Newton
Serving Newton & Jasper County Since 1902
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Friday, December 20, 2013
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Newton, Iowa
Through faith, support, Shipley overcomes anything
OBITUARIES Mary Jordan, 81 INSIDE TODAY
By Zach Johnson Daily News Staff Writer
All About Pies
Local
JCRSPA donates to St. Nick’s Page 2A
Submitted Photo Above: Elaine Keuning prepares an apple pie. Below: Amy Barton and Keuning stand outside of the Pie Kitchen in Monroe. The ladies have been featured in Iowa Ingredient through out the month of December. The last showing will be Saturday.
Monroe sisters’ business to be featured on Iowa Ingredient Community
By Zach Johnson Daily News Staff Writer
Page 7A
All About Pies launched in 2009, when sisters Elaine Keuning and Amy Barton took a familyinspired tradition and made it into a business. The sisters were featured on the holiday edition of Iowa Public Television’s Iowa Ingredient. The show has played throughout the month of December, and the final running of the show will be on Saturday. “The show went very smoothly,” Barton said. “It has generated interest in our business and has boosted our sales this holiday season.” The ladies were approached via Facebook to see if they were interested in being on the show. One of the producers of the show was at last year’s RAGBRAI stop in Monroe and went to the Pie Kitchen, one of the locations featuring the sisters’ pies. “It was very interesting as we have never done anything like this before, but it was an amazing experience,” Barton said. The sisters were inspired by
Pease receives Division 1 rating
Sports
Events postponed due to weather Page 1B
Weather
Saturday
High 29 Low 17
their parents, Rodger and Gwyenth Lewis, throughout the venture of All About Pies. “Our father passed away this past year, but our mom has always been a huge supporter of us throughout life,” Barton said. In the coming year, the ladies have the usual events planned, and there are three locations in which their pies are available: PJ’s Deli in Newton, Pie Kitchen in Monroe and Founders in Knoxville. “We’re excited to be a part of the Knoxville Nationals, which brings many of our fans from out of state into Founders,” Barton said.
Sometimes in life unexplainable events can have the greatest impacts on our lives. For former Newton graduate Andrew Shipley, E-5 Sargeant of the Iowa National Guard, his unexplainable event left him without his sight. “I woke up one day realizing that I couldn’t see out of one eye, and as time went on, I couldn’t see out of both eyes,” Shipley said. “I went to see specialist after specialist to find what caused me to lose my sight, and to this day, no one can completely explain why I lost my sight.” Shipley was set to be deployed with the military police to Honduras, but due to his loss of sight, he was unable to go. During this time, Shipley also lost his job, the ability and other things that left Shipley in a rough spot. Shipley credits faith and the support of his family and friends with helping him get through his difficult time. “I’m sort of a proud person (and) don’t really like asking for help, but my friends and family stepped in, which really helped,” Shipley said. “It has made me very humble. I always step in and help a friend or family
out because I know now what it’s like to truly struggle.” In July, Shipley’s eyesight came back, and he was restored to active duty ready to get back to his “normal” life. Shipley lives in Ankeny, where he works at Rising Star Wholesale. In September, Shipley transferred to Public Affairs. In January, Shipley will be heading to Fort Mead in Annapolis Junction, Md., to attend radio and broadcasting school. Although Shipley lives in Ankeny, he remains active in Newton, as friends and family are still in town. Shipley hopes his this story reminds people of the “golden rule” — treat others as you would like to be treated. He is set to get back to active duty and spend the holidays with his son, Donovan. Staff writer Zach Johnson may be contacted at (641) 792-3121, ext. 425, or at zjohnson@newtondailynews. com.
Staff writer Zach Johnson may be contacted at (641) 792-3121, ext. 425, or at zjohnson@newtondailynews.com.
Loebsack stops in Newton for REG tour
Sunday
High 20 Low -7 Weather Almanac
Thurs., Dec. 19 High 37 Low 29 No Precipitation
Also: Astrograph Page 5B Zach Johnson/Daily News REG Plant Manager Phil Abels (right) gives a tour of the lab to U.S. Representative Dave Loebsack, who visited the REG plant in Newton on Thursday. REG gave a presentation to Loebsack on new data on bio-diesel production coming out of the entire corporation of REG along with the day-to-day operations of the facility.
Classifieds Page 4B Comics & Puzzles Page 6A Dear Abby Page 6A
REG to acquire Tulsa-based Syntroleum Corporation
Opinion Page 4A
Special to the Daily News
Obituaries Page 3A Police Page 3A
Our 112th Year No. 152
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Submitted Photo Iowa National Guard member Andrew Shipley (right) stands standing outside of Camp Ripley in Little Falls, Minn. Shipley lost his sight for a time but got through the difficult time with support of family and friends.
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AMES — Amesbased Renewable Energy Group, which operates the REG biodiesel plant in Newton, has announced it plans to acquire the Tulsa-based Syntroleum Corporation energy company. Under the terms of the agreement, REG will acquire substantially all of the assets of Syntroleum and assume substantially all of the
material liabilities of Syntroleum. The terms of the transaction call for Syntroleum to receive 3,796,000 shares of REG common stock, which are subject to reduction in the event that the aggregate market value of the REG common stock to be issued would exceed $49 million or if the cash transferred to REG is less than $3.2 million. Syntroleum has pio-
neered Fischer-Tropsch gas-to-liquids and renewable diesel fuel technologies and has 101 patents issued or pending. Syntroleum also owns a 50 percent interest in Dynamic Fuels, LLC, a 75-million gallon renewable diesel production facility in Geismar, Louisiana. REG, headquartered in Ames, owns and operates eight active biodiesel refineries in four states with a combined
nameplate production capacity of 257 million gallons and distributes biodiesel through a national network of distribution terminals. “Combining Syntroleum’s renewable and synthetic fuel technologies with REG’s expertise in biodiesel production, sales, marketing and logistics should be a positive outcome for investors in both companies,” REG President and Chief Executive
Officer Daniel J. Oh said. “This will help us grow our advanced biofuel business, enhance our intellectual property portfolio, expand our geographic footprint and launch REG into new customer segments.” ”Syntroleum and its 50 percent-owned subsidiary Dynamic Fuels represent an attractive REG See Page 5A