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For anyone interested in voting absentee, the voting opens today. Requests can be made for an absentee ballot at Union County Auditor’s Office in person or at 641-782-1701. Ballots will be mailed out. For more information, contact the auditor’s office.
East Union remained undefeated with a 44-34 win over Lenox Friday in the Tigers’ homecoming game. For more on the game, see SPORTS, page 5A. >>
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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2016
READS program seeks volunteers
Residents evacuate Cedar Rapids homes ahead of flooding
CNA file photo
Paddy Schroeder, Creston Parent-Teacher Organization president, reads the book “People Do Silly Things” with Nico Leppla in December 2015 in the Creston Elementary/Middle School commons. Creston’s Read, Enjoy And Develop Success (READS) program, in which community members visit the school to read with a first-grader once a week for 30 minutes, begins in November. Program Director Chris Mansour said about 38 volunteers are still needed for this year.
By SCOTT VICKER
CNA managing editor svicker@crestonnews.com
The Creston Read, Enjoy And Develop Success (READS) program is in search of volunteers for the 2016-17 school year. According to Program Director Chris Mansour, about 38 more volunteers are needed for this year. In total, 102 volunteers were needed for this year. The READS program, which falls under Creston Dollars for Scholars, provides a reading buddy for first-graders at Creston Elementary and St. Malachy schools. The reading buddy spends 30 minutes per week reading with his or her student. “It’s obviously educational support,” Mansour said. “It helps their read-
ing skills, but also to have another caring adult in their life. We know from research it can help them do better in school and possibly have better attendance and decrease negative behaviors by having that extra caring adult in their life.” With many volunteer slots already filled, Mansour said she still needs more so volunteers can work one-on-one with students as opposed to having two students. The READS program begins the week of Nov. 7. Volunteers must first fill out an application, pass a background check and attend one of two training sessions: 5:15 p.m. Oct. 18 or 11 a.m. Oct. 25. “If they can’t come to those, we make arrangements for them to get
their training before they can start,” Mansour said. “At the training session we would explain to them the value of reading to students and both the expectations and benefits of being that caring adult. But also reading strategies to help them with the student that are appropriate for first-graders.” Mary Jo Borcherding has volunteered with the READS program for about six years. “Since I like to read, I like sharing that with the kids,” Borcherding said. “It’s also fun to watch them grow from when we first start reading with them in the fall and seeing how they progress in the spring.” Creston Kiwanis donates books for volunteers to give their reading buddies
CNA photo by KELSEY HAUGEN
Young Panthers: Creston students on the grades four through six black padded football
league team ride on a float during the Creston High School homecoming parade Friday afternoon on West Adams Street. Shown, from left, are Tyson Looney, Aiden Snodgrass, Landon Latham, Chasin Luther and Drake Rehmeyer.
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Volume 133 No. 82
2016
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as Christmas gifts. “I think the more kids read and read out loud, the better they’re going to become as readers,” Borcherding said. Mansour said getting involved in the READS program is an easy way to give back to the community. “We know that reading is important for lifetime skills and to do well in all subjects in school,” she said. “Anything we as a community can do to help that is really important. Reading with a first-grader each week seems like a good way to help out.” Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Mansour at 641-782-4382. Borcherding said it’s worth a try volunteering. “Give it a year and I think you’ll be hooked,” Borcherding said.
CEDAR RAPIDS (AP) — Several thousand residents of Cedar Rapids left their homes Sunday as floodwaters began to spill out of the rising Cedar River, and Iowa’s second-largest city worked to apply the lessons officials learned after the record 2008 flood. The river crested Saturday night in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, which are about 55 miles (90 kilometers) upstream from Cedar Rapids, which is Iowa’s second-largest city, with about 130,000 people. The water levels in Cedar Falls and Waterloo were slightly lower than had been expected, but they still reached levels that were second only to those in 2008, when a major flood devastated the region.
The National Weather Service predicted that the river will crest at 23 feet (7 meters) in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday morning — well below the 2008 record of 31.12 feet (9.5 meters). Officials asked those living in about 5,000 downtown homes near the river to evacuate. They said it could be days before people can return home. The Cedar Rapids school district said Sunday that it is canceling classes through Wednesday because of the flooding. District officials will reevaluate the situation by Wednesday afternoon. Cedar Rapids City Manager Jeff Pomeranz said the city has been preparing to deal with a major flood since that of 2008, which caused FLOOD | 2A
9 wounded in Houston shooting HOUSTON (AP) — Nine people were shot and wounded, one critically, in a Houston neighborhood Monday morning by a lawyer who had issues with his law firm, authorities said. The first report of the shootings began at about 6:30 a.m., Police Chief Martha Montalvo said at a news conference, and when officers arrived, the suspect began firing at them. Police shot the man, whom Montalvo did not identify and who
later died at the scene. Numerous weapons were found at the scene, Montalvo said, and a bomb-squad robot is looking at a Porsche that’s believed to be the shooter’s. Mayor Sylvester Turner, who is in Cuba for a trade mission, told KTRK-TV that the lawyer was “disgruntled.” “He was either fired or had a bad relationship with HOUSTON | 2A
CNA photo by SCOTT VICKER
Turning green: Sisters Stephanie Hemsworth of Creston, left, and Elizabeth Snyder of
Ankeny run through green powder Sunday afternoon during the Creston Color Run sponsored by St. Malachy School Parent-Teacher Organization.