Mar 11

Detailed plan for new 30 in Tama County released

Posted on Friday, March 11, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

When the initial announcement was made about this month’s meeting regarding expansion of US 30 between Tama and IA 21, I noted the text left an opening for leaving existing 30 behind as a frontage road. The map (PDF) does not have “obliterate” on any part of existing 30, but it shows gravel driveways being laid on top of the road. This article from the Tama-Toledo newspapers about the March 3 meeting makes it clear the current road will be removed. Besides, Tama County wouldn’t want to be left with the bridges over Otter Creek and the old railroad grade.

The intersection with E66, where the 1937 alignment of 30 through the Bohemian Alps continues eastward while the Lincoln Highway goes to Chelsea, will be closed off. A new curve will be built so E66 intersects 30 a mile to the east.

Under the current five-year plan, right-of-way acquisition (every house and farmstead on the north side) will be in 2017, bridges and grading in 2018, paving of the whole thing in 2020, and obliteration of the existing road in 2021.

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Mar 10

Woodbury County US 20 detour starts Monday

Posted on Thursday, March 10, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The calendar catches up with the weather in shifting from “Still Winter” to “Construction” on Monday. US 20 will be closed between Moville and Correctionville until Thanksgiving week. The existing lanes will be destroyed and new lanes built just to the north. This is a very tangible sign that there is progress being made on upgrading 20 to four lanes.

The detour calls back to history in a way, since traffic will be using the old (pre-1958) alignment of US 20 along with the new IA 31 on the west side of Correctionville.

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Mar 09

S is for Swan

Posted on Wednesday, March 9, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERASeptember 30, 2014

The tiny village of Swan (2010 pop. 72) built a school in 1928. Swan is two miles into Marion County off IA 316.

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Mar 08

Rule of 106

Posted on Tuesday, March 8, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In one of its few non-property considerations, the Board accepted the resignation of high school math teacher Terry Stamp and voted to hire Judith Lyons to replace her.

Ms. Stamp taught here one year. She asked to be released from her contract so she could accept a position in the Waterloo school system.

Ms. Lyons was one of three first-year teachers interviewed for the position. She will teach algebra, geometry, and general math in addition to serving as faculty sponsor for the pep club and cheerleaders. A native of Goldfield, she is a 1974 Iowa State University graduate.

— Traer Star-Clipper, July 11, 1974

4) Approve Early Retirement Request & Resignations:

Judy Morrison-Secondary Teacher: Dvorak made the motion to approve the early retirement request and resignation of Judy Morrison. Zobel seconded the motion. Motion carried 5-0. (Kennedy and Pargeon absent)

— North Tama school board minutes, February 22, 2016

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Mar 07

Private schools make up half of 2A boys’ state basketball field

Posted on Monday, March 7, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Des Moines Christian joins perennial/semi-perennial state basketball tournament teams Kuemper Catholic (Carroll), Pella Christian, and Western Christian in this year’s Class 2A boys’ bracket. It’s the most private schools in one class in a state tournament since last year’s girls’ basketball Class 2A, where there were also four private schools in the eight-team bracket. (North Linn’s run to second place was against three of them.)

Private schools got seven of the 16 spots in this year’s and last year’s Class 2A boys’ tournaments. They got six of the 16 in this year’s and last year’s Class 2A girls’ tournament in the five-class setup. This year’s girls’ 2A final was Unity Christian over Western Christian.

Switching gears, Gladbrook-Reinbeck is back in the Class 1A tournament even while tensions continue to simmer about the closure of the school in Gladbrook.

Posted in Schools, Sports | Comments Off on Private schools make up half of 2A boys’ state basketball field
Mar 04

Former NT coach doing double duty as superintendent

Posted on Friday, March 4, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Boyer Valley and Woodbine districts in far western Iowa are sharing a superintendent to cut down on administration costs. That superintendent is none other than 1998-2001 North Tama football coach and math teacher Doug Gee.

In 2014, Gee was assistant principal and AD at Adel-De Soto-Minburn and considered for principal at Carroll. Instead, he was hired as as a hybrid principal/superintendent at Boyer Valley. Then Woodbine, who was in financial trouble, asked if Boyer Valley would share, and BV agreed.

