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MONDAY, OCT. 9 2017 • WHERE TO GO WHEN YOU NEED TO KNOW
Movie Magic in Newton Film shot at local barbershop
David Dolmage/Daily News Cast and crew from the short film S3rial prepare for a shoot in Razor’s Edge barbershop Sunday in Newton. The film, which has a budget of aproximately $8,000 is written, produced and directed by Michael Berg, an Urbandale resident and aspiring filmmaker.
and after being unable to find anyone to direct and produce the film, he decided to do it himself. “This is my passion, it’s something I do when I have the time,” Berg said. “I’ve always wanted to make films, and now’s the opportunity.”
It takes more than just a vision to make a movie, and Berg has been fundraising for years to cover the estimated $8,000 cost to bring his film into production. MOVIE | 3A
Fall 4 Colfax Driver’s reminds locals of small-town charm Extra skills help By Kayla Singletary Newton Daily News COLFAX — A last minute decision to line downtown Colfax with pumpkins, vendors and a cornhole tournament during the Fall 4 Colfax festival Saturday turned out to be an unexpected success as more than 150 attendees filled the streets. Nikki Stravers and Tammi Schwickerath, owners of Absolutely YOUnique Boutique, took the idea of a fall festival and ran with it all for one purpose — help-
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ing locals and others fall in love with their town again. “It couldn’t have been better timing with the Junk It Trail going on at the same time,” Schwickerath said. “The festival really caught people’s attention as they came into town for that, and I know we had people here from across the state as far as Belle Plaine.” The event was a community effort with pumpkins donated from the Colfax-Mingo Community School District, COLFAX | 8A
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Mariposa Lake drained, fish fry feast ensues As the Jasper County Conservation works to improve the water quality and recreational potential at Mariposa Park, Van Zante the lake w a s drained last month prompting the opportunity to host a fish fry to explain the project to locals. Hundreds of displaced fish were put to good use Sunday afternoon. The fish fry drew more than 50 people to the park to enjoy a variety of fresh fish, cheesy potatoes and baked beans. “As we were draining the lake, we were discussing there would be a lot of fish in the lake, and we wanted to do something responsible and use it as a teachable moment,” Jasper County Conservation Director Kerri Van Zante said. “As the lake was draining we were on the back side of the creek and we harvested the fish from back there, and then we had a bunch
of volunteers clean them for us.” Van Zante, along with project engineers from Shive Hattery, explained the point of the lake’s restoration. “Really the goal of the project is to improve the water quality and improve the recreational potential and bring more oxygen for the fish and aquatic species,” Van Zante said. “Mariposa has been a no boating lake and that will change with a new boat ramp and a fishing jetty.” Naturalists have tested the water quality and the insects over time, and the quality hasn’t been good, according to Van Zante. “The fishing quality has also not been good at Mariposa until recently,” Van Zante said. “We are working to change that.” According to Van Zante it has been a long process. About six years ago, the county conservation office got a call from the DNR that Mariposa was near the top of the priority list for restoration. “I have been writing letters to the DNR to try to get it to the top of their restoration list for probably 20 years,” MARIPOSA | 3A
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teens improve, gain confidence By David Dolmage Newton Daily News
Troy Taylor had it all planned out. When he signed his son Lucas up for driver’s ed last year he assumed the teen would get plenty of winter driving practice to fine tune his skills behind the wheel. Unfortunately, mother nature had other plans. Without much snowfall last year, Lucas spent most of his time in driver’s ed cruising around on dry pavement. When Taylor heard about the Street Survival program, a partnership between the local Sports Car Club of America
Davie Dolmage/Daily News Students spent plenty of time plowing through wet soapy water to learn about traction during Saturday’s Street Survival program, a joint effort between the SCCA and the Iowa chapter of the BMW CCA and Iowa Speedway in Newton.
chapter and the Iowa chapter of the BMW Car Club of America,
DRIVERS | 8A
FEATURE
WHERE IT’S AT $1.00
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By Kayla Singletary Newton Daily News
By David Dolmage Newton Daily News Newton got dusted with a little bit of Hollywood movie magic this weekend thanks to Michael Berg. Actors and crew members were gathered around the Razor’s Edge barbershop, 101 W. Second St. S., to film “S3rial” a short film that Berg wrote, directed and produced. The film, which Berg bills as an Alfred Hitchcock style thriller, tells the story of a dramatic confrontation between two characters, a barber who’s a serial killer and a beat cop who’s determined to bring him down. When Berg was scouting for locations earlier this summer he stumbled across the Razor’s Edge barbershop, and he quickly realized the location would be perfect for the climactic scene in the film where the cop and his quarry cross paths for the first time. “It took us about four months to find this location,” Berg said. For Berg, making the film represents a labor of love. During the day he’s an IT specialist for Wells Fargo in Des Moines, but at night he’s busy writing and rewriting his screenplays. Berg has been working on S3rial for more than seven years,
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Paws for a cause
NHS kids contribute to local effort / 7A
Volume No. 116 No. 100 2 sections 20 pages
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