Constance Gartin

By Theresa Rose · Monday, January 30th, 2023 at 8:44 am CDT

Constance L. Gartin, 90, of Mt. Pleasant passed away on Friday, January 27, 2023, at the Henry County Health Center in Mt. Pleasant.

Funeral arrangements are pending at the Murphy Funeral Home of Mt. Pleasant.

Tony Von Broeker

By Theresa Rose · Sunday, January 29th, 2023 at 7:00 pm CDT

Tony Von Broeker, 74, of New London, formerly of Mt. Union, died Saturday, January 28, 2023 at Southeast Iowa Regional Hospital, West Burlington.

According to his wishes his body has been cremated.   A visitation will be held from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm, Thursday, February 2, 2023 at Elliott Chapel, New London.  Inurnment will immediately follow at Trinity Cemetery, rural Mt. Union with military rites by the Henry County Honor Guard.  A memorial has been established to help with funeral expenses.   Online condolences may be left at www.elliottfuneralchapel.com.

Phyllis Iva Lane Klopfenstein (final arrangements)

By Theresa Rose · Sunday, January 29th, 2023 at 8:06 am CDT

Phyllis Iva Lane Klopfenstein2, age 97 of Mount Pleasant, passed away January 25. She was born September 25, 1925 in rural Henry County, Iowa, the daughter of John and Iva Bates Lane. She graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School in 1943. Phyllis was united in marriage to Wayne Lewis Klopfenstein on April 25, 1945 in Anniston, Alabama, where Wayne was stationed during World War II. During that time, she did clerical work at the Anniston Ordinance Depot. She also worked as a dental assistant for Dr. Frank V. Coles in Mt. Pleasant. Phyllis was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Mt. Pleasant and participated in many clubs. Phyllis passed away January 25, 2023.

She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Wayne, son Philip Wayne, a sister Virginia Sommerfeld, three brothers – Warren, Johnny and Russell , 2 nieces and 2 nephes.

She is survived by her children – Judith Elaine Klopfenstein Miller (Jim), John David Klopfenstein (Lin) and Ted Lewis Klopfenstein; 5 grandchildren – Jamey Elaine Miller Musgrove (Greg), Matthew James Miller (Amy) Amanda May Klopfenstein Barry (Chris), John David (JD) Klopfenstein II and Wayne R. Klopfenstein; 6 great grandchildren – Brady Ryan Musgrove, Lexi Elaine Musgrove, Nolan Matthew Miller, Cameron James Miller, Aliyana Jo Barry and Lacie Nicole Barry and twelve nieces and nephews.

A celebration of life for Phyllis will be held from 1-3 PM on Saturday, March 4, 2023 at the Mt. Pleasant Masonic Lodge, 206 N. Main St., Mt. Pleasant. A private family interment will take place at the Forest Home Cemetery, Mt. Pleasant. Friends may call to sign the register from 9AM to 7PM on Friday, February 3, at the Kimzey Funeral Home, 213 N. Main St., Mt. Pleasant. On line condolences may be directed to www.kimzeyfh.com

Memorials may be directed to the First United Methodist Church or, because of her love and compassion for all animals, to All God’s Creatures in Mt. Pleasant.

Randyl Jay Pickle

By Theresa Rose · Sunday, January 29th, 2023 at 8:01 am CDT

Randyl Jay Pickle, 68, of Mt. Union, died Friday, January 27, 2023 at his home in Mt. Union.

Randy was born July 7, 1954 in Burlington, the son of Richard Jack and Bertha Ann Yaley Pickle.  He was a 1972 graduate of Mt. Pleasant High School and a veteran of the United States Marine Corp.  On November 26, 1983 he married Mary Elizabeth Hastings.  She preceded him in death on July 15, 2020.

He was an electrical lineman by trade and also helped his father on the farm.  He enjoyed gardening, fishing, and spending time at the lake with his cousins.  He was very particular about his acreage.  Randy loved kids and doted on the Lane grandchildren.

