Judith Kae Scarff

Judith Kae Scarff, 75, of Mt. Pleasant passed away on Sunday, July 28, 2024, at Arbor Court in Mt. Pleasant.

A Celebration of her life will be held on Saturday, August 24, 2024, at 5:3- p.m. at the VFW Hall at 103 South Jackson Street, Mt. Pleasant.  A private family burial will be held in the Forest Home Cemetery. According to her wishes cremation has been entrusted to the care of Murphy Funeral Home of Mt. Pleasant.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.murphyfuneralandmonuments.com

Murphy Funeral Home of Mt. Pleasant, is caring for her arrangements.

MPCHS Pick-up/Drop-off Information

This information is for buildings located in Mount Pleasant and does not include Salem Elementary.

All Elementary school buildings will open at 7:45 a.m.

Morning Tardy Bell will ring at 8:25 a.m. for ALL Elementary school buildings.

Bus shuttles will be available for elementary students from these locations to grade-level attendance centers.

Pick-up Locations:

  • Lincoln Elementary Pick-up is on the North side of the building near the flagpole. Supervision will begin at 7:45 a.m. with bus shuttle pick-up at approximately 7:55 a.m.
  • Van Allen Elementary Pick-up is in front of the main doors. Supervision will begin at 7:45 a.m. with bus shuttle pick-up at approximately 7:55 a.m.
  • Harlan Elementary Pick-up is in front on the main doors. Supervision will begin at 7:45 a.m. with bus shuttle pick-up at approximately 7:55 a.m.
  • Wooden Park Pick-up is the 400 block of West Madison Street. This is an unsupervised location with bus shuttle pick-up at approximately 7:40 a.m.
  • Middle School Pick-up is on the South side of the building. Supervision will begin at 7:45 a.m. with bus pick-up at approximately 7:45 a.m.
  • The Town of Salem has two pick-ups. The shuttle bus across from Kramer’s in the Salem Square will be at approximately 7:20 a.m. and the Salem Elementary School pick-up will be at approximately 7:22 a.m.

Car-line pick-up will start at 3:07 p.m. for all elementary school buildings. 

Walkers will be dismissed at 3:07 p.m. as well.

Bus shuttles will be available for elementary students from grade-level attendance centers to these locations:

  • Lincoln Elementary: Drop-off between 3:10 p.m. and 3:20 p.m.
  • Van Allen Elementary: Drop-off between 3:10 p.m. and 3:20 p.m.
  • Harlan Elementary: Drop-off between 3:10 p.m. and 3:20 p.m.
  • Wooden Park: Drop-off at approximately 3:55 p.m.
  • Middle School: Drop-off at approximately 3:30 p.m.

Do you have a student using the bus shuttles to get to or from their grade-level attendance center? Students will need to be “routed” in the transportation system, meaning students will have a specific pick-up location and will need to use a bus badge (card) to get on/off the school bus. For routing information, please email Anna Carlson at anna.carlson@mtpcsd.org.

For questions please call the Transportation Department at 319-385-7784.

The Parent App is active with Student Bus information. Please download https://iamtpleasantcomsd.myridek12.tylerapp.com/ to access your student’s bus information. School name is listed under Mt. Pleasant, IA & you will need your student’s I Infinite Campus ID number.
The school is also able to send out notifications to parents that have the App updated and active.

Joseph W. “Joe” Ireland

Joseph W. “Joe” Ireland, 60, of Mt. Pleasant passed away on Saturday, January 20, 2024, at his home.

Joe Si Ragan was born on October 13, 1963, at Mercer, Missouri.  He was the son of William Pearl and Elsie (Hughes) Ragan.  Joe was later adopted in 1976 by James Willis and Sylvia Aileen (Adams) Ireland.  Joe graduated from the Winnetonka High School, in Kansas City, Missouri in the class of 1983. Following his graduation he went to live with his grandmother, Stella Ireland, who he thought the world of.  He then went on to Longview Community College for a two year Automotive Course and graduated in 1985. Joe was united in marriage to Tammy Jo Quayle in 1991.   Joe worked for Western Auto, in Kansas City and also in Burlington, then started at Expert Tire, in Ottumwa, then Master Muffler in Burlington until his health failed in 2003.

He never gave up.  He enjoyed working on vehicles and lawn mowers all his life.  He enjoyed going to swap meets with his father-in-law, and when his health allowed he enjoyed traveling with his family.  Joe and Tammy were even able to go on a second honeymoon cruise.  His favorite time was spending time with his family no matter what they were doing, as long as they were together.

