Newton
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Daily News
Friday, June 6, 2014
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Newton, Iowa
Iowa Sculpture Festival
OBITUARIES James Williams, 78
INSIDE TODAY
School board to vote on new WW principal; announce district staff movements
12th annual event kicks off Saturday Opinion
By Zach Johnson Daily News Staff Writer
Page 4A
The 12th annual Iowa Sculpture Festival is planned for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the DMACC Newton Campus and will feature sales, a silent auction, demonstrations, student art, live music, food and other activities. Over the years, the festival has grown to include not only an annual venue for artists to display their work but also has encouraged the community to embrace art as a central feature of Newton, resulting in the placing of nearly 90 items of public art around town as well as the establishment of the Centre for Arts & Artists. Linda Klepinger, president of the Iowa Sculpture Festival and executive director of Newton’s Centre for Arts & Artists, recalled the early days of the Iowa Sculpture Festival. “Don Beyers believed (in the direction of the festival), and I was an easy one for him to talk into something because I believed in him,” she said. “Ultimately, Don was correct, and even after we got through one festival, I was really worried if we would see a second festival. There has been some stewing and worrying along the way, but I am at that point now where I can look back and see his vision and the vision shared by a committee that has been together for a long time of being on the right path.” Klepinger noted this has been a good year for art in Newton, with the City of Newton’s First Avenue of Sculpture program also helping give art a central
When it rains, it pours
Education
Van Wyk leaving Woodrow Wilson Page 8A
Sports
Raiders lose in blowout Page 1B
Weather
Saturday
High 76 Low 58
Sunday
High 75 Low 58 Weather Almanac
By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer
place in the community. Sculpture tour brochures will be avaiable at the festival to encourage patrons to take a tour around Newton to see the various scultpures. “I think we have become a very exceptional creativebased art community unlike any other,” Klepinger said. “I think where I have seen a big change is people’s attitude toward art with the diversity of art with shape and form. I think (we started to see a change) when we started to place public art around town.” The Iowa Sculpture Festival team purchased a piece of art each year for several years at the festival to place around town. Klepinger said one of their goals was to teach children to appreciate art in the community. “It lessens the experience of vandalism because they respect it through either meeting the artist or learning the labor-intensive process to create it,” Klepinger said. “I think that investment has not only caused them to respect and appreciate public art, but I think it also satisfies some district requirements in art education.” Kleplinger classifies the Iowa Sculpture Festival as a small regional show of ex-
cellence. “We’re no Art Fest in Des Moines, but there is intimacy that comes with art exposure here at DMACC or wherever we’re on site somewhere in Newton,” Klepinger said. “Artists don’t feel lost in the massive art shows. Rather, there’s an intimacy where they can connect one-to-one at any time with the people who come through. It’s always great as an artist when you come to a town you don’t know and someone is looking just for you.” At the end of the first day of the festival on Saturday, the CAA the city will have a special dedication of “Edna,” a sculpture (pictured above) created by longtime Newton artist Herman Deaton that stands US Bank courtyard. “I was introduced to ‘Edna’ as a table sculpture of his mother in the 1930s,” Klepinger said. “It’s not just a rich sculpture of a rememberance of a mother hanging clothes on the line. It’s also remembering how inventions of Maytag changed the lives of mothers. I understand from speaking to a lot of people that Edna was the sweetest woman in the world, and I would have loved to have met her.”
Behind the scenes, there have been a number of moves being made with the staff members that make up the Newton Community School District. Basics and Beyond Principal/ District Human Resources Associate Director Laura Selover will discuss the changes with the board of education at Monday’s meeting. One move that was made public ahead of time is the involuntary transfer of Berg Middle School LMC (Library) Director Brenda Hodnett. One of Hodnett’s Berg colleagues, Deb Rose, questioned the district’s decision to move her at the May 27 board meeting. “The other item I’m concerned about is our LMC Director (Hodnett). At a time where we are trying to improve our proficiency in reading, I think that (having) an LMC Director in a building of 450 kids is pretty crucial,” Rose said at that meeting. “She not only provides reading opportunities and encourages and supports reading in our building, but she does a lot of other jobs in that position. “Providing immediate tech support to teachers and students, maintaining the computer lab and their schedule, as well as the library schedule, ordering materials, doing little talks like (about) the Iowa Teen awards, things like that. I’m concerned about who will fill those roles in our building without any library director.” SCHOOL See Page 5A
Bomb threat at TPI By Daily News Staff Newton police responded to a bomb threat at TPI late last week. All workers at the factory were evacuated after authorities received the report at 6:59 p.m. May 30, and the plant was closed while police and TPI management investigated the inciddent. The plant reopened at 5 a.m. Saturday after officials determined the building was safe. The incident remains under investigation.
Thurs., June 5 High 74 Low 58 No Precipitation
Military service led John Billingsley to law
Also:
By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer
Astrograph Page 5B Classifieds Page 4B Comics & Puzzles Page 6A Dear Abby Page 6A Opinion Page 4A Obituaries Page 3A Police Page 3A Our 113th Year No. 14
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Sometimes it takes a lot of internal reflection and a true examination of one’s self over a number of years to realize how important some of your accomplishments are and what some things truly meant to you. A perfect example of this is John Billingsley, who attended the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., from 1973 to 1975 with the intention of becoming an officer in military one day. “It was very arduous. A friend of mine has said that, ‘After West Point, everything else is easy,’” John said. “They just give you more than you can possibly get done, but you have to get it done. You are sub-
jected to unremitting stress. “Every day, there was somebody beating the (spit) out of you in some form or fashion — physically or mentally or both. It was very challenging, but I did very well there.” John said in his first year, he was at the top of his class, and he was top in English his second year. He even made the Commandants list for military excellence, which is reserved for the
top 10 percent of the class for military aptitude and leadership. One accomplishment he is most proud of from his days at West Point is a report he did on the B-1A military bomber program. His report would later be modified and implemented by the military and was later republished as part of the U.S. Department of Defense Strategic Bomber Study. In April of 1975, then Air Force Secretary John Lucas presented the study to the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee. John said he didn’t know about any of this until decades later because, in 1975, his time at West Point took an unexpected twist. BILLINGSLEY See Page 5A
Submitted Photo John Billingsley back in his “buff” days as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. Billingsley is currently an attorney in Newton, and his time in the service helped him with his future success.