COMPOST HOURS
“INCREDIBLE YEAR”
The hours for the city of Creston’s compost site for 2015 have been released. New hours will begin in April. See list on page 2A of today’s paper.
The Creston/O-M wrestling team celebrated an “incredible year” during its annual banquet Tuesday evening at Creston High School. More in SPORTS, page 7A.
creston
News Advertiser
SHAW MEDIA GROUP SERVING SW IOWA SINCE 1879 BREAKING NEWS COVERAGE AT WWW.CRESTONNEWS.COM
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2015
PAYING IT FORWARD
creston schools
one breath at a time
■ Free Heartsaver
“It was on the way back from the state wrestling tournament, and I just kept thinking, ‘What if it had been locally, would the right people have been in the right place?’”
certification classes will be offered in Creston four times in April thanks to local insurance companies, Greater Regional and SWCC. By BAILEY POOLMAN
CNA staff reporter bpoolman@crestonnews.com
S
ee a need, fill a need. Devon Leith, vice president and agent at Tyler Insurance, decided to fill a need in the Creston area, and engineered a pay it forward activity to benefit local citizens. Free Heartsaver certification classes will be offered four times in the month of April, which includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and use of an automated external defibrill a t o r (AED). “It was on the way back f r o m the state Leith wrestling t o u r nament, and I just kept thinking, ‘What if it had been locally, would the right people have been in the right place?’” Leith said. “I thought, ‘How can we make ourselves prepared for this? What can we do to be proactive and take advantage of the momentum of these conversations?’” Leith decided to start a month-long program that included free CPR classes for people who hadn’t taken classes in awhile. “A lot of us that are isolated from that (health services) industry, maybe we don’t take the time. It’s just one of those things that’s easy to put off,” Leith said. “So we thought, if we offered the free classes and forwarded the attention to it, we
— Devon Leith
Vice President at Tyler Insurance in Creston
CNA photo by BAILEY POOLMAN
Jean Gibbons, American Heart Association training center and CPR class coordinator, shows how to use an automated external defibrillator on a mannequin Tuesday at Southwestern Community College. AED use will be part of the Heartsaver certifcation classes local insurance agencies will offer throughout the month of April in conjuction with the college’s Pay It Forward week April 20-24.
could get more people motivated.” The certifications are being hosted by local insurance companies, as well as Greater Regional Medical Center and Southwestern Community College. Up to 10 people can register per class. They are also hosting a free community CPR and AED introductory course for up to 100 people April 20 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Creston High School. “Talking to the other insurance agents in town, they’re so generous,” Leith said. “Then the hospital and the reason SWCC is involved is that they do a lot of the educational outreach for the CPR training, ... and they were all over it.” Local insurance companies involved are Tyler Insurance, American Family— Katie Turner, Carter Insurance Services, Farm Bureau — Joe Calvin, Hometown Insurance and State Farm — Ben Adamson.
The insurance companies are funding the certification classes, as well as the free introductory course. “That (the introductory course) is kind of just what we decided to put together, in case someone didn’t want to make the commitment, didn’t really need the full certification, or just wanted to go for a refresher,” Leith said. “If your friend or family member went down, what do you do? It’s just to empower yourself a little bit more.” The certification classes will be offered April 7, 14, 21 and 28 from 6 to 9 p.m. at SWCC’s instructional center in room 333. The classes will provide full certification for adult, child and infant CPR, and the use of AED. CPR involves chest compressions and breaths if an infant, child or adult’s heart has stopped. It helps move oxygen to the heart and brain and prevent tissue death and permanent brain damage. The use of
an AED is to restart the heart using electrical therapy via an automatic defibrillator designed to be simple to use. The project is held in conjunction with SWCC Pay It Forward week, which is April 20-24. Paying it forward means to encourage positive behavior and service for the community. Local citizens can also give a donation to Greater Regional Healthcare Foundation/AED, which is a fund set up to raise money for the purchase of additional AEDs to be placed throughout the community. Locations for the AEDs will be assessed through Greater Regional Healthcare Foundation. “If there are different entities in the county, say Mayflower School or the Baptist church, ... you can put in a grant application, but you have to match funds,” Leith said. “There’s a couple different ways to do this. All we’re trying to do is get more placed throughout the community.” Donations for the fund will be accepted at all training events and local insurance agencies through the month of April. For more information or to register for the training sessions, call any of the participating insurance companies, or register online at www.swcciowa.edu/ pifCPR.
