeting. “I know Kendalyn has her heart in the right place, but I think she has a lot on her plate, and it’s hard for her to be everywhere she needs to be,” Eblen said.
Bullying “I think bullying is an issue at all schools. It is something that is definitely a focus for us, that we’re trying
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to improve,” said Dr. Casey Berlau, Nodaway Valley superintendent. “I’m not willing to sit and say it’s not any different than what other schools are dealing with.” Berlau also said of the issues that were brought up during the school board meeting, he had been made aware of some and not aware of others, but that there were also things brought up that had been previously dealt with. During the meeting, other cheerleading moms and cheerleaders spoke about their experiences with bullying within the squad. “It’s been a pretty good experience for Dakota (Hughes), but she is the
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Please see BULLYING, Page 2
first with Republicans holding majorities in both houses of Congress. That produced a splitscreen sort of response in which Democrats seated on one side of the House chamber repeatedly rose to their feet and applauded the president, while Republicans who intend to vote down his proposals sat silently. And when Obama promised to send Congress a budget “filled with ideas that are practical, not partisan,” a disbelieving snicker swept through the rows of Republicans. Boehner wasn’t the only Republican who said Obama had not taken the results of last fall’s election to heart. “We’re not going to raise taxes. He knows we’re not going to raise taxes. So I’m kind of surprised he paid lip service to that,” said Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, the chairman Boehner of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. The centerpiece of Obama’s economic proposals was an increase in the capital gains rate on couples making more than $500,000 annually, to 28 percent, coupled with higher taxes on some estates and a fee on the roughly 100 U.S. financial firms with assets of more than $50 billion. Much of the $320 billion that would be raised would be ticketed for the middle class, in the form of a $500 tax credit for some families with two working spouses, expansion of the child care tax credit and a $60 billion program to make community college free. For that, Obama drew condemnation from the most junior Senate Republicans, and from the most senior. “Calling for expanding the death tax and raising the rates on capital gains, like the Please see OBAMA, Page 2
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