Randy is survived by his mother of Mt. Pleasant; sisters, Diane Pickle of New London and Jacque (Richard) Dayton of Bentonville, Arkansas; brother, Brad (Lora Larson) Pickle of Tulsa, Oklahoma; two nephews, one niece, one great-nephew, aunts, uncles, cousins, and a host of friends.  He was preceded in death by his father and his wife Mary.

According to his wishes, he has been cremated and an inurnment will be held at a later date.  Memorials have been established to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital and EveryStep Hospice.  Elliott Chapel, New London is assisting the family with arrangements and online condolences may be left at www.elliottfuneralchapel.com

Frances Warth

By Theresa Rose · Sunday, January 29th, 2023 at 7:57 am CDT

Frances Warth, 75, of Mt. Pleasant, died Saturday, January 28, 2023 at the Great River Medical Center Hospice House, West Burlington, IA.

A memorial service for Frances will be held at 1:30 PM on Friday, February 3, at the First United Methodist Church, 309 N. Main St., Mt. Pleasant. The Reverend David H. Bracht-Wagner, Senior Pastor, will officiate. Friends may call from 12 -8 PM on Thursday at the Kimzey Funeral Home, 213 North Main Street, Mount Pleasant. The family will be present to receive friends from 5-7 PM Thursday evening.

Memorials may be directed to the family for decisions to be made later. Online condolences may be directed to www.kimzeyfh.com

Frances was born November 22, 1947 Sigourney, IA, the daughter of James and Miriam (Cathey) Pobanz. She moved with her family to Mt. Pleasant and graduated from Mt. Pleasant High School in 1966. She worked on the line for the Mackay Envelope Company in Mt. Pleasant. She also was a bartender at several establishments, including the Iris Restaurant, the Lantern Lounge and the Cabaret.

Frances was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Mt. Pleasant. She enjoyed traveling, photography, old movies, music, reading and crocheting. She loved Scrabble, seldom taking a back seat to anyone. She was “Mom” and a mother figure to many of her friends and her children’s friends. A big fan of the Chicago Blackhawks Hockey Team, she loved to watch their games whenever she could. Frances seldom turned down the opportunity to instigate a practical joke, as she and her friends shared many a laugh over them.

Those thankful for sharing in Frances’ life include her two daughters – Rebecca “Becky” Warth of Mt. Pleasant and Beth Gaffney and her husband Mark of Chandler, AZ; a brother – Brian Pobanz and his wife Karen of Wayne, NJ; a sister – Carolyn Westbrooks of St. Louis, MO and two grandchildren – Dylan and Grace Gaffney.

Her parents and a sister – Catherine Gibson – precede Frances in death.

 

MP Show Choir Competition Results

By Theresa Rose · Sunday, January 29th, 2023 at 7:33 am CDT

Mount  Pleasant High School’s show choir InMotion finished as 4th Runner-Up in the finals of a competition hosted by Davenport North High School on Saturday.  Southeast Polk was Grand Champion, followed by Davenport Central, El Paso-Gridley, Iowa City Liberty, Mount Pleasant and Davenport Central Prep. InMotion placed 5th in the daytime round out of 11 groups in their division.

Mount Pleasant will be hosting the own invitational February 4 at the high school, starting at 8:00 am.

Arrests Made In Copper Theft Case

By Theresa Rose · Friday, January 27th, 2023 at 7:26 pm CDT

In December of 2022, the Des Moines County Sheriff’s Office began to take reports of vandalism and theft of copper wire from Century Link.  Century Link reported their poles being cut down and wires hanging from at the intersection of 80th Ave and DMC Hwy 99. It was determined the wire was being cut and stolen from the poles for the purpose of stripping the copper wire.

Century Link reported several more thefts of wire in January.  At that time the Des Moines County Sheriff’s Office began to conduct surveillance operations near where these thefts were taking place.