School board approves new food service software By BAILEY POOLMAN CNA staff reporter
bpoolman@crestonnews.com
Creston School Board members approved a new food service software during the regularly scheduled meeting Monday. The software will help food service employees save time and stay compliant with the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Health-e Meal Planner Pro, the interactive software, is approved by United States Department of Agriculture. The software allows for nutritional data of specific ingredients and recipes, and reports that show if the school menu is compliant with federal mandates. “There are strict guidelines that we do have now with the Healthy Kid Act,
and we are required to have a nutrient analysis and meet all kinds of standards all year long so we are able to keep our federal funding,” said Nora Sprague, Creston School District food service director. “That’s difficult to do just on paper. This software will allow us to plug in our recipes. It does a lot of the work for us.” The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 is a reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act signed into law in 1966 by former President Lyndon B. Johnson. It sets new nutrition standards for schools across the nation, and allows schools funding for child nutrition and free lunch programs. Please see SCHOOLS, Page 2
Lawmakers back plan to bar teen salon tanning DES MOINES (AP) — A proposal to bar minors from using tanning beds at salons won approval Tuesday in the Iowa Senate. The bill, which passed 2623, would restrict children under the age of 18 from using a tanning device at a commercial establishment. Sen. William Dotzler, a Democrat from Waterloo, said it’s a safety precaution for young people, who may not understand the risks associated. “We’ve got to as state legislators stand up and ban this dangerous practice that can be just as dangerous in some ways as youth smok-
ing,” Dotzler said. But Sen. Mark Chelgren, a Republican from Ottumwa, argued it was safer for teens to tan in licensed establishments. He also unsuccessfully sought to amend the bill to allow parents to waive the restriction. A similar bill has received committee-level approval in the Iowa House but has not yet had a full vote. Previous attempts to enact this restriction failed in the Senate in the last two legislative sessions. The National Conference Please see TANNING, Page 2
House votes for control of school start date DES MOINES (AP) — The state would retain control over when school districts in Iowa could start their calendar year under a bill passed Tuesday by the Iowa House, a move that reverses course from legislation approved in the Senate and sets up conflict over what may happen next. The House voted 71-29 in sup-
port of a bill that would require school districts in Iowa to start classes no earlier than Aug. 23. The House bill changes legislation passed in the Senate, which would give school districts local control over when to start. Rep. Greg Forristall, R-Macedonia and floor manager of the legislation in the House, said the
bill was the best compromise date he could get with support from Gov. Terry Branstad. “Sometimes you have to take what you can get and work forward from there,” Forristall said during debate. The House bill, which now heads back to the Senate, would allow some school districts with
THURSDAY WEATHER
CONNECT WITH US
COMPLETE WEATHER 3A
crestonnews.com | online 641-782-2141 | phone 641-782-6628 | fax Follow us on Facebook
48 26 PRICE 75¢
Creston News Advertiser 503 W. Adams Street | Box 126 Creston, IA 50801-0126
Copyright 2015
Volume 131 No. 211
2014
If you do not receive your CNA by 5 p.m. call 641-782-2141, ext. 6450. Papers will be redelivered in Creston until 6:30 p.m. Phones will be answered until 7 p.m.
year-round calendars to be exempt from the new rules. But Democrats criticized the bill as excluding high schools from seeking such exemptions. Others said the proposed start date would also force school districts to no longer be aligned with local colleges that allow courses for high school students.
“We’ve seized the local control, and we’ve stepped in big time as government,” said Rep. Art Staed, D-Cedar Rapids. The Senate is expected to oppose the revamped bill, which some Democrats in the House alluded to during debate. That may force lawmakers to discuss the issue in a special committee.
Become a Fan on Facebook! facebook.com/crestonnewsadvertiser