RELAY KICKOFF EVENT
TEAM CHAMPIONS
The Southwest Iowa Relay for Life team kickoff event is 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday at The Lobby in Creston. Teams are urged to stop in and sign up their team for 2015. Captains’ gifts, luminarias and luminaria forms will also be available Thursday.
Creston, Mount Ayr claim team titles at Lady Panther Relays in Creston Monday evening. Creston edges Shenandoah in the meet 126-119. Read more in SPORTS, page 7A. >>
creston
News Advertiser
SHAW MEDIA GROUP SERVING SW IOWA SINCE 1879 BREAKING NEWS COVERAGE AT WWW.CRESTONNEWS.COM
PART TWO
TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 2015
It runs in the family
Editor’s note: This is the second 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
I
n a close-knit community like Creston, the five attorney families are aware of how the others have daughters in the field of law. It’s even been the cause for a good joke now and then. “Stu Nielsen ... thought they ought to form their own LLC and call it ‘The Daughters, LLC,’” Skip Kenyon said. “It would be interesting to get them all together in one place. I don’t know that I’d care to be on the other side of that case.” While none of the daughters may be practicing together, many of them did return to work in Creston during the course of their education and post-law school experience — several with their own families. Stephanie Miller joined the Nielsens’ private practice after graduating law school in 2005. She said she had to get used to some of her clients being people who had watched her playing in her parents’ office growing up. “It is an interesting dynamic when you’ve seen these people and you’ve grown up and you’re like, ‘Hey, I’m not a teenager, I’m an adult now,’” she said. Miller said the added dimension of being a business partner, as well as a daughter and fellow attorney, made working with her family unique. “There’s always the dynamic in a private practice that you’re not just practicing law, you’re also running a business,” she said. “You’re not just their daughter, you’re also someone who’s keeping
Creston school budget approved, start date set By BAILEY POOLMAN
LEVY RATE
CNA staff reporter
bpoolman@crestonnews.com
Contributed photo
Skip Kenyon (right) stands next to his daughter, Angela Davis at her swearing-in ceremony with the Iowa State Bar Association. Kenyon and Davis are one of five attorney parent-daughter couples from the Creston area.
the doors open and helping to keep the bills paid, ... and you have to kind of set aside that familial relationship in order to achieve those goals.” Ann Nielsen said although they had their moments, it was fun to have her daughter working with them for a time. “It was good to know her as an adult,” Nielsen said. “Of course, we are mother and daughter, and mothers and daughters have their personality things, but in general it was fun to work with her.” After working with her family for two years and realizing that this area of law wasn’t q u i t e what she wanted to pursue, Miller began working part-time Kenyon with Tim K e n yon, Union County attorney, doing juvenile work and mental and substance abuse committal. Now working an assistant coun-
ty attorney in Kossuth County, Miller said this experience helped her decide to transition from private practice, which was what she did with her parents, to criminal law. Along with Miller, Tim Kenyon has also at different times welcomed Loretta Harvey and his daughter, Elizabeth Lee, as interns. “I was very lucky,” Kenyon said. “I had the luxury of getting to be around three very bright young minds and learn things from them.” After taking the bar exam in 2013, Lee returned to work with her father part-time while waiting on her results. Kenyon, who had in the past practiced with his brother Skip and their father, Arnold, now was the father in the relationship instead of the son. Like the Nielsen family, Lee found that finding the balance of working with family took some time. “It was a little bit of an adjustment at first just to have a different kind of relationship,” she said. “It’s hard for both of us not
“It is an interesting dynamic when you’ve seen these people and you’ve grown up and you’re like, ‘Hey, I’m not a teenager. I’m an adult now.” — Stephanie Miller
to treat one another like, ‘Okay, you’re still Dad and I’m still child.’” But despite the challenges, both said it was a positive experience. “I learned things from her — and she might be surprised to hear that — but I did learn things from her, and I hope she learned a few things from me,” Kenyon said. “In the long run, I wouldn’t trade it.” Loretta Harvey also returned to practice with her family. Since passing the Please see ATTORNEYS, Page 2A