Through these surveillance operations Detectives were able to observe several individuals stealing copper wire from this area. The individuals were stopped in a vehicle and identified.  Arrest warrants were issued for the charges of Criminal Mischief 2nd Degree and Theft 2nd Degree for the following individuals:

Christopher Bernard Oberlander, age 33, of 1206 Corse St. Burlington, IA

Andrew Joseph Stout,  age 36, of 509 West Agency Rd Lot 56  West Burlington, IA

William Phillips, age 53, of 1414 South St Burlington, IA

On January 27, 2023 all three individuals were placed under arrest, and they are being held at the Des Moines County Sheriff’s on the no bond warrants. This is an ongoing investigation, and more charges are expected as more suspects are identified.

The Des Moines County Sheriffs Office would like to make the public aware that there have been numerous thefts of copper wire, catalytic converters, and burglaries to outbuildings such as sheds, barns, and work sites in the past several months.

It is not uncommon for suspects to do their own surveillance during the day and nighttime hours to look for items to steal.  The Sheriff’s Office would encourage anyone who sees suspicious activity or vehicles to call and report the incident as soon as possible.

The Dickey Dispatch by Senator Adrian Dickey

By Theresa Rose · Friday, January 27th, 2023 at 7:19 pm CDT

 

Hello Senate District 44!

This third week of session looked very similar to the previous. Legislation is moving through committees and as we saw on Monday night, and finally hitting the Senate floor. Monday night’s debate was quite the event, wrapping up early Tuesday morning. I attended multiple committee and subcommittee meetings this week, and even had the chance to see Governor Reynolds sign HF 68 into law on Tuesday morning.

 

 

It is very reassuring to see the Legislature working hard to get important pieces of legislation passed. With about a month until funnel week (when all legislation that hasn’t made it out of committees is thrown out) we are about to get into a very busy time of year!

Now to address the elephant in the room. As I mentioned, a very important part of this week occurred on Monday, with the passing of the school choice bill (HF 68). As many of you probably saw, I voted in favor of this bill for numerous reasons. While I could explain each reason why I support this bill, I would be writing a book rather than a newsletter. Rather, I want take the time to clear up any misconceptions being spread in regard to this bill. Being as controversial of a topic as it is, there are countless lies floating around that I cannot turn a blind eye to. I will reply to a few of the most common lies here.

The statement that “the private school will be taking all of the funding away from a public school for a student” is a lie. Public schools in Iowa my district receive just over $15,000 PER student. This is made up of state funding, property tax funding, sales tax funding, and federal funding. This Educational Savings Account is for just the state funding amount of $7,598.

If a student chooses to attend a non-public school, just the state funding will travel with them. The other funding will remain with the school and an additional $1,200 in state funding will go to the public school to not teach the student. That’s a lot of funding to not teach a student. So the statements that the private school will be taking all of the money away from the public school is a lie.

What about the “you can’t use public money for private use….” statement? The use of taxpayer money to a private entity is nothing new. Think about all of the Medicaid money (public/taxpayer money) that is used at PRIVATE health care. Would you want public funded food assistance to be used only at government food banks? The state has been spending “public money (taxpayer money) for private education” for years. The Iowa Tuition Grant received $48.9 million in 2022 and the 2023 estimate is $51.1 million. That is public money for students who attend private colleges in Iowa, and this grant program has been in place for many, many years. In 2022 private schools in Iowa received $852,000 for textbook services. In 2022 private schools received $1 million for concurrent enrollment agreements. So this statement is simply a lie.

“You can’t use public money for religious purposes” is also a lie. Has anyone ever used their Medicare and Medicaid money to attend Mercy Hospital? St. Luke’s Hospital, Covenant Hospital, Methodist Hospital? These are all religious based hospitals where you are allowed to use you “taxpayer money” to obtain health services.

The statement that, “If we would only FULLY fund public schools.”  On this, the school choice issue, that is a moot point. The reason why school choice has the backing by the majority is that it is directly due to the issues that have flooded our school: CRT, transgender bathrooms, pornographic books in the libraries, sexualization of our kids, drag shows in school, etc.

