William “Ed” Shepherd

By Yorke Prough · Friday, March 22nd, 2024 at 2:38 pm CDT

William “Ed” E. Shepherd, 79, of Washington, was welcomed into death on Friday, March 22, 2024, at Parkview Manor in Wellman, surrounded by his family. His funeral service will be held Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at 11:00 AM at the Beatty Funeral Home in Washington. Visitation will be held Tuesday, March 26, 2024, from 1 – 7 PM at the Beatty Funeral Home in Washington, where the family will greet friends from 5 – 7 PM. A general memorial fund has been established.

William Eduard Shepherd was born August 8, 1944, in Burlington, Iowa, the son of George and Marie Jane (Cocayne) Ingrahm. He graduated from Washington High School and attended automotive trade school. Ed retired from the United States Army National Guard, after serving 25 years.  On September 3, 1965, he was united in marriage to Gwenyth Wolfe in Washington.  Ed was a self-employed truck driver, most recently contracting with Knupp Trucking. He and Gwen enjoyed wintering in Texas and were part of a camping group. Ed was fond of camping, fishing, boating, and driving. He will be greatly missed by his family and fondly remembered for his wonderful sense of humor.

Survivors include his wife