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Tuesday, March 11, 2014 OBITUARIES David A. Crook, 62 Clarence Davidson, 84 Julie A. Peterson, 43 Marv Stover, 63
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Allen to run for Senate District 15 By Bob Eschliman Daily News Editor Monday afternoon, former mayor of Newton Chaz Allen, who currently serves as executive director of the Jasper County Economic Development Corporation, announced his plans to run for Iowa Senate District 15. “I have spent more than a decade working to bring businesses and jobs to this senate district,” Allen said. “Working closely with the Board at JEDCO and involving local, regional and state governments in the decision making, our region has been proactive towards economic development. Everyone works together to get things
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done. I hope to be given the chance to bring this collaborative approach to the Iowa Senate.” Allen, 43, was elected to five terms as mayor in Newton. He pointed to his leadership of the community through the “challenging economic transition” following the closure of Maytag’s facilities as one of his ALLEN political highlights. In addition to leading the local response to Maytag’s closure, he also coordinated efforts with Iowa’s con-
gressional delegation to make a request for assistance to President George W. Bush. This led to federal assistance for education and retraining of impacted former Maytag employees. “During my time as mayor, Newton went through an economic transition, from a company town dominated by the Maytag Corporation to a diverse economy focused on renewable energy, motorsports entertainment, research development and education,” he said. “Times were tough — they still are for a lot of families — but we banded together as a community to face ALLEN See Page 5A
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Supino pleads not guilty; first-degree murder trial in June Sports
By Daily News Staff
Youth basketball tournament Page 7A
Submitted Photo DMACC Newton Campus Provost Mary Entz (left) speaks during Monday’s press conference announcing the new court reporting program at the campus. Court reporter Cindy Miller (right) kept the record for the entire press conference.
Agriculture
DMACC to offer court reporting program
Raw milk sales divide Iowans Page 11A
By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer
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DMACC’s Newton Campus has continually upped its offerings since the campus opened in 1993 and on Monday, it announced its latest program: court reporting. “This is important, as many of you know — and many of you are familiar with DMACC — it’s our job to respond to the needs of the community both in terms of businesses but also for those citizens that want to pick up new jobs and new careers,” DMACC President Rob Denson said. Denson said the court reporting program became a need after AIB Business College, which was the only post-secondary educational facility in the state offering the degree, stopped accepting new students. He also said DMACC officials noticed there was going to be a pending shortage of courtroom reporters in the near future. “For about a year, we’ve worked with the Iowa Court Reporters Association and the Iowa (State) Bar (Association) to really explore the opportunities for individuals that might
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And Here’s The Pitch
By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer
Dear Abby Page 6A
While Monday’s meeting of the Newton Community School Board of Education may have been brief, the groundwork was laid for two key upcoming district issues. One issue is planning the district’s 201415 school calendar. During the board’s Feb. 25 meeting, it chose to use the 1,080 instructional hours method versus the 180 day method the district had used in the past to develop the calendar. In the draft of the calendar presented at Monday’s meeting, early out Wednesdays would be held on the first Wednesday of every month and classes would be dismissed at 1:15 for teacher collaboration. The first semester would contain 87 instructional days,
Opinion Page 4A Obituaries Page 3A Police Page 3A Our 112th Year No. 206
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Senior staff writer Ty Rushing may be contacted at (641) 792-3121, ext. 426, or at trushing@newtondailynews.com.
Board discusses next year’s school budget, calendar
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want to go into the exciting area of court reporting,” Denson said. The program at DMACC Newton will begin during the fall semester and according to DMACC’s research, the average court reporting salary in Iowa is $48,000. It will have 30 openings and students will have the chance to earn a court reporting associate degree in applied sciences. “When we see a need, we respond rapidly,” Denson said. Mary Entz, the Provost of the DMACC Newton Campus, also showed a great amount of enthusiasm for what this new program will bring to her campus. “We do believe that court reporting is a wonderful addition to our campus and it’s a part of our ongoing efforts to expand and diversify by offering unique and exciting programs to students with the ultimate goal, as Rob said, of helping the students develop the skills that we know employers need,” Entz said.
During a preliminary hearing Monday, Theresa “Terri” Supino pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in connection with the 1983 double-homicide at the Copper Dollar Ranch. Supino, 53, of Altoona and formerly of Newton, was arrested March 3, 31 years to the day after the bodies of 20-year-old Steven J. Fisher and 17-year-old Melisa L. Gregory were found shortly before 8 a.m. at the former horse ranch, located about Supino four miles northwest of Newton. Supino was married to but separated from Fisher at the time of his death, and Fisher and Gregory had been in an ongoing dating relationship with each other. According to court documents, Fisher and Gregory died as a result of multiple “chop wounds” — 13 to Fisher’s head and 17 to Gregory’s face and head — inflicted by a “heavy-edged instrument.” Authorities have not specified what led to the break in the 31-year-old cold case. “There will be no additional comments, in order to ensure that Theresa Supino receives a fair trial,” Jasper County Sheriff John Halferty said during the press conference announcing her arrest. Halferty said also stated during the press conference that Supino’s arrest does not end the investigation, and he invited anyone with information about the case to call the sheriff ’s office at (641) 792-5912. Supino is being held in the Jasper County Jail on a $400,000 bond. She waived her right to a speedy trial during Monday’s court appearance, and a pre-trial conference is set for May 19. A trial currently is scheduled for June 23.
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SCHOOL BOARD See Page 5A
Bob Eschliman/Daily News Skiff Medical Center CEO Steve Long, representing a group of local community leaders, provided an update on the group’s efforts to land a high-performance automotive technology program at DMACC’s Newton Campus. The lively, 15-minute presentation focused on Newton’s unique and ideal location — no high-performance automotive technology school in the nation is located in the immediate vicinity of a state-of-the-art facility like Iowa Speedway — as well as the growing demand for that type of educational opportunity. The DMACC Board of Trustees gave the presentation a warm reception. Iowa Speedway President Jimmy Small and NASCAR Vice President of Industry Services Jill Gregory were in attendance.