Newton
Serving Newton & Jasper County Since 1902
Daily News
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Thursday, May 29, 2014
www.newtondailynews.com
Preliminary Iowa Assessment Results for Newton revealed
OBITUARIES Inez M. Armstrong, 80 Edwin C. Ballard, 73 Leora A. Bogue, 67 WyJean Chumbley, 92 Carroll I. Hammer, 84 Robert C. Lint, 85
By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer
INSIDE TODAY
Grout follows in his father’s footsteps by directing ‘The Odd Couple’ By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer
Local
Design An Ad Winner Page 2A
Health
Celebrate National Salad Month Page 7A
Sports
Brock signs for Grand View Page 1B
Weather
Friday
High 83 Low 64
Saturday
High 81 Low 66 Weather Almanac
Wed., May 28 High 80 Low 63 No Precipitation Also: Classifieds Page 4B Comics & Puzzles Page 6A Dear Abby Page 6A
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Forty-five years ago, while it was still in its infancy period, the Newton Community Theatre opened Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple,” at the former Rotary Arts & Science Building downtown. The play was directed by Phil Grout and his assistant director was Marilyn Humke. “I could remember meeting her (Marilyn) and her two daughters at the community theater back in 1969. I was probably about 11 years old at the time,” Jamie Grout, Phil’s son, said. “My dad would take me with him to play practice, and in his time with the community theatre, he directed three plays and a couple of years ago, I co-directed another one of his plays.” Jamie often attended rehearsals, and while there, he studied his dad’s directorial techniques, paid close attention to the way his dad managed his cast and took note on what the importance of having a great assistant director — like Marilyn — made in the final product. Armed with his father’s old director’s megaphone — which is covered in the signatures of Phil’s former actors and students and has just as much rust as it does red paint — it’s now Jamie’s turn to take the helm of “The Odd Couple.” “I have said to Sue Beukema, who is the director of the theatre, that, ‘If you want to do ‘The Odd Couple’ let me know,’” Jamie said. By chance, around the same time Jamie was offering his services to direct “The Odd Couple,” he ran into his father’s former assistant director Marilyn at Newton Family Restaurant. After dinner, she and her husband invited Jamie to come by their home to share memories of the theatre. “She brought out all this old memorabilia. She saved a lot of stuff from the play,” Jamie said be-
Ty Rushing/Daily News Marilyn Humke worked with Jamie Grout’s father, Phil, 45 years ago when he directed “The Odd Couple,” and now she is serving as Jamie’s assistant director for the play which opens tomorrow at the Newton Community Theatre. Adult tickets are $12 and youth tickets are $10.
Quick Facts • What: “The Odd Couple” • When: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Saturday and June 5 and 6; 2:30 p.m. June 7 • Where: Newton Community Theatre • Cost: Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for youth. • Box Office Hours: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. fore a laugh. “(I brought out) everything, everything that I had and so we reminisced then,” Marilyn said joining in on the laugh. “She had (the original) playbill, she had pictures from the Daily News that were taken of people,” Jamie said chiming back in. “I just thought, you know, when Sue asked me if I wanted to direct, that it was a no-brainer that it would be Marilyn who would be the assistant director because she was assistant director to my dad.”
Opinion Page 4A
Woodrow Wilson learns to balance money, nutrition
Obituaries Page 3A
By Zach Johnson Daily News Staff Writer
Police Page 3A
The sixth grade classes at Woodrow Wilson Elementary School went on a nutritional hike on Wednesday, walking to four different restaurants in town. The students were given $5 total to spend at three of the four restaurants and kept record of the amount of money spent and the amount of calories taken in.
Our 113th Year No. 8
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Newton, Iowa
NUTRITION See Page 5A
Although the numbers still have to be certified by the state, Newton Community School District Assistant Director of Elementary Services Jim Gilbert presented the board of education with the 2013-2014 Iowa Assessment results at Tuesday’s meeting. “The results that we are going to show to you tonight are by grade spans across the district,” Gilbert said. “These results, we report to the (Iowa) Department of Education and determinations made by them, through different formulas that they use, determine if we have achieved Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP).” Students in the state have been taking The Iowa Assessments since 2011, and the stated purpose of the tests is so that parents and teachers can monitor student growth over the years, measure students connection to the Iowa Core and meet the standards of the “No Child Left Behind” Act. Students take the exam every year from the third until the 11th grade. Reading and math are the two metrics students are measured on and once they reach the seventhgrade, science is added as a third metric. The overall score counts all students, and depending on a districts student population there are several sub-categories that a district may qualify for. During SY13, Newton’s third graders scored a 75.1 proficiency in reading and 83.7 percent proficiency in math. Those scores rose in SY14 to 80.5 in reading and 86.7 in math. Gilbert credited the district’s new “Reading Wonders” curriculum for helping bring ASSESSMENT See Page 5A
Jamie said that he knows why his dad picked her and how much value she brings. He said she reminds him of things that he had forgotten, points out things happening on the stage he hadn’t noticed and that she is very vital to the production. Despite all of Jamie’s praise, and their previous connection, Marilyn still seemed to be caught off guard by Jamie asking her to work with him on this play. “I was blown away when he called me,” Marilyn said. “He said, ‘Are you sitting down?’ And I said, ‘No, but I will.’ It was just a stunner, I didn’t answer right away, I had all these butterflies and (went), ‘Can I do this?,’ second guessing myself.” She eventually said ‘yes,’ and now almost five decades later, Marilyn is working with another member of the Grout family to help keep the Newton Community Theatre’s mission to “bring quality theatre productions to the communities of Jasper County.”
The Jasper County Auditor’s Office has had numerous questions concerning what voters will experience on the day of the Iowa Primary Election on Tuesday, June 3, in Jasper County when they go to the polls. Polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 9 p.m. There are 20 polling places throughout the county. Watch your local newspaper for a list of the polling places or contact the auditor’s office if you are unsure where you need to go to vote. Jasper County has changed five polling places, and they are as follows: In the city of Newton, voters in the Newton 2-1 precinct will now vote at Immanuel Baptist Church. Voters in the Newton 2-2 precinct will now vote at St. Luke United Methodist Church. Voters in the Newton 4-1 precinct will now vote at the Jasper County Historical Museum. Voters in the Newton 4-2 precinct will now vote at the American Legion. Residents of Lambs Grove, Newton Township and Sherman Township will vote at the Union Hall in a separate area from Newton 1-1 precinct.
ODD COUPLE See Page 5A
ELECTION See Page 5A
Auditor’s office clarifies information for Primary Election Special to the Daily News
Zach Johnson/Daily News Woodrow Wilson Elementary teacher Ina Hubbard-Heidemann gives instructions to her class before entering Subway for the school’s nutritional hike on Wednesday.