Archive for February, 2009

During the month of March, on Wednesdays from 10:30-11:00am in the childrens area of Kalona Public Library, the Youth Services Librarian Marissa Tartaglia will be holding story times for preschoolers. Tartaglia says story times help build early childhood literacy skills through listening, finger plays, rhymes and songs. The story time themes for March are as follows: Dr. Seuss, Leprechauns, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and Fairytales & Knights. Melina Lagios. Also a guest librarian at the Kalona Public Library will conduct the March 18th story time in honor of the 40th Anniversary of Eric Carles, The Very Hungry Caterpillar. For additional information, contact Marissa at 319-656-3501.

The body of a Washington man was one of the two bodies found in a Lone Tree home over the weekend. According to the Johnson County Sheriff's office 51 year old Timothy Mellinger of Washington died of a self-inflicted gun shot wound in a murder suicide. The other body discovered was that of 39 year old Tina O'Leary who died of asphyxiation. The Sheriff's office and Iowa DCI say Mellinger and O'Leary were involved in a relationship that ended around Thanksgiving last fall. They suspect Mellinger killed O'Leary and then took his own life.

Roadway patching today will reduce Iowa 22 to one lane in the city of Riverside, according the Iowa Department of Transportation. The patching project is set to run from Iowa 1 to U.S. 218 and be completed by late this afternoon. Flaggers will be in place to assist motorists through the work zone.
The Iowa DOT urges motorists to caution in the area, obey flagger instructions and posted signs, reduce distractions and always wear seat belts.

State Senator Becky Schmitz says she supports the idea of state lawmakers passing a prevailing wage bill. Such a bill would require workers on projects funded by state dollars, be paid by the typical wage for the area identified by the state labor department. Schmitz says this practice is used in many cases today when the state uses federal money on projects and will be used when stimulus package money comes to Iowa, so it's not an out of the box proposal. Schmitz said at a weekend town hall meeting in Washington that she'd vote for such a bill. However, Schmitz says since it couldn't pass in the House, it is highly unlikely they'll spend time introducing such a bill in the Senate. Opponents of prevailing wage have expressed concern about being forced to pay a higher wage, could drive up governmental project costs.

Washington County Supervisors will again consider bidding out the project to build the work release area of the county jail. The area was included in the original plans, but the county held off to make sure there was enough money in what voters approved to build the work release area. Now that they are comfortable there is a enough money they plan to bid the project. However, supervisors have held off approving putting the job out to bid because there have been concerns about how much responsibility the original builder would have and if warranties will be affected if additions are made. The supervisors meet this morning at 9:30.

You probably know how your child spends a teacher in service day, but what about their teacher? One of the ways Washington Community School District has used in-service days this year to implement a standard practice for teachers in the district designed to improve student reading comprehension. District Curriculum Director Veta Thode says some of these include stating what will be covered in the class, writing it on the board, reading to or with students, and giving very detailed explanations not assuming prior knowledge of a subject. Thode says these are non-negotiable practices that apply to all teachers.

The Wellman water supply is getting a make over. City Administrator Dave Ross says everything seems to be going well in getting the new reverse osmosis system put in. Ross says they are working with H.R. Green Company and getting all the details worked out and they should have a construction date set very soon. Ross says that even though the water bill will rise to pay fore the system it is worth it in the long run, he says the water people will receive is cleaner and healthier than it has ever been.

In local sports, the Washington Demon girls basketball team will play the Keokuk Chiefs tonight for the right to go to the state tournament next week. The Demons reached the Regional Final round after beating Mount Vernon on Saturday. Tonight's game was originally scheduled to be played at Iowa City Regina, but the state has moved the game to Fairfield, and will start at 8-pm instead of 7-pm. You'll be able to hear the game on KCII we'll be on the air around 7:45 with the pre-game show. You can also listen to the game at www.kciiradio.com .

The Kalona Elementary School Playground Improvement Committee is conducting a Caseys Partnership Card fundraiser from March 2nd to March 27th, Jan Knebel, Playground Improvement Chairperson sa

A state lawmaker from Washington County ended up being the deciding vote in the house on the prevailing wage bill in. The bill would have required a wage set by the labor department be used on projects involving state money. The wage would be based on the average wage in the area. Representative Larry Marek says he wasn't pressured to vote for it as much as some reports suggest. He says in the end he represents the people in the county and the district and received input from numerous people against it so he voted against it Friday. The bill failed on a 50-50 vote. In addition to the input from constituents, Marek was also concerned the bill would increase the costs of several large projects coming up in the county. Marek made his remarks at a legislative briefing on Saturday in Washington; you can hear that briefing at kciiradio.com