Joe is survived by his wife, Tammy, his daughters, Megan and Erin, his foster mother, Gloria Gladstone, his mother-in-law, Jackie Quayle, his brothers and sisters, Merri (Charlie) Moore, Jackie (Mike) Brown, Jim (Mary) Ireland, Darlene Burns, Carol Coskey, Sarah (Tony) Sanders, Mary (Greg) Graham, Dorothy (Jim) Replogle, his sister-in-law, Janet Ragan, numerous friends, cousins, nieces and nephews and his beloved dog, Peanut.  

He is preceded in death by both sets of parents, his grandma, Stella Ireland, his father-in-law, Herb Quayle, his foster father, Carl Gladstone and his brothers and sisters, Maynard (Nina) Ragan, Charlie Ragan, Jeannie (Doug) Ferguson and a beloved dog, Brandy.

Joe’s family will host a celebration of his life on Saturday, August 24, 2024, at 1 p.m. at the Green Mound Church of God, 1275 Merrimac Rd. According to his wishes cremation has been entrusted to the care of Murphy Funeral Home of Mt. Pleasant. A memorial has been established in his memory.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.murphyfuneralandmonuments.com

Murphy Funeral Home of Mt. Pleasant, is caring for his arrangements.

Sports, August 19th

High School Football

WACO will kick off the season with a week zero matchup against Central City this Friday, August 23rd, at home at 7 pm. The Warriors defeated the Wildcats 48-12 back in 2022, where Louden Huisenga rushed for a touchdown and totaled five tackles. Head coach Chad Edeker talked about the upcoming matchup,

“And you know, we know most of the eight-man formations that we’re going to see. So we can put that out there now and then that week against Central City, we’ll just, you know, just fine tune it and make sure we know what we’re going to do against them. It’s gonna be a tough one for us though, because they got a new coach this year, so. They had run a sort of unique, very similar to us. They ran an off-balanced power formation, which we knew pretty well the last couple of years, and they got a new coach. So, we don’t know exactly what they’re going to run. So, we got to have all our bases covered.”

Winfield-Mt. Union will scrimmage Midland on Friday at 5 pm at home. 

Central Lee will take on Keokuk on Friday at 6:30 pm for a scrimmage at home.

Mt. Pleasant will face off against Danville on Friday at 7:30 pm for a home scrimmage. 

High School Volleyball

Mt. Pleasant will travel to WACO tonight for a scrimmage at 5:30 pm. Head coach Logan Wall discussed what she learned during her first year at the helm and how she’s applying it to year two,

“Yes, that was definitely a learning year. And every year there’s going to be something new that I’ll be learning, never going to be perfect. But you know, coaching as a head coach, there’s a lot of a lot of hats to juggle. However, two things that I took away from last year is we have to have good communication with our players, with parents, with our community, and then just trying to build those positive relationships with the student athletes, that’s going to go a long way, you know. They only have four years at the high school level and so, just really trying to create a positive relationship with them and so that’s kind of that’s kind of where I’m at and what I’ll continue to do this year and just now they know my expectations and so and they do a good job of following them. And so this year has been a smooth transition into a new season.”

West Burlington will host a scrimmage tomorrow, August 20th, at 4 pm.

New London and Danville will compete in a scrimmage on Thursday, August 22nd, at Burlington Notre Dame.

Central Lee will host a scrimmage on Friday, August 23rd, at 5 pm.

Meet the Players Nights

New London’s “Meet the Players” night will be on Friday, August 23rd, at 5:30 pm with cross country and volleyball introductions and scrimmage taking place in the Charles Lorber Gym. On the football field, cheer and football will have their introductions with a football scrimmage against Wapello to follow.

Winfield-Mt. Union’s “Meet the Players” will take place on Wednesday, August 21st, at 6:30 pm.

Mt. Pleasant will have their “Meet the Panthers” night on Friday starting with an intrasquad volleyball game at the high school gym at 5 pm. 

Fairfield will have their “Meet the Trojans” on Friday with introductions taking place on the track at 6:35 pm. Volleyball and football will have intrasquad scrimmages at 7 pm. 

High School Cross Country

Fairfield will practice at 8 am today and Friday, August 23rd, then Tuesday through Thursday practice will start at 3:30 pm.

