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The
Official Newspaper of Anamosa, located in Jones County, Iowa
Anamosa News
Since 1855
 Thursday,
April 27, 2006 |
Representatives for Harkin Visit Tornado Damaged Areas
by Michelle Phillips |
Representatives from Senator Tom Harkin’s office spent the morning of April 19 assessing tornado damage in eastern Iowa, including rural Anamosa.
Beth Freeman, Regional Director for Harkin’s Cedar Rapids office, and Harkin’s Chief of Staff Brian Ahlberg of Washington DC toured damaged areas with Brenda Leonard Coordinator of Jones County Emergency Management.
“We’re here just getting a tour. The senator is very concerned about what happened last week and asked us to come,” said Freeman.
“The senator supports Governor Vilsack’s request for Federal Disaster assistance.” |
Beth Freeman (L) of Senator Harkin’s regional office and Brenda Leonard, Jones County Emergency Management coordinator check out the damage to Mike and Tammy Coons’ garage on April 19. The tornado that tore through rural Anamosa on April 13 blew out the wall of the family’s attached garage. (Journal-Eureka Photo by Michelle Phillips) |
Freeman said the aid, which would come from FEMA, could come within a couple of weeks, but she has no way of knowing for sure.
“At this point we don’t even know if they’ll do individual claims,” she said.
“FEMA was out on Saturday (April 15) and talked to the two homeowners that don’t have insurance,” added Leonard.
“Most of the people are eligible for low interest loans through the SBA,” Freeman included.
Ahlberg said he had toured Iowa City the day before.
“It (the tornado) was more intense and widespread,” he commented. “There’s some pretty tough damage in Iowa City.
He added that both communities have done a good job rebounding from the tornado.
“What we’ve seen here today and in Iowa City is how quickly people have jumped right in,” Ahlberg said.
Leonard said that immediately following the tornado, she received a call from Linn County, offering assistance in the damaged areas.
If you have questions about assistance, you can call Leonard at 462-4715. |
Vaughn Hired as West Middle School Principal
by Michelle Phillips |
Olin Principal Linda Vaughn has been chosen as the new West Middle School Principal in Anamosa. Vaughn, who was chosen from a pool of four finalists, will start her new post in July.
“The idea of having only middle school kids was very appealing to me,” she said.
“We received 45 applications,” said Anamosa Superintendent Carol Lensing, who added that the pool was narrow to eight, then four.
Vaughn, who resides in Anamosa, was formerly the principal at St. Patrick’s in Anamosa from 1996-2000. She was hired as principal at Olin in 2000.
She said she began in education in 1984, teaching primarily Math, and coaching at the secondary level. |
Linda Vaughn
West Middle School Principal |
“I got my certificate as an administrator when I was still very happy with teaching,” she said. “I worked with some principals who encouraged me to go that route.”
Vaughn, who has an undergraduate degree from William Penn in Oskaloosa and a master’s degree in Education Administration from Drake, said she just started taking classes at UNI to earn a Super-intendent’s Certificate.
The move is exciting, but Vaughn said she would miss Olin.
“The kids here are wonderful and there’s an excellent staff. Those are the two biggest things,” she said. “I’ll also miss watching the kids come up through school.”
Vaughn said she has no plans to make any changes when she gets to West Middle School because the school has been successful.
“It’s a new set of challenges, although I’m not sure what those challenges are yet. I am looking forward to being at a school where there is a team of administrators.
Vaughn is married and she and husband, Neal, have three children. She will replace Rick Delagardelle, who will be retiring at the end of the school year. |
Volunteers Work on Breen Prairie for Earth Day
by Susan Yario |
Members of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation orchestrated several Earth Day prairie rescue events, including one north of Monticello, Iowa at Breen Prairie. This site has 20 total acres of remnant prairie in between and within140 acres of farmland.
This parcel of land was donated to the foundation in 1989 by Helen Riekart.
Approximately 20 people from the Mt. Vernon, Anamosa and Monticello areas joined together to concentrate on removing and treating any woody plants in the prairie.
Folks from Americorps, Iowa State University Extension, and Jones County Conservation among others, ranging from expert to enthusiast rolled up their sleeves and dug right in to make a difference.
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Steve Schomberg (L), David and JoAnn Faribault (R) clearing out woody plants from a portion of the Breen Prairie. |
Cutting trees and shrubs down to ground level and removing them for a future burn was the bulk of work involved. The remaining stumps were treated with an herbicide to keep the invasive plants from returning to the remnant.
Joe McGovern, INHF Land Stewardship Director explains, “It’s constant effort to restore and protect our native prairies.”
He said one of the dilemmas faced by pockets or remnant prairie is that whole insect colonies can be removed too easily when burning or restoring the prairie. Great care is taken to ensure proper removal of trees and woody plants as well as making sure native plants remain intact during restoration.