Creston School Board members approved the proposed school district budget during a special meeting Monday at the district’s administration building. Board member Galen Zumbach was absent. The budget is set with a tax levy 16.6 percent per $1,000 taxable valuation, which is assuming state legislators decide on a rate of 0 percent for supplemental state aid. Thus far, there has been no compromise by legislators on supplemental state aid in Iowa. “They have about a thousand other agencies that w a n t funding also, State Patrol, they want to fill potholes in roads,” said Steve McDermott McDermott, Creston and Prescott superintendent. “My approach with these legislators has never been real pushy. It’s, ‘Thanks for whatever you can do for us, we appreciate it and we’d sure like to know sooner.’” Meanwhile, a compromise has been reached after Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) signed a bill allowing for an Aug. 23 school start date Friday. The signing came as a compromise after Branstad and Iowa Department of Education Director Brad Buck decided to no longer
The budget is set with a tax levy 16.6 percent per $1,000 taxable valuation, which is assuming state legislators decide on a rate of 0 percent for supplemental state aid. automatically approve early-start waivers filed by Iowa schools. The new bill will also mean the early-start waivers will no longer be offered. “I still think it should have been a local control issue, but I appreciate the compromise,” McDermott said. “I feel like the legislators heard our reasons, and were open to those. And, I understand they were trying to satisfy a lot of different views with this. But, again, I’ll say I feel like it should have been a local control issue for local school boards to decide.” The bill passed the Iowa House with a vote of 71-29 March 24, and passed the Iowa Senate with a vote of 28-22 March 25. Schools were not allowed to start before Sept. 1 previously; however, many schools applied for an early-start waiver and were generally granted approval. “I think it’s important that we have that choice to make a local decision,” said Ron Dunphy, Creston School Board president. “I understand in other parts of the state, there’s a lot of high school students probably involved in tourism, Please see SCHOOLS, Page 2A
Discussion continues for airport zoning By JAKE WADDINGHAM
CNA associate editor jwaddingham@crestonnews.com
There are still a few questions to be answered before Union County Supervisors will approve the proposed zoning at Creston Municipal Airport. During the second public hearing Monday at the Union County Courthouse, Southern Iowa Council of Governments (SICOG) Regional Planner Chris Lee responded to landowners’ questions from the public hearing March 30. The main concern for landown-
ers Monday was the process of receiving approval for building new structures and replacing damaged buildings back to their current dimensions. Within the five proposed zones, there are different height restrictions to ensure planes have a safe path for landing. Any construction in these areas requires approval from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Iowa Department of Transportation and the local airport zoning board. “The reason it (height restriction) is being included is primarily
and almost exclusively a safety issue,” said Tim Ostroski, SICOG executive director. “That’s why they are doing it.” Alex Gates, who farms with his family on the south side of the airport, said about half of their farm is in the “blue zone” also labeled as Zone A. In this area, the objective is to provide a clear area that is free of above-ground obstructions and structures. This zone is closest to where the individual runway ends. Currently, Gates said their farm has a 34:1 height easement from the FAA and he wants the approved
WEDNESDAY WEATHER
CONNECT WITH US
COMPLETE WEATHER 3A
crestonnews.com | online 641-782-2141 | phone 641-782-6628 | fax Follow us on Facebook
61 45 PRICE 75¢
Creston News Advertiser 503 W. Adams Street | Box 126 Creston, IA 50801-0126
Copyright 2015
Volume 131 No. 224
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.
zoning plans to reflect that agreement. “We don’t have any major plans ... but when you tell someone you can’t do anything, that is a problem,” Gates said. “This document, the way I read it, and other people have read it, would be far more restrictive than the 34:1 glide slope.” Lee and Ostroski are checking with the Iowa DOT to detirmine if that easement can be added to the proposed airport zoning regulations. Another public hearing is not required, but supervisors will decided on the proposed airport zoning in
open session.
Background The City of Creston adopted the ordinance in February. Now the county has to adopt the same ordinance so Creston Municipal Airport can continue to receive required funding to operate in Union County. “This is nothing new, the airport has always had regulations,” Lee said. “Now they are being formalized and put into code so they can be better enforced.” The zoning project is part of state, federal and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requirements for the airport.