Last month, the Boyer Valley board narrowly voted to end the sharing agreement, but then reversed itself. Key paragraph (from the Nonpareil):

By moving to a 50-50 share, the sharing agreement approved by Boyer Valley and Woodbine moves away from the current 60-40 split, where Woodbine only pays for 30 percent of Gee’s salary. By having a sharing agreement, both districts will receive about $51,500 from the state in incentive payments, easing finances in both districts.

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Mar 03

T is for Thornton

Posted on Thursday, March 3, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
July 29, 2010

The Thornton school in all its Art Deco glory met the wrecking ball in April 2012, leaving both a literal and metaphorical empty space in the heart of town. It lives in photos like these.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

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Mar 02

Chuck Offenburger writes about Diagonal

Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2016, at 10:04 AM by Jeff

Former “Iowa Boy” Des Moines Register columnist Chuck Offenburger is still a prolific writer and blogger — he wrote a book about Bernie Saggau and the IHSAA in 2005. Recently, he made the trip down to Diagonal to see basketball games at Iowa’s smallest high school. Accompanying him were Bud Legg of the IHSAA and former sports writer Chuck Schoffner, making for a serious wealth of knowledge going to check out a small-town event.

The it’s-a-small-world/I’m-getting-old connection is that Diagonal’s girls’ coach, Gina Gunsolley, is the sister of Zach Gunsolley, who contacted me after I wrote a column for the Iowa State Daily about the pressures rural Iowa roads and schools were facing. That was in January 2003, two years and change before Gina Gunsolley graduated from Diagonal High School. (IAGenWeb already has a Class of 2005 page up.)

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Mar 01

The appointment that never happened

Posted on Tuesday, March 1, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

IF
December 31, 2015: Dr. Haldy’s dentist office in Traer, on his last official day in business.

I was supposed to see my dentist on caucus day. Instead, though, I found out in October that Willard Haldy, Traer’s dentist, planned to retire at the end of the year. He had been in practice since 1959. His first business card has two letters at the beginning of the phone number.

Haldy may well be Traer’s last dentist. It’s hard to recruit young professionals of any type to rural Iowa, let alone those with crushing student debt. The Iowa Public Policy Center recently raised the alarm (as reported by KCRG) that rural areas are facing an imminent if not already happening shortage of dentists as active ones retire.

Go ahead and make it a Mad Lib: Rural areas are facing a shortage of [profession] as Baby Boomers start retiring and young adults are not interested in living there.

It is unfortunate that when Iowa had the nation’s attention in the presidential race, “rural issues” got boiled down to the Renewable Fuel Standard and nothing else, this Detroit political cartoon notwithstanding. The decrease in services for rural areas is something that deserves more attention.

Update 3/2: I KNEW THINGS WERE GOING TOO WELL. I KNEW IT.

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Feb 29

Meeting about US 30 in Toledo this week

Posted on Monday, February 29, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Iowa DOT will hold a meeting in Toledo on Thursday to discuss the plan to four-lane US 30 in eastern Tama County.

It won’t be completed for years, but the first step is acquiring right-of-way. The project statement says an all-new four-lane will be built north of the existing lanes, which will be removed “with the exception of some minor areas where the existing roadway may be used as a frontage road.” This indicates that Alternative 3 shown in June 2011 was the final selection, which was far enough north the old road can remain. The four-lane will take out whatever’s left of the extinct village of Gladstone and negate the need for a bridge over the old railroad grade.

Building four all-new lanes while eliminating the existing roadbed has gained traction in Iowa recently. The new plans for US 61 north of Burlington have a mixture of that (PDF) and leaving old 61 as a frontage road (PDF) with the exception of a couple intersections where the road will “bow out”. (The closest analogue to the latter is in central Illinois, where I-55 was built right beside US 66, except overpasses are involved there.)

(There is also a meeting the night before in Le Grand regarding two miles of IA 146 in and south of town, including replacement of the bridge over the railroad.)

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