Category Archives: Tama County

Jul 10

Gladbrook-Reinbeck dissolution debate and the national mood

A week from tonight, the Gladbrook-Reinbeck school board will have a final meeting regarding a petition to dissolve the school district. There will be an opportunity to share opinions, but I think everyone’s mind is pretty much made up. The … Continue reading

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Jun 15

Dysart legalizes chickens

By votes of 4-0, 3-2, and 3-2, the Dysart City Council passed three readings of an ordinance allowing residents to keep chickens inside city limits. Because when chickens are outlawed, only outlaws will have chickens. Now, will this get hipsters to … Continue reading

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May 29

LeRoy Whannel, 1914-2017

In early April, around the time of his 103rd birthday, WHO-TV profiled LeRoy Whannel of Whannel’s Hardware in Traer. (His last name is mispronounced in the story.) He ran the store for decades and was still working there earlier this month. … Continue reading

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May 23

Clutier’s Zip Code Day

The numbers for Monday’s date (5/22/17) matched the ZIP Code for Clutier (52217) and the town celebrated with, what else, kolaches and polka music. Unfortunately, I didn’t know this was happening (otherwise I would’ve blogged about it!). The only notification … Continue reading

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Apr 13

GR dissolution hearing Monday

Two members of the public attended a March meeting regarding the second attempt to force dissolution of the Gladbrook-Reinbeck school district, the Grundy Register reports. That’s a far, far cry from a year ago, at least the one I attended. … Continue reading

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Apr 11

KCCI shines a light on Dysart

Well, sort of. Look at where the burst of light for the “Around Iowa” graphic originates from.

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Apr 09

100th anniversary of Traer school fire

August 14, 2010: Cornerstone of Traer School built after the 1917 fire, now the core of the North Tama school, along the hallway connecting the original building and the elementary. One hundred years ago tonight, within a week of the … Continue reading

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Mar 09

Gladbrook-Reinbeck in the public 1A semifinal

The Gladbrook-Reinbeck boys’ basketball team has a chance to add another 2016-17 state championship tombstone trophy to its case this week. GR plays undefeated North Linn in the first 1A semifinal, which tips off half an hour after this blog … Continue reading

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Mar 04

Area man featured for longtime pursuit of weird accomplishment

As you may have seen online, the Des Moines Register’s Kyle Munson interviewed me about my travels and wrote a column about it. He even called back to the 2001 essay I wrote as a member of the Register’s Young Adult … Continue reading

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Feb 23

M Avenue bridges near Traer to be replaced in 2018

October 30, 2015: The northern of two 1915 bridges on M Avenue, border between Crystal and Perry townships, across Four Mile Creek (which is longer than that). The southern bridge is across Wolf Creek. Hyper, hyper, hyper-local. — Ed. Two … Continue reading

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