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The Prairie Violet is an early bloomer. (Journal-Eureka Photos by Susan Yario) |
Space is a determining factor in keeping natural prairies alive and thriving. Cathy Engstrom, the foundations Communications Director, explained, “Prairie seed evolved to lie dormant for years or decades so when bison herds came along of fire occurred, it opened up space for the dormant seeds to germinate.”
The Breen rescue event was one of 22 across the state on Earth Day. This is a important task because one tenth of one percent of native prairie remains throughout Iowa. Most of the native prairies pieces consist of three or five acres, with the largest true prairie piece being 24 acres.
Check out the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation online at www.inhf.org or give Cathy Engstrom @ 1-800-475-1846 to help with the next rescue event! |
Library to Hold Spring Salad Buffet
by Michelle Phillips |
The Friends of the Anamosa Library and Learning Center will be holding their annual Spring Salad Buffet on May 1 from 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the Lawrence Community Center (LCC) in Anamosa.
The event is in its sixth year, and is one of the library’s biggest fundraisers. There will be a variety of salads to choose from and beverages will be served, but this year the group has decided not to have a basket auction as in previous years.
Mary Ann Cox, who helps organize the event said the group had decided to raffle off a set of three P. Buckley Moss ornaments, instead.
“We felt we had bothered the local people and business owners enough for donations,” said Cox.
The Friends of the Library purchased the ornaments at a P. Buckley Moss franchise in Kalona.
One of the ornaments is signed by the artist, who is famous for country scenes as well as scenes with Amish. The ornaments include; Country Skaters, Winter Pond and Snowy Ride.
“We looked at prints, but we felt this was something that would appeal to a larger group of people,” Cox explained.
The library is selling 200 chances at $5 each, and the ornaments can be seen at the library. The group will hold a drawing for the prize on May 8 at 1:30 p.m. at the library.
Tickets will be on sale at the Spring Salad Buffet and at the library and the LCC.
Cox said continued fundraising is necessary for the library because of budget cuts. The City of Anamosa owns and operates the library and has recently cut the janitorial position as well as the book budget.
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Camp Courageous Receives Bus During Hawkeye Tailgate
by Brian Cook |
Black and gold was the color of choice Saturday at Camp Courageous of Iowa as more than 20 members of the University of Iowa football team and three members of the coaching staff visited with campers during the Hawkeye Spring Tailgate Party 2006.
The annual event in which seniors-to-be on the Iowa football team spend the day at Camp Courageous was made even more special as Royal Financial, a distribution company founded by Kum & Go Chairman Bill Krause, donated $50,000. The money, which was donated on behalf of the football team, will be used to purchase a handicap accessible mini-bus.
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Iowa Hawkeye Football Coach Kirk Ferentz signs an autograph at Camp Courageous on April 22. Ferentz, the Iowa Football coaching team and the Iowa Football team were at the camp for a tailgating party. (Journal-Eureka Photo by Brian Cook) |
Camp Director Charlie Becker, in announcing the donation, said that insurance concerns no longer allowed the camp to use 15-passenger vans. The bus will be used 365 days a year to take campers to and from activities and for emergency situations.
Krause, along with other members of the Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Stores of Iowa, were on hand for the program that included an autograph sessions and lunch. PCMI has donated over $1 million to Camp Courageous over the past 25 years.
Following the presentation of the check, members of the Hawkeye football team participated in the activities available at Camp Courageous including the wall climb, Eiffel Tower, earthball, parachute, health bounce and Superzip.
“It’s a great way to give back to the community,” said defensive back Miguel Merrick. “It’s something we enjoy doing, and it’s a lot of fun.”
Offensive tackle Marshall Yanda of Anamosa said the team enjoys interacting with the campers and doing activities with them outside.
Attending from the University of Iowa were Head Coach Kirk Ferentz and son Brian, defensive Coordinator Norm Parker and Seth Wallace, a graduate assistant, and seniors, Merrick, Yanda, Lee Gray, Drew Tate, Sam Brownlee, Jason Manson, Calvin Davis, Devon Moylan, Ed Miles, Maquan Dawkins, Champ Davis, Kyle Schlicher, Ryan Majerus, Andrew Fenstermaker, Zach Gabelmann, Scott Chandler, Bryan Ryther, Marcus Paschal plus junior Adam Shada and sophomore Anton Narinsky. |
Parks and Rec to Continue Summer Concerts
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The Anamosa parks and recreation Department will be holding summer concerts in WapsiAna Park again this summer. The concerts will be held on Thursday evenings from June-August at 7 p.m.
Kathy Hansen of Anamosa Parks and Rec said she still has some dates to book, and is looking for acts.
“There are three dates in June and July still available,” she said.
The concerts will be held in the bandshell, which was recently refurbished.
For more information or to book a date, call Hansen at 462-6181. |
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Box 108, 208 W. Main Street, Anamosa, IA 52205
319-462-3511,
FAX 319-462-4540
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