May 24

Sara Stoakes inducted into Track Hall of Fame

Posted on Saturday, May 24, 2014, at 1:55 AM by Jeff

North Tama’s one-girl state championship is getting a big honor today! Reprinted below is a press release from the IGHSAU about Sara Stoakes being inducted into the Track and Field Hall of Fame. The 1981 North Tama girls’ team was the Honor Team in 1996.

Sara Stoakes collected 12 state championships and helped North Tama earn four state team titles from 2006 to 2009. She owns state championships in every individual event except the 3000 meters and the 100 hurdles. She captured two state crowns in the 100 and 200 and 400 meters. Her senior season, she won the 1A state team title by herself, scoring all 40 of North Tama’s points in winning the 400 meters, 800 meters, 400 hurdles and 1500 meters. She also was a part of a Drake Relays crown in the 4×800 meter relay as a sophomore. In addition to the 12 state titles, Stoakes was the Class 1A state champion in Cross Country in 2008. Stoakes competed collegiately at Kansas State for two years and was the Big 12 800 meter champion as a freshman and collected a Drake Relays title in the 800. Stoakes is the fourth North Tama standout to be inducted into the Track and Field Hall of Fame, joining Janice Ohrt (1981) along with Brooke and Blaire Dinsdale (2013).

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May 23

2013 population estimates out for Iowa cities

Posted on Friday, May 23, 2014, at 2:01 PM by Jeff

Raw data and spreadsheets available on ISU’s website. Doom and gloom for about everyone outside of the Des Moines metro area from the Register and Quad-City Times. Ankeny passed 50,000 and West Des Moines is within 1000 people of kicking down both Ames and Council Bluffs to become the seventh-largest city in Iowa. Tama County’s three largest towns lost a combined number in the dozens while the others remained about flat.

Additional note: If Utah continues to gain approximately 45,600 people per year, while Iowa gains an average of 14,500, it is conceivable that the Beehive State could be on par with the Hawkeye State around 2019.

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May 23

A Clearfield reunion before the final bell

Posted on Friday, May 23, 2014, at 9:00 AM by Jeff

The Clearfield school district in southwest Iowa is holding a reunion for all students and teachers today at 5 PM, reports the Creston News-Advertiser. There’s one more week of classes at the school before the district dissolves.

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May 22

2014 paper Iowa map now available

Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2014, at 2:31 PM by Jeff

Just in time for Memorial Day, fresh maps are out for travelers, according to this press release from the DOT. (Also third item in this Quad-City Times roundup.) I have been to many of those “nooks and crannies”.

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May 21

Winter is always coming

Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2014, at 11:45 PM by Jeff

It’s not quite worth inclusion in the List of Iowa References, but Kyle Munson writes that author George R.R. Martin spent time in Iowa: “I think a lot of the stuff in ‘A Game of Thrones,’ ” the author told Vanity Fair, “the snow and ice and freezing, comes from my memories of Dubuque.” (The northern edge of the Seven Kingdoms is a 300-mile-long, 700-foot-tall wall of solid ice; Iowa hasn’t yet provided such fortification at the Minnesota border to protect us from polkas, hot dishes and rabid walleyes.)

(But would a wall of solid ice stand as a defense against a gang of tunneling Gophers? – ed.)

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May 21

We’re Number 99!

Posted on Wednesday, May 21, 2014, at 10:18 AM by Jeff

Paul Myerberg’s preview of Iowa State’s upcoming football season is out. ISU is his sixth-worst power-conference team, and 99th out of 128 total. We’re ahead of Kansas, but his preview of the Jayhawks isn’t all that comforting:

Kansas is less talented than every team in the Big 12 with the exception of Iowa State, which is either an even draw or a slight lean in the Jayhawks’ direction – not that it’s helped, mind you.

Back to ISU, where there was this morbid note:

Last fall marked the ninth time in program history that ISU had lost either two or all three of its games against these in-state rivals. In years when Drake was not on the schedule, the Cyclones have lost to both Iowa and Northern Iowa three times: 2013, 1994 and 1992. ISU lost to both Iowa and Drake in 1985, 1909 and 1901. Finally, Iowa State lost to both Northern Iowa and Drake only once, in 1900. This is a useless, waste-of-time tidbit that should appeal to no one.

That tidbit, of course, is right up my alley.

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May 20

IA 98 a dead highway walking

Posted on Tuesday, May 20, 2014, at 2:35 PM by Jeff


September 8, 2010

‘The one transfer-of-jurisdiction deal in the DOT’s five-year plan that doesn’t happen this summer* is for IA 98 in Van Buren County. According to this article in the Ottumwa Courier, the short highway and $2.3 million will be turned over July 1, 2016, with the option of going earlier. A new bridge over the Des Moines River is being built this summer.

*The Iowa DOT five-year plans are based on fiscal years, not calendar years. Thus, items that are listed for “2015” could start any time after July 1 this year. It can be a little confusing when you consider that method takes up parts of two construction seasons.

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May 19

Dubois?

Posted on Monday, May 19, 2014, at 4:10 PM by Jeff

An odd result in my search for school news comes from New Mexico:

Petty said the board had hired Streib because he reportedly took the two previous school districts where he was superintendant in Dubois, Iowa and Sundance, Wyom., to number-one on test scores.

There’s no Dubois school district in Iowa. There is a village of Du Bois, Illinois, as well as a Dubois Elementary in both Chicago and Springfield. But those wouldn’t have a superintendent (note spelling). More likely, it may be one of the schools of Dubois County, Indiana.

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May 19

North Tama school employee honored

Posted on Monday, May 19, 2014, at 10:03 AM by Jeff

Congratulations to Heidi Rohlfsen, co-winner of Area 267 Paraeducator of the Year.

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May 18

“New”, “improved” — and SMALLER

Posted on Sunday, May 18, 2014, at 1:00 PM by Jeff

Morrison’s Law of Supermarket Packaging: A label or container redesign is often, perhaps even usually, done to conceal a decrease in the amount of product being sold. (A blog dedicated to cataloging these changes is at mouseprint.org.)

Recently, in the supermarket freezer, there was “New and Improved” Jack’s Pizza for sale. How can this be, you ask, since Jack’s Pizza has been around “since 1960” as its label says? The answer is simple: The label changed. The thin-crust pizza lid now says “Original Thin Preservative Free Crust.” So not only is it new, but it uses the same recipe it already had. What?

Ah, but there’s more. In the fine print is the real reason for the change: Each pizza is smaller by net weight. However, the size did not change. The savings appears to have been created by putting fewer toppings on the pizza.

Two examples: The Canadian bacon pizza was 16.7 ounces; now it’s 15.7. The sausage and pepperoni pizza was 17.2 ounces; now it’s 16.1. The label itself is half an inch smaller in diameter, but the food is still a 12-inch circle.

Kraft sold its pizza business to Nestle four years ago, so it’s not an immediate change by the new owner. However, the “new and improved” schtick is advertising puffery at its best and bordering on false at worst. It might be new, but giving us less food for the same price is not an improvement.

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