Issues like these are the erosion of our moral society. Here you can find a link to a letter that was penned by Jacob Hall from The Iowa Standard. The purpose of adding this link is to simply point out how rampant these things are taking place in our public schools. This is by NO way a complete account of all of these events. The point is these issues are real and are happening at a very significant level.

The presence of these social issues in our public schools is not something that can be fixed with more funding of public schools. They can only be fixed by the administrators and staff that let these issues continue. We could throw $1 billion new money at public schools and these issues still are present. The fact is, we have done just that. Our state has provided $1 billion in new money to Iowa public schools in the past 10 years and over half a billion in the past 5 years. In that time, we have only seen these social ideological issues and the sexualization of our children in public schools expand!

Last year the State of Iowa funded Iowa public schools at the tune of $3.6 billion. When higher education spending is added it totals 56.4% of the entire budget for the State of Iowa. Public education always has and always will remain a major priority of the State of Iowa! The “just fully fund public schools and these issues will go away” is a lie.

Another lie I continue to hear is “how we are cutting school budgets.” The fact is the last time school funding was actually cut by the state was in 2010 when the Democratic party had a trifecta of power (Democrat Governor, Democrat House, Democrat Senate).

The talking point that the private schools will not be held accountable is a lie. The school must be an accredited school for the scholarship to be awarded. An accredited school means there is testing, reporting, guidelines, etc.… that they must follow. They must follow the accountability standards as specified in chapter 256.11 in the Iowa Code and I believe that code is 37 pages long! Therefore the talking point that the private schools will not be held accountable is another lie.

The statement that private schools do not have to accept special education students is correct. However, most private schools in Iowa currently have a similar percentage of special needs students or students with an IEP as public schools. All students in Iowa (public and private) receive special education assistance/support from the AEAs in their area. However if you still feel there is a “unfairness” between public and private schools in regard to accepting special education students or students with an IEP, public schools receive $10,000 more in base money for the special education student from property tax, etc. than the private school. In addition, the public school receives an additional $12,916- $28,416 in funding for every one of these special needs students to assist in teaching. This is something that private schools will not receive. If the student needs a paraeducator to assist in the education of the student, the public school can bill Medicaid for the cost of the paraeducator.

Governor Reynolds ran as this being her #1 issue and she won by a landslide. The statistics show Iowans overwhelmingly support school choice and ESAs (Educational Savings Accounts). Poll after poll show huge support for ESAs. In the Ed Choice poll found at www.iowaace.org, it shows that in Iowa:

  • 67% of the general population favor ESAs
  • 64% of rural Iowans favor ESAs
  • 72% households under $40,000 favor ESAs
  • 69% of households making $40,000 to $79,999 favor ESAs
  • 62% of households making over $80,000 favor ESAs
  • 64% of Democrats favor ESAs
  • 71% of Republicans favor ESAs
  • 63% of Independents favor ESAs
  • 84% of African Americans favor ESAs
  • 77% of Hispanics favor ESAs
  • 65% of Caucasians favor ESAs

The statement “you are only helping the wealthy families with this bill” might be the dumbest statement yet. Why? Because wealthy families already have the means to send their children to private schools if they desire. Look at the polling above. The highest polling for ESAs among income earners comes from the lowest income bracket. This bill will provide families of all economic levels the choice in their child’s education that in the past, only upper income families could afford.

Here are the FACTS. I don’t love everything that is in this bill. I don’t. I am NOT a public school hater or a private school lover. Fact is my children have attended the Pekin Community School District, just as I did, and just as my parents did. I LOVE the Pekin Community School District. I would not support legislation that would close any school in my district. If the school is listening to its customers, following the law, and teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic, and not transgender transformation, not Critical Race Theory, remove the pornographic books from the school libraries, stop having things like drag shows and the sexualization of our children in the schools, your school is not going to close!

I appreciate all that have previously and continue to reach out to voice their opinions on legislation. I enjoy hearing from my constituents, both positive and negative opinions. Please reach out to Adrian.dickey@legis.iowa.gov with any comments or concerns you may have. As always, thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,