Southeastern Community College

The volleyball team will travel to Rockford, Illinois on Friday, August 23rd, for their opening weekend tournament with their first matchup against Kansas City Kansas Community College.

College Football

The University of Iowa will officially kick off the season on Saturday, August 31st, at home against Illinois State at 11 am.

Iowa State will take on North Dakota on August 31st at 2:30 pm at home.

This Day in Sports History

1909 – The first race is held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, now the home of the world’s most famous motor racing competition, the Indianapolis 500.

1921 – Detroit Tiger Ty Cobb is the fourth to get 3,000 hits against the Boston Red Sox, the youngest ever.

1941 – Baseball umpire Jocko Conlan ejects Pirate manager Frankie Frisch for coming out on the field holding an umbrella to get a rainout.

Ferne M. Lawson

Ferne M. Lawson, 102, of Fairfield, passed away Friday, August 16, 2024 at Sunrise Terrace in Winfield.

Visitation for family and friends will be held 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Tuesday, August 20, 2024 at Behner Funeral Home in Fairfield. Funeral services celebrating her life will be 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, August 21st at Behner Funeral Home with Rev. Al Coffin officiating. Burial will be at Columbus City Cemetery in Columbus City, Iowa. Memorials may be made to the family or an organization of the donor’s choice.

Ferne was born October 22, 1921 in Iowa City, the daughter of Gay T. and Allie L. (George) Berkshire. Her education began in Cotter, Iowa and later in Crawfordsville. At the age of eleven, her family moved to a farm in Jefferson County and she attended Liberty No. 7 school. Ferne then attended Birmingham High School, riding her horse four miles one way for two years, before transferring to Fairfield High School where she graduated in 1939. This was the only class to graduate from around the square.

Ferne worked as a bookkeeper at Fairfield Laundry & Cleaners and later for the Jefferson County Auditor’s office. In 1959, Ferne was approached to develop a new department at the Jefferson County Hospital. After seven weeks of training at Ottumwa Hospital medical records department, she began to organize and develop a medical records department for Jefferson County Hospital, where she was the director of that department for 28 years. Ferne completed a correspondence course and in 1964 became an accredited record technician. She retired in December 1988.

Ferne was a member of the First United Methodist Church in Fairfield, the Jefferson County Hospital Auxiliary, American Legion Auxiliary, and the Heritage Club. She was a member of the Fairfield Business and Professional Women for over 56 years until they disbanded due to lack of membership. Ferne held an amateur radio license. She was a lifelong Chicago Cubs fan, and watched the Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones. Ferne loved to read and enjoyed traveling in her retirement. She also collected cardinal (bird) ornaments.

Those left to honor her memory include her son and daughter-in-law, Gayle and Vallentina Lawson of Cedar Rapids, Iowa as well as many cousins.

She was preceded in death by her parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and numerous cousins.

Online condolences may be made to Ferne’s family by viewing her obituary at www.behnerfh.com.

August 19, 2024 – August 25, 2024

08/19/24
Kelli Larson
08/20/24
Jim DePriest
08/21/24
Eric Martin
08/21/24
Jan Roth
08/21/24
Mike Reynolds
08/22/24
Jim Arnold
08/22/24
Greg Hill
08/22/24
William Allender
08/22/24
Haleigh & Mikayla Cowan *Anniversary
08/23/24
Silver Calloway (18th)
08/24/24
Layla Fischer
08/24/24
Shannon Van Nyhuis
08/24/24
Terri Miller
08/24/24
Joe & Tammy Ireland *Anniversary
08/24/24
John & Ingi McDowell *45th Anniversary*
08/25/24
Joyce Dennison
08/25/24
Janet Roth
08/25/24
Chuck Sutter

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst in Mt. Pleasant

United States Senator Joni Ernst will be in Henry County next week.  Senator Ernst will be serving lunch at the Fellowship Cup in Mt. Pleasant on Wednesday, August 21, at 11:45am.  The event is open to the public.  The Fellowship Cup is located at 203 N. Jefferson St. in Mt. Pleasant.

 

Sober Driving Campaign for Labor Day Weekend

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is working with local law enforcement officials for the drive sober or get pulled over high visibility law enforcement campaign.  The campaign started yesterday and runs through Labor Day weekend.

The goal is to deter impaired driving, arrest impaired drivers detected on the roads and prevent the tragedies seen in previous Labor Day weekends.

Drivers can ensure safety for themselves, passengers and other motorists by planning for a sober driver.