Tuesday
November 5, 2013
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QUICK NEWS It’s Election Day
Polls open noon today for the Creston City Council election. There are four open Creston City Council seats in this year’s election, including one contested race for councilperson at-large. Candidates in that contested race are Kevin Downey, Gary Lybarger, incumbent Paul Vandevender and Courtney Wilson. Meanwhile, running unopposed are incumbents Randy White (Ward 1) and Ann Levine (Ward 3) and Dave Koets (Ward 5). Also, John Kawa (Park and Recreation Board) is running unopposed. Polls close at 8 p.m. today. Once polls close, Creston News Advertiser Assistant Managing Editor Kyle Wilson will be posting voting totals from each precinct on Twitter. He will also report the winner in each race on Twitter when they are determined. Follow him on Twitter, @k_wilson85. Also, results will be posted at www.crestonnews.com later this evening.
Winterstien Construction of Creston offers borders, boulders to revamp landscape projects
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By JAKE WADDINGHAM CNA staff reporter
jwaddingham@crestonnews.com
F
or about 40 years Winterstien Construction has served the Creston area with a wide variety of construction services including concrete work from basements and sidewalks to poured walls and driveways. But when co-owner Bill Winterstien was diagnosed with bone cancer in his hip two years ago, he was unable to continue the heavy lifting associated with c o n c r e t e Winterstien work. Winterstien wanted to remain an active part of the company and continue to employ several workers who had dedicated several years of service. With the help of fellow co-owner and his daughter Melissa Driskell, they were able to transform the services Winterstien Construction offered with the help of Border Magic. “It was concrete related and it still gives us a chance to be creative and artistic and stay in a related business,” Winterstien said. “It was something I will be able to do for the next year or so and be more active than I am now.”
Drive 4UR School announcement
Creston Automotive officially announced Monday the Drive 4UR School program at Panther Field in Creston in September successfully raised $6,000 for Creston High School Booster Club. “It was a cold, rainy day,” said Terry Freeman with Creston Automotive, “but Freeman over 300 people still came out and supported Creston High School and helped raise funds for the Activities Booster Club.” An official check presentation is slated Dec. 6 at the Creston boys basketball game against Glenwood.
Veterans Day events
Several Veterans Day events are planned over the next week. Thursday, the public is invited to a Freedom Rock placement and flag raising ceremony at Creston Visitor’s Center located at 626 New York Ave. That event begins at 9 a.m. Friday, a Veterans Appreciation Breakfast is slated 7 to 8:30 a.m. at the mealsite inside the restored Creston Depot. This event — sponsored by Creston Chamber of
CNA photo by JAKE WADDINGHAM
Winterstien Construction LLC offers Boulder Designs, a completely custom way to color, shape and design boulders for landscape projects.
Leading edge Border Magic — a continuous concrete border — is meant to replace plastic, wooden railroad ties and individual bricks for landscaping edging. The border can run along flower beds and gardends, help hold mulch around a tree or improve the looks of a sidewalk or driveway. “No job is the same, no rocks are the same, no borders are the same,” Winterstien said. “There is a lot of on-hand work ... It’s not a formed process, it is a freehand design.” Winterstien Construction offers free onsite estimates for Border Magic and can usually give customers the quote on the same day. “A Border Magic job normally takes a day, maybe two days,” Winterstien said. “Having been in the concrete business, we are used to moving a lot rather than staying in one place for weeks or months at a time.” The maintenance is also minimal. Border Magic comes with a 10-year limited warranty that covers cracking, fading and peeling. The
only upkeep is scheduling a reapplication of clear sealant every two to three years. Driskell said it is also convenient because it is easy to mow close to without worrying about bumping it out of place like individual bricks or cutting up plastic borders. “You’re not messing with the long-term maintenance of different kinds of landscape edging,” Driskell said. “It also gives a nice surface on the back to hold your river rock, mulch or dirt.”
Boulder designs Another product Winterstien Construction offers to help revitalize a residential or business landscape is Boulder Designs. “We can make boulders look anyway you want, but I doubt that I can make two to look exactly alike,” Winterstien said. Winterstien, Driskell and their crew make the custom boulders in-house from start to finish. The size of the boulder and the amount of detail in the design dictate how long it takes to finish and overall price of the boulder. A smaller boulder can be completed in a couple of hours while a large boulder
with a lot of detail can take more than 10 hours to complete. “They give us the information they are wanting on the rock and then we help determine the size,” Driskell said. “We use a 3D program that shows the size of the rock, and we can change the shape of it, color of it, all on the computer and basically sell the rock based on what it Driskell looks like on the computer.” Using Google Earth, Driskell can pull up a specific yard and virtually place a boulder in the perspective spot so customers can see what they are buying up front. Once the boulder is complete, Winterstien has a customer trailer to transport boulders safely to their final destination. If the boulder is extremely large, Winterstien Construction owns a crane that can be used to help set the rock in place. “We know that (if a crane is needed) ahead of time so we price that in,” Driskell said. One of the more popular Boulder Designs is smaller boulders with school mascots graphics. Winterstien and Driskell have access to hundreds of logos including the permission to use area school mascots. Winterstien said he wants to work with local schools to create a mascot boulder to sell at fundraisers. The first Southwestern Spartan boulder will be auctioned off at its athletic fundraiser on Nov. 16. Boulder Designs also allows Winterstien to design headstone memorials, mailboxes, pillars for fences and benches.
Please see QUICK NEWS, Page 10A
Union County hit with unexpected worker’s comp By JAKE WADDINGHAM
CNA staff reporter jwaddingham@crestonnews.com
During the 2013 fiscal year, Union County tackled two major bridge projects — 210th Street east of Cherry Street and 230th Street southeast of Thayer. When Union County set its spending projections for worker’s compensation, it did not budget enough money to cover the amount of hours set under the employment code associated with bridge work. A worker’s compensation audit revealed Union County is respon-
sible for about $25,000 more in worker’s compensation fees than originally projected. “I never would have is the amount g u e s s e d the county is the impact responsible would have for in worker’s been like that,” said compensation Phil Tyler fees. of Tyler Insurance at the Union County Board of Supervisors meeting Monday. “It’s a $25,000 lesson.” Based on the National Council on Compensation Insurance
$25,000
(NCCI), each job is given a fourdigit code to delegate the amount of risk that goes with each job. For example, the code for a secretary is rated much lower because of the lack of risk of injury on the job compared to the code of a bridge worker. Tyler added that companies have no say in the rates, it is set by NCCI, and Iowa has some of the most generous and expensive compensation rates. “We didn’t have any accident history,” said Union County Engineer Steve Akes said. “It’s too bad to get charged for something you didn’t encounter.”
Union County Auditor Sandy Hysell said the $25,000 will come out of the county’s liability insurance and there is enough to cover the amount.
Future plans While most fiscal years Union County does not do two major bridge projects, Akes and the Union County Supervisors are taking precautions to limit future worker’s compensation expenses. “We have codes for labor, materials and maintenance (just to name a few),” Akes said. “We might be able to be cutting, welding or modifying beams (for bridg-
es while in the shop) and we can code it for materials.” He said while building bridges in Union County is still potentially dangerous Akes work, it is not as dangerous as bridge work on an interstate highway. “We don’t have a lot of traffic or height,” Akes said. “Our jobs are much safer, but I see how they (NCCI) has to have some base for the codes.”
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Volume 130 No. 104 Copyright 2013
Contact us 2013
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Contents
Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Crossword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Deaths. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 10 Heloise Tips . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Local . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Wednesday weather High 51 Low 34 Full weather report, 3A