Newton
Serving Newton & Jasper County Since 1902
Daily News
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
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Newton, Iowa
Fire prevention week a success, continues for entire month
INSIDE TODAY
Dave Hon Daily News Staff Writer
Local
DAR welcomes new members Page 2A
Dave Hon/Daily News Rep. Tyler Olson speaks to 16 people in Uncle Nancy’s on Monday night after being endorsed by Rep. Dan Kelley.
Rep. Dan Kelley endorses Tyler Olson for governor
Agriculture
Student receives IFFA scholarship Page 8A
Dave Hon Daily New Staff Writer
Sports
Cross country trio earns honors Page 1B
Weather
Wednesday
High 58 Low 36
Thursday
High 63 Low 38 Weather Almanac
Mon., Oct. 14 High 65 Low 54 .22 inch of rain Also: Astrograph Page 5B Calendar Page 3A Classifieds Page 4B Comics & Puzzles Page 6A Dear Abby Page 6A
Ty Rushing Daily News Staff Writer
Opinion Page 4A
In a meeting that featured an extensive discussion on technology, technology seemed to backfire on members of the Newton Community School District Board of Education Monday night and led to a few miscommunications. “My question to that is why do you recommend Lauterbach’s (bid), when Grinnell’s bid is $8,000 cheaper?” board member Nat Clark said during the discussion for bids on a new maintenance truck. “From the numbers that I saw, that’s what it
Police Page 3A Sports Page 1B
Our 112th Year No. 104
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— Rep. Tyler Olson
particularly his education and economic policies. “Iowa needs a new governor,” Olson said to the 16 people in Uncle Nancy’s Coffee Shop. “I really think Iowans are ready to move into the future,” Olson said. “They’re ready for a governor that understands that economic development isn’t just about incentives. There will always be incentives in our economic development strategy. But a governor that understands it’s about main street businesses and small businesses.” Olson believes there isn’t a carbon-copy economic plan that will
work in all 99 counties of Iowa. He said each county has it’s own mix of industry and believes Jasper County is on the right track in recovery. “I think Jasper County has done a great job, particularly in renewable energy,” Olson said, “and I think it’s time for kind of the next step. In the wind industry, we’ve seen what the renewable portfolio standard has done.” Early last week, a fourth candidate announced his gubernatorial run on the Democratic ballot. Paul Dahl, a bus driver with no political experience at the state level, said he wants to bring a fresh perspective to the Governor’s Office. “I think right now, in our opinion, the serious contenders are Tyler and Jack Hatch, from what I’ve seen,” said Alex Youn, Olson’s campaign manager. “But I don’t know that much about Paul.” Kelley is the 30th endorsement Olson has received from his colleagues in the General Assembly. Youn said later this week, the campaign will announce two more endorsements. Youn also said Olson is the only candidate who has received union endorsements. Staff writer Dave Hon may be contacted at (641) 7923121, ext. 425, or at dhon@ newtondailynews.com.
Fire Prevention
Staff writer Dave Hon may be contacted at (641) 792-3121, ext. 425, or at dhon@newtondailynews. com.
Missing documents leads to miscommunication for school board
Obituaries Page 3A
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As Rep. Tyler Olson was trying to get his message to stick with the citizens of Newton, his posters were becoming unstuck from the wall of Uncle Nancy’s. “I think the adhesive has done as much work and seen as many miles as we have,” Olson said. Monday night, Olson made an appearance at Uncle Nancy’s, alongside Rep. Dan Kelley, who announced his endorsement of Olson for governor of Iowa. “There was one person in the Democratic caucus and actually in the entire legislature who truly, truly impressed me as someone who has both brain and a heart,” Kelley said. “Because a lot of people have one or the other, some people don’t have either one, but there’s very few people that have both, and I’ll tell you this man, my friend, Tyler Olson, has both.” Kelley said the decision to endorse Olson didn’t come lightly since he considers the other two candidates on the Democratic ballot for Governor, Sen. Jack Hatch and former Rep. Bob Krause, friends of his and thinks highly of their work in the General Assembly. Olson criticized Gov. Terry Branstad for adhering to the same policies the last 30 years,
“I really think Iowans are ready to move into the future. They’re ready for a governor that understands that economic development isn’t just about incentives.”
