Newton
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Friday, March 28, 2014 OBITUARIES Hisako Chrismore, 84 Dr. James R. McClean, 92
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Voter registration challenge hearing set for April 10 By Bob Eschliman Daily News Editor Jasper County Auditor Dennis Parrott has announced the time, date and location for a public hearing to determine the eligibility of a former Iowa House of Representatives candidate’s voter registration. Jon Van Wyk and two Newton men who have challenged his voter registration in Jasper County will have a hearing before Par-
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Newton, Iowa
rott at 1 p.m. Thursday, April 10, in Room 203 of the Jasper County Courthouse. That room typically serves as the meeting place for the Jasper County Board of Supervisors. When Van Wyk filed his candidacy papers on March 10 with the Office of Secretary of State, he also turned in a completed voter registration form that identified he was living at 802 Fourth St. in Sully. That address is where his family’s business, Van Wijk Winery, is located.
State law prohibits the use of a commercial property as a address for voter registration purposes, unless it is where the citizen is sleeping at night. Officials with the Office of Secretary of State said the intent of the law is to allow homeless people to give an approximate location of where they sleep at night when they register to vote. VAN WYK See Page 5A
Newton school’s planning to use only ‘highly qualified’ paraprofessionals next year
Local
Livengood joins Minn. Company Page 2A
By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer
Sports
Area players nab HOIC honors Page 7A
Zach Johnson/Daily News Hundreds of people walked through the DMACC Job Fair within the first hour Thursday. The event featured more than 60 employers, colleges and staffing agencies from across the state.
Education
Teachers team up for project Page 12A
Job Fair draws hundreds of potential employees By Zach Johnson Daily News Staff Writer
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The DMACC Conference Center filled with Jasper County and Newton citizens looking for work at the Job and Career Fair on Thursday. The fair was sponsored by Newton Development Corporation, Jasper County Development Corporation, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and DMACC. “Before the fair started, we had more than 60 people waiting to get through the door,” Newton Development Corporation Executive Director Frank Liebl said. The fair featured more than 60 em-
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ployers, colleges and staffing agencies from across the state. “The employers today have hundreds of positions ready to fill, so hopefully we can get those positions filled with members of the Jasper County and Newton community,” Liebl said. In the first hour, hundreds of people came through to talk with the different companies and colleges. “The response of the fair was outstanding in just the first hour and it looks only to get better for the rest of the fair,” Liebl said. Staff writer Zach Johnson may be contacted at (641) 792-3121, ext. 425, or at zjohnson@ newtondailynews.com.
Qualifications to become or remain a paraprofessional in the Newton Community School District will become more stringent starting next school year. At Monday’s Newton Community School District’s Board of Education meeting, there will be discussion on the district’s plan to transition from a Title I Targeted Assistance Program to a school-wide assistance program. The new measure would affect both Berg and Thomas Jefferson Elementary Schools, which serve as the district’s K-3 buildings. One aspect of the transition would be that any district employee who helps instruct students would have to be “highly qualified.” This includes the district’s paraprofessionals. Basics and Beyond Principal Laura Selover, who also serves as the district human resources representative, explained one of the five measures a para would have to meet to be considered highly qualified. Selover said employees can have associate degrees that pertain to education, achieve a silver certificates or higher in the National Career Readiness Test, take the Compass test — which is an untimed computerized test that helps evaluate skills for college placement — have a bachelor’s degree or earn a paraeducator certification from an Iowa college or branch of the Area Education Agency. Basics and Beyond Teacher Charlet Daft recently became certified to proctor the NCRC test. PARAPROS See Page 2A
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Colfax veteran led 20-year career in U.S. Air Force
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Thurs., Mar. 27 High 52 Low 32 .32 inch of rain Also: Astrograph Page 11A Classifieds Page 9A Comics & Puzzles Page 6A Dear Abby Page 6A Opinion Page 4A Obituaries Page 3A Police Page 3A Our 112th Year No. 219
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By Matthew Nosco Daily News Staff Writer Oftentimes the entire direction of a person’s life can be altered by the smallest of details or the slightest of decisions. For Robert Van Elsen, it was all a matter of which door he walked through first. Robert graduated from Colfax High School in 1965. The Vietnam War was well underway and a lot of his classmates were quickly called up by the draft. Robert had a save-all though. His dad’s position in Maytag secured him a scholarship, which he used to attend the State College of Iowa, now the University of Northern Iowa, so he was free from the draft. After a year at school, Robert knew that something was wrong. He felt that he was wasting his scholarship, that he had no more right to be home than any of the other men he knew. While visiting his brother in Des Moines,
he decided that it was time for him to enlist. He went to the Federal Building, determined to sign up for the military then and there. “I didn’t plan on going into the Air Force. I just wanted in the military. It could’ve been the Navy or the Army too,” Robert said. “The first door that I ran into was the Air Force, so that’s where I went.” That’s how he kicked off a 20-year military career that would segue into a long civilian career in education; a chance of running into the right door. Robert performed well on his entry tests, and
after reporting for basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, he was given the choice of what job he would carry out for the Air Force. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” Robert said. “They recommended electronics, and I just went with it.” So, upon successful completion of his basic training, Robert was off to advanced training in electronics at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss. His training regimen would go for the next year, carrying him through April of 1967 as he became proficient with the radar systems for various military aircraft. Near the completion of his training, he was allowed to take a brief trip back home to Colfax, and while he was there, he fell in love with Connie Polson. “I was almost done and I had my orders for my next deployment, so I
Submitted Photo Robert Van Elsen shakes hands with Brigadier General Thomas G. McInerney on Feb. 5, 1983, in Okinawa, Japan. Van Elsen was recognized as the Most Outstanding Enlisted Person in the Air Force in Okinawa by the USO.
asked how she would like to go to Hawaii when I proposed.” She said yes, but Hawaii was not in their future. Two weeks before he was supposed to deploy, orders were passed down that he was going to Okinawa on an 18-month tour of duty instead, and he would not be able to bring a new wife. He talked it over with her, asked if she would want to wait until he got back instead, but after hashing it all out the two
were married on April 17, 1967, just three days before he shipped out. The next several years of their lives were a whirlwind of changes as Robert continued to get moved around, alone more often than not. When he could’ve satisfied his commitment to the Air Force and left with an honorable discharge, he decided to stick it through and pursue a career. VAN ELSEN See Page 5A