AUTISM 5K More than 400 participated in the third annual Autism Awareness 5K Saturday. See photos and results on page 12A.
MURRAY PROM
MEET RECORD
Murray School District held the first prom of the year in the Creston News Advertiser coverage area on Friday. See photos on page 5A. >>
Spikeless Jay Wolfe breaks meet record at Cardinal Relays running a 1:56.74 in the open 800 meters. Teammate Bryce Briley was right behind, placing third overall. More on page 6A. >>
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It runs in the family Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series about five Creston attorney families with daughters who have become second- and third-generation lawyers. By IAN RICHARDSON CNA staff reporter
irichardson@crestonnews.com
Private attorney and former magistrate Marion James sums it up in two words: “Father’s pride.” It’s the feeling he had when his daughter, Amanda, began to help him research cases. It’s the feeling he had when she was sworn in by the Iowa State Bar Association. And it’s the feeling he had describing how she grew up to take her current position as an assistant attorney at the Sullivan & Ward Professional Corporation. Marion James is among five proud lawyers in the Creston area who have seen one of their daughters go into the field of law. A l o n g with the Jameses, M. James the other attorney-daughter families are Stephanie Miller, daughter of Ann and the late Stuart Nielsen; Angela Davis, daughter of Skip Kenyon; Elizabeth Lee, daughter of Tim Kenyon; and Loretta Harvey, daughter of Ed Harvey. How did so many attorneys’ children come to love law like their parents? For each one, it was a different, at times winding, road. Stephanie Miller, now an assistant county attorney in Kossuth County, grew up in Corning with not just one, but two lawyers as parents. Being an attorney’s daughter meant a lot of time hanging out in the office — sometimes being put
Contributed photo
This father-daughter photo, taken on the day Amanda James (right) was sworn in after passing the bar, hangs in the Creston office of Marion James (left).
to work filing papers. It was during those years that the Nielsen love of law began to sink in. “When she was a baby, she used to walk around with a little suitcase in her hand,” Ann Nielsen said. “She would pull out blank income tax forms, and we had a little table in the living room, and she would be doing taxes.” Miller would attend Drake University Law School immediately after her undergraduate studies. She said she knew law was what she wanted to do, but she felt no pressure to follow in her parents’ footsteps. “There was pressure to not come back home after you’d graduated from undergrad,” she said, “but there was no pressure to be a lawyer.” Ann Nielsen agreed. “Did she need to go to college? Yes. Did she need to graduate from college? Yes. But she didn’t necessarily have to be a lawyer,” she said. Angela Davis, now a government relations attorney with Wasker, Dorr, Wimmer & Marcouiller in
West Des Moines, had, like Miller, helped her father with clerical office tasks as Davis a child. Born into a family full of lawyers — her father, grandfather and two uncles all practiced — she said she listened to plenty of shoptalk when the Kenyon family got together. “I thought it was pretty normal for people to be talking about criminal law scenarios or probate issues,” she said. Skip Kenyon and his wife, Mary Ann, had a similar perspective to the Nielsens when raising Davis. “We never told any of the kids where we thought they had to go,” Skip Kenyon said. “We always let them choose their own paths.” But unlike Miller, Davis said law was initially one of the last things she wanted to pursue. Davis attended the University of Iowa and studied English with an emphasis in creative writing. She would end up in Ra-
leigh, N.C., as a choreographer and creator of her own production company, the result of her love of art and background in dance. However, after some reconsideration about going back to school, Davis realized she was interested in pursuing a career in law. She came back to Iowa and began studying at Drake University. Although she was the daughter of a proud University of Iowa Law School graduate, Davis would choose Drake because, as a single parent going back to school, she felt it would better fit her scheduling needs. “That was an interesting conversation,” she said. “My uncle Greg went to Drake law school, and my dad (Skip) and my uncle Tim went to Iowa law school. So, they had, I think, a silent bet going how it was going to turn out.” Davis would graduate in 2010. Like Davis, Amanda James also had not made her decision right away. “It’s not one of those Please see ATTORNEYS, Page 2
Lawmakers slow to conclude budget work for the year DES MOINES (AP) — The time is approaching when Iowa lawmakers typically start wrapping up their work for the year, but with budget negotiations moving slowly, it doesn’t look like the Legislature will adjourn any time soon. May 1 is the final day of expense payments for the part-time lawmakers, as well as the last day for much of the temporary staff and student pages who work in the Legislature. With just three weeks to go, lawmakers in the R e p u b l i c a n - m a j o r i t y ■ Gov. Terry House and Democratic-controlled Senate are Branstad prostill far apart on how posed a $7.3 much additional fund- million budget ing to provide for K-12 in January. education and remain at odds over basic budget Lawmakers issues. have been “The simplest way to stuck for weeks put it is, we can’t agree on how much money on the educawe’ll have, let alone tion funding what to spend it on,” portion of the said Rep. Chip Baltibudget. more, R-Boone. Republican Gov. Terry Branstad proposed a roughly $7.3 billion budget in January. Lawmakers have been stuck for weeks on the education funding portion of the budget, with Democrats seeking to provide more new dollars than Republicans. The two sides also haven’t determined overall spending levels. Republican House Speaker Kraig Paulsen, of Hiawatha, declined to weigh in on when the session may end. “I wouldn’t even make a prediction,” he said. Sometimes what happens as the session winds down is that legislative leaders remain to negotiate a budget deal while the rank-and-file members head home until it is time for the final votes. But Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal, D-Council Bluffs, said he did not favor such a course.
GLOW RUN All smiles:
MaKenzi Vonk of Creston waves to the camera as she pushes her daughter Swaizeni in a stroller and walks alongside Danielle Hoepker of Orient during the start of First National Bank’s Hope Glows 5K Saturday at McKinley Park. The run had 363 participants and raised money for Relay for Life and American Cancer Society. See more photos on page 2A.
Fast time:
CNA photos by BAILEY POOLMAN
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The Southwestern men’s 4x400 relay team is all smiles after winning heat one at the Jim Duncan Invite Saturday at Drake Stadium. The Spartans ended up third overall with their time of 3:17.85, which qualifies them for nationals. Pictured are, from left, Michael Flakes, Jaiden Brown, Theo Piniau and Anthony Simmons. A complete report on Southwestern track and field from the Jim Duncan Invite will be published in Thursday’s edition of the Creston News Advertiser.
Volume 131 No. 224
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