Newton
Serving Newton & Jasper County Since 1902
Daily News
Tuesday, December 24, 2013
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Newton, Iowa
No Paper Wednesday in observance of Christmas
Making all the right moves
INSIDE TODAY
Shipley to be the lead in ‘Venus in Fur’ playing at Stoner Theatre at Des Moines Civic Center By Zach Johnson Daily News Staff Writer
Local
Theisen’s gives grant to swim club Page 2A
Ty Rushing/Daily News Joe Brock is a second-generation member of the Jasper County Board of Supervisors and is proud of the hand he had in grooming the grounds at the former Jasper County Care Facility, which is pictured behind him.
Sports
Newton seniors place at Fort Dodge Page 7A
As Joe Brock effortlessly guides his SUV through the snow-covered terrain that sits behind the former Jasper County Care Facility, he can’t help but admire the work he and other county employees did on the grounds during the summer. Brock serves as the vice-chairman on the Jasper County Board of Supervisors and as a farmer by trade, he still finds it odd that his position on the board is less hands on, but more behind the scenes. So when the opportunity to do a physically demanding task, such as landscaping the facility arises, he is more than happy to oblige. “We worked on it for six to eight weeks and the purpose was just to get the building exposed again, so that we can establish the next step
ISA working to keep soy on top Page 12A
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for demolition bids, but mainly, just to get the building exposed again,” Brock said. The clean-up process involved multiple departments and during it, Brock said the Jasper County Conservation Office preserved the donated trees and plants from the families of former patients and they discovered walking paths and shelters that were previously hidden beneath brush. Brock said, as a farmer, he is used to having to do everything himself and admitted it took an adjustment for him to delegate duties to employees versus doing them himself. While he may have had to adjust to that part of the job, being a supervisor was already in his blood. His father, Ragan, was elected to two terms on the board and served as a catalyst for him to run. “He passed away at the start of his secondterm in 1993,” Brock
said. “Obviously, there was a lot of inspiration there and a lot of who I am today. I would never have been on the Board of Supervisors and this was probably the furthest thing on my mind. I couldn’t have imagined I ended up doing it.” Brock is half-joking and half-serious when he says he never imagined himself running for the board, but he’s served on the board since 2010 and talked about his other motivation to run. “I followed county government for a number of years and there comes a time when you want to get involved in the decisions and hope you have something to offer,” Brock said. Although his father was also an elected official, he got his first personal taste of politics just a few years back. “I first started to get involved politically in
SHIPLEY See Page 5A
BROCK See Page 5A
Submitted Photo
Narcisse exploring another run for governor — this time as Democrat
Mon., Dec. 23 High 4 Low -19 No Precipitation Also: Astrograph Page 11A Classifieds Page 9A Comics & Puzzles Page 6A Dear Abby Page 6A Opinion Page 4A Obituaries Page 3A Police Page 3A Our 112th Year No. 153
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Part 2 of a series By Ty Rushing Daily News Staff Writer
Agriculture
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Being a supervisor is a family tradition for Brock
Jorydn Shipley has always had a knack for performance art, from her start as a child performer to her involvement in the NHS Pacesetters, Show Choir and her senior year performance im “Bye Bye Birdie.” Despite Shipley’s performance experience, she found herself unsure if she had the time or talent to take part in theatre production. “If I could go back and do high school over again, I would have been more involved with the drama department,” Shipley said. “Everyone was amazing.” Shipley, with the help of her friends, went to an audition for a character who was unsure of herself and wondered where she fit into production and like the character, Shipley became enchanted and got the lead role of Vanda in “Venus in Fur.” “I’m still in shock that I got the role of Vanda,” Shipley said. The play will be at Stoner Theatre inside of the Des Moines Civic Center. The opening curtain will be at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 21. The Stoner Theatre and Stage West Theatre Company will be offering nightly shows starting at 7:30 on Feb. 21, 22, 26, 27, 28, and Mar. 1: Matinee showings will be on Feb. 23
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By Bob Eschliman Daily News Editor For a guy who just announced he’s thinking about running for Governor of Iowa again, Johnathan Narcisse sounds like a fullfledged candidate. The former Polk County Democratic Party co-chairman announced last weekend he was exploring the possibility of a run for Governor of Iowa. The former independent gubernatorial candidate, however, is returning to his political roots. This time, he said he intends to run as a Democrat. “Most of my life, I’ve been a Democrat,” he said when announcing his exploratory committee. “Four years ago, I made the decision to not primary Gov. Chet Culver, a man I endorsed and worked to elect Governor in 2006 and Secretary of State in 2002 and 1998. Instead,
I ran as an independent. I was well-intentioned, but naive.” Narcisse said that while he regrets his decision to run in 2010 as an independent, he learned from the experience. He said he learned not only how to campaign, but also got a better sense of what ails Iowa and how it can best be healed. “I want to make terms like accountability, integrity and dignity mean something again when an elected leader in the Iowa Democratic Party speaks them,” he said. “Blue collar Democrats, who I have always done very well with, deserved better from the men and women they elected to protect the public trust, to protect their families and to protect their children. Iowans deserved better from Democrats in the Senate who sat in the majority but cosigned the devastating policies and practices of first the Culver Administration and now the
Narcisse Branstad Administration.” Narcisse said he is strongly considering a run for Governor because the state “is in trouble and those most able to speak to the challenges we face, from both parties, have failed.” “The 2014 gubernatorial debate cannot be reduced to speeding troopers driving the Governor and tired party cliches like, ‘let’s raise taxes,’” he said. “It must be about real solutions to Iowa’s challenges, based on the hard data
and the hard truths facing our state.” Narcisse points out Gov. Terry Branstad’s four promises to Iowa voters when he took office: • 200,000 jobs created, • 20% increase in personal family income for Iowans, • 15% cut in the size of government, and • restoration of Iowa’s “world class” education system. “He has not kept those promises,” he said. “More important, the day he uttered them, we knew he would not. We knew he could not keep his promises ... Unfortunately, Candidate Branstad over-promised and Governor Branstad has under-delivered.” Narcisse accuses Branstad of ignoring government waste and inefficiency, and of engaging in “cronyism” when it comes to key department, board and commission appoint-
ments. Meanwhile, he added, the governor has ignored urban and rural poverty he calls “staggering.” “More than 70 percent of the families with children in the Des Moines school district cannot feed them,” he said. “These numbers are not too far behind in several rural communities like Washington, where approximately 70 percent of the families with children in its schools cannot feed them, either. According to the Branstad Administration’s data, approximately 1 million — or 30 percent — of Iowans are now clients of [the Iowa Department of Human Services]. Those are non-duplicated numbers.” Narcisse’s presence in the gubernatorial race will likely be polarizing, but he also touts a track record of success on biNARCISSE See Page 5A