Even though Mayor Mike Hansen declared last week Fire Prevention Week, that didn’t stop the Newton Fire Department from keeping their activities going all month long. Newton Fire Marshal Mike Knoll said last week’s activities were a success, but said the activities didn’t stop Friday. “Pretty much the whole month is busy,” Knoll said. “We’ve got tours coming through this week and we hit a couple preschools this week.” Preschoolers and first graders will visit the Newton Fire Department this week. For those students that can’t make it out, the Fire Department will send personnel out to some schools. “I know we’ve got Berg first-grade coming through this week,” Knoll said. Even though the children enjoy their time at the fire department and seeing engines, it’s not all about the According to the Nafun. The activities always cen- tional Fire Prevention ter around fire Association, in 2011: safety. • 1.3 million fires in “We do both,” Knoll said. “We the U.S. teach about fire • 484,500 were strucsafety, but we ture fires. have a little fun • 300 civilians died in with it too.” Some of the fires. fire safety tips • $1.4 billion in proptaught to students include erty damages due to not playing fires. with matches or lighters, discussing emergency situations and teaching the importance of knowing their address. “When we get to the younger kids, we teach them not to play with matches or lighters, but one of the bigger things we do is put on our fire gear and show them what we look like when we’re totally dressed out in our fire gear so they’re not afraid of us.” According to the National Fire Prevention Association, in 2011 there were 1.3 million fires in the U.S., 484,500 of those being structure fires. Those fires caused the death of 300 civilians and $1.4 billion in property damages. “They think we’re scary, and we try to show them that we’re not scary,” Knoll said. “We’re there to help.” Knoll said he’s been with the department for 18 years and estimates it’s participated in these activities at least for the last 25 years. Knoll said he believes the prevention and awareness program has dramatically reduced fires and injuries from fires, not only in Jasper County, but across the nation. “We’re here to prevent fires, and that’s our main goal,” Knoll said.
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looked like. Local dollars or not, if Lauterbach can’t throw a better deal out than $8,000, they don’t deserve our business.” Clark’s comments came after board member Donna Cook recommended the district purchase its new maintenance vehicle from Newton-based Lauterbach Buick GMC. The actual difference between Lauterbach’s bid and the Grinnell-based Wes Finch was $13. Board members currently receive the meeting packet digitally for use on their district issued iPads; however, Clark’s packet seemed
to be missing a page. “That’s fine. I don’t mind being in error,” Clark said when Director of Business Services/ Board Secretary Gayle Isaac apologized to him about the missing page. Clark would go on to motion for the board to accept Lauterbach’s bid of $27,600, once he was aware of the correct figures. This was not the only mishap with the digital board packet at the meeting. All board members did not receive copies of the Certified Annual Financial Report or Special Education Services report. The reports were an ac-
tion item, but the board decided to postpone them after board member Travis Padget raised the point that they had not thoroughly looked through the reports enough to vote on them. “It’s worth reading if you are going to put your name on it, whether the state has done it or not,” Padget said. Although the state has approved both reports, the board heeded Padget’s advice and voted to delay taking action on the reports until the Oct. 28. The CAR report is an intricately detailed report which details the district’s finances to the
last dollar. Isaac said the CAR includes all of the information he included in his treasurer’s report during the Sept. 24 meeting. Figures from the report show the general fund balance at $3,426,278, the student activity balance at $372,820, the management fund at $1,123,839, capitol projects fund at $1,634,515, the physical plant and equipment levy fund at $703,520, the debt service fund at $350,864 and the food service fund at $888,446. SCHOOL BOARD See Page 5A