Newton
Serving Newton & Jasper County Since 1902
Daily News
Friday, April 18, 2014
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Newton, Iowa
Henry J. Vande Voort, 89
YPJC sponsoring ‘Despicable Me’ showing today
INSIDE TODAY
By Daily News Staff
OBITUARIES
Local
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Ty Rushing/Daily News RSP & Associates Owner Robert Schwarz presented a demographic study his firm conducted and the district had commissioned, at Monday’s school board meeting. RSP’s report projects Newton’s schools to remain steady, but have potential for growth.
Newton’s school enrollment steady, has potential to grow Education
By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer
Page 8A
If even more employment opportunities develop in the City of Newton, the Newton Community School District could go from “being stable” to a growing district according to a demographic study conducted by RSP & Associates. The district had the study commissioned in October and on Monday at the school board meeting, Robert Schwarz, owner of RSP & Associates, explained their findings, what categories were researched and what the results mean for the future of Newton’s schools. “If you remember, when we started on this journey several months ago, the goal was to have a product that would help the City of Newton in their ability to attract more residential development on the whole image of Newton and its connection to the City of Des Moines,” Schwarz said. “Keep that in mind as we work through this, we’ve tried to show some different things that would help — if you are a city person — be able to extract some of this information to help in their marketing plan to be able to have the visuals established on why Newton is a great place to live in the
Little Hawkeye Math Competition
Sports
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Weather
Saturday
High 75 Low 54
Sunday
High 72 Low 55 Weather Almanac
Thurs., April 18 High 52 Low 34 No Precipitation
“There are several areas where residential development could happen in Newton, and we tried to factor that in to what could occur.” — Robert Schwarz, RSP & Associates
Des Moines area.” The finished report is 72 pages long and features statistics that compare Newton to Jasper County and the State of Iowa as a whole, various maps of the district’s boundaries and statistics on everything from future enrollment to building capacity. Schwarz said the report his firm put together was based on these characteristics: School district demographic profile; enrollment analysis; five-year enrollment projections; housing overview; property values; residential population estimate; age structure; socio-economic
The Young Professionals of Jasper County will sponsor a free showing of “Despicable Me” at 1 p.m. today at the Capitol II Theatre. Attendees are invited to wear minion costumes. Tickets are available at the Capitol II Theatre, Advantage Credit Union and Bridgehouse Coffee Co. The YPJC is a social and philanthropic group open to anyone who lives or works in Jasper County. For more information at the YPJC, visit www.facebook.com/YPJC1. Note: In Wednesday’s edition, the Daily News incorrectly identified the event as one of the community movies the Newton YMCA sponsors at the Capitol II. Today’s event is not one of the Y’s community movies but is an event organized by the YPJC. Also, Jessica Lowe’s comments in Wednesday’s story were with regard to the Y’s community movies at Capitol, which most recently included “Top Gun,” and not the YPJC’s event. The Daily News regrets the error.
profiling; business summary; and land use analysis. He said his firm used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the district, the city, the county, Iowa’s Department of Transportation and Esri — a company that uses geographic information services technology to provide analytic data for research purposes. The report showcases that Newton has been doing well in its recovery from Maytag’s departure, but there is a need for new housing. Schwartz said Newton’s “synergy” (collaboration) with Des Moines can help with growth and that the biggest growing area in the community is the land surrounding the Berg Complex. He said this was unique, as most development moves west, but in the case of growth for the Berg-area, it is going east. “There are several areas where residential development could happen in Newton, and we tried to factor that in to what could occur,” Schwarz said. “We tried to factor in where we think some of those developments may happen — and looking at statistics — most of it is out by Berg Elementary.”
Newton City Council will have second consideration of two ordinances to improve traffic safety in town. The first ordinance amended the Code of Ordinances by removing yield signs at various intersections. The second amends the Code of Ordinances by adding stop signs at various intersections. The Traffic Safety Committee recommends adding stop signs at all intersections with arterial and collector roads. Newton Mayor Mike Hansen will be making two proclamations during the council meeting. The first proclamation will designate April 25 Arbor Day in Newton. The second proclamation will make the week of April 20-26 Administrative Professionals Week and April 23 Administrative Professionals Day in Newton. The council will consider a resolution to approve services agreement with Sign Pro Designs for the design
STUDY See Page 5A
COUNCIL See Page 5A
Ordinances regarding traffic safety to highlight council meeting By Zach Johnson Daily News Staff Writer
Also: Astrograph Page 5B
The man behind the name
Classifieds Page 4B
Newton’s VFW post named after legendary WWI General Marshal F. Foch
Comics & Puzzles Page 6A Dear Abby Page 6A
By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer
Opinion Page 4A Obituaries Page 3A Police Page 3A Our 112th Year No. 234
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Like most VFW posts, Newton’s post, which is celebrating its 85th anniversary on Saturday, is named after a veteran. The post’s official name is “Marshal F. Foch Post 1655.” So, who is this mysterious namesake? Marshal F. Foch is better known as Ferdinand Foch, who was a French general in World War I. The Marshal portion of his name is
actually from titles bestowed on him, and he was named marshal of France and Poland and appointed as an honorary field marshal in the British Army by King George V in 1919. Foch was such an effective leader, he was later promoted to commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces in World
War I. An excerpt from “Source Records of the Great War” detail’s Foch’s appointment to Commander-in-Chief: “Gen. Foch is charged by the British, French and American governments with the coordination of the action of the Allied Armies on the western front; to this end there is conferred on him all the powers necessary for its effective realization. To the same end, the British, French and American governments confide in Gen. Foch the strategic direction of military operations.” VFW See Page 7A
Submitted Photo Marshal F. Foch, who was the Allied Commander-inChief during World War I, is the namesake of Newton’s VFW Post.