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DAILY NEWS WEDNESDAY, JULY 26, 2017 • WHERE TO GO WHEN YOU NEED TO KNOW
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Progress made in clock tower restoration By Jamee A. Pierson Newton Daily News Efforts to restore the clock tower in the Jasper County Courthouse took a step forward with a $44,500 grant awarded to the project by the State Historical Society of Iowa. Jasper County Maintenance Director Adam Sparks explained the grant and the newest bid received to complete the work to the Jasper County Board of Supervisors Tuesday. Announced last week, the county, by way of the Newton Historic Preservation Commission, received a Historical Resource Development Grant and Country School Grant from the State Historical Society of Iowa to be used on
the restoration of the clock tower. The project was one of 27 projects in 25 Iowa communities awarded grant funds. Sparks has been working on the project, gathering bids and completing the necessary work to receive grant funding. He originally presented the project to the board earlier this year and updated the board on its current status after receiving the grant funds. “We had one bid to start off on, which was more than $120,000 from a gentleman out of Minnesota,” Sparks said. “We looked at a couple of other people and found another company out of Indiana.” CLOCK | 3A
Skiff’s emergency department receives top award By Jamee A. Pierson Newton Daily News Skiff Medical Center has been named one of America’s Best Hospitals for Emergency Care by the Women’s Choice Awards. The award recognizes excellence in emergency care based on several criteria focused on the patients time spent in the emergency department. “We are extremely honored to receive the Women’s Choice award,” Skiff Medical Center President Laurie Conner said. “We prioritize providing a remarkable
experience for our patients, not only in our emergency department, but throughout our entire organization. We consider it a privilege every time an outside entity recognizes the excellence of our caregivers.” Criteria for the award includes the average time to admission, time from admission to room and door to diagnosis. It breaks down further averaging the time before outpatients with chest pain or a possible heart attack received an ECG SKIFF | 3A
Kayla Langmaid/Daily News Captain Janelle Cleaveland is becoming established at the Jasper County Salvation Army in Newton. Cleaveland was appointed from Mason City.
Salvation Army welcomes new leadership By Kayla Langmaid Newton Daily News The Jasper County Salvation Army will see new leadership following a change in officers’ appointments last month. Captain Janelle Cleaveland is becoming established with the community after Majors Mikey and Jeff Carter bid farewell. Cleaveland became interested in the Salvation Army’s mission when she was in high school. “When I was in high school I met a friend and her parents were Salvation Army officers, and if you stayed the night on Saturday night at her house, you would go to church then Sunday,” Cleaveland said. “I never had really been to church and no one in my family is a Christian, so I started going to church with them.” Cleaveland grew up in Clinton where she first established her faith. “My father was never really in the picture and learning how my heavenly Father loves me, was a big thing for me,” Cleaveland said.
Cleaveland went on to attend college in Waukesha, Wis. She continued pursuing the Salvation Army and its work. Cleaveland went to church camp with the Salvation Army during her sophomore and junior years. “I was praying with a little girl at the altar when she accepted Christ and that’s when God called me to be a Salvation Army officer,” Cleveland said. “From there, God worked it all out for me.” Cleaveland graduated in May of 2008 with a bachelors degree in public relations and business marketing. “In August of 2008, I went into the Salvation Army seminary,” Cleaveland said. “I was ordained and commissioned in 2010.” After seminary, in front of thousands of people, Cleaveland said her covenant to be an officer, recited her doctrine and was ordained as an officer. “They don’t tell you where you’re going until you’re on stage,” Cleaveland said. “I was commissioned as an associate pastor and associate core officer at Des Moines Citadel. Then I
was moved to Des Moines Temple and was the head pastor and head officer there for five years.” Following those five years, Cleaveland was appointed as an officer in Mason City for one year. Cleaveland said because she has led a variety of communities in Iowa, those experiences will be beneficial as she takes on the Jasper County Salvation Army in Newton. “My goal is to let God work in His way and in His timing,” Cleaveland said. “I would like to see more people know why the Salvation Army does what they do, and not just as a hand out but we are doing it with the love of Christ and that’s why we do what we do.” Cleaveland said she would really like to see the programs in the building grow. “I would like to have youth come in and see kids have fun and grow and learn in the Lord,” Cleaveland said. “I think that the staff here has been doing a great job... it’s really helpful when you have a great staff.”
Blessing box helps those in need Members of St. Stephen’s Church have built a box to help feed the hungry By David Dolmage Newton Daily News When Meredith and Jim Tracy first started the blessing box, they wanted to provide
another option for needy residents. After Meredith Tracy read in the paper about man who’d been arrested for shoplifting to feed his family she knew that she had to take action. The Tracys, in partnership with their
church, St. Stephen’s United Episcopalian Church, located at 223 E. Fourth St. N., created the blessing box, a place where those in need could easily get help. The box, which is stocked with food, clothing and toiletry items sits on the corner of the Tracy’s home, located at 308 N. Sixth Ave. E., faces the alley that runs along the east border of the Tracy’s property. Meredith Tracy checks the box several times a day, refilling the tuna fish, peanut butter and crackers and granola bars. She tries to stock the box with healthy options that will provide plenty of nutrition, because she worries that what people take
out of the box might be all that they eat that day. “I keep stuff in there that you can just open and eat,” Meredith Tracy said. “We’re not putting Slim Jims in anymore.” Merle Smith, the reverend at St. Stephen’s says, the Newton community has seen an increasing need over the past decade. Smith said that when the Maytag plant closed, Newton didn’t only lose the jobs, they also lost support for non-profit agencies that help with hunger and homelessness. “There’s no industry here anymore,” Smith said. “It’s been tough the past ten or eleven years.” BLESSING | 3A
David Dolmage/Daily News Meredith Tracy stocks the Blessing Box in the alley behind her home, located at 308 N 6th Ave E in Newton. The box is filled with food and toiletry items for those in need.
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‘Hands-On’ event features NASCAR’s Joey Gase at NFD Newton Daily News Iowa Donor Network and Newton Fire Department are teaming up to promote organ donation with a “hands-on” event on Thursday. Gase, a Cedar Rapids native, is honoring organ donor Brendan O’Brien on his car. O’Brien passed in 2013 after an accident in Newton. Gase is racing in the US Cellular 250 at the Iowa Speedway on Saturday. The hood of his racecar will feature a HANDS-ON | 3A
STATE
WHERE IT’S AT Astrograph......................5B Calendar..........................5A Classifieds......................4B
CLEAVELAND | 3A
Comics & Puzzles...........6A Dear Abby........................6A Local Sports......................1B
Obituaries.......................5A Opinion............................4A State News......................7A
Northey comments on crops
The affect of the hot, humid weather / 8A
Volume No. 116 No. 47 2 sections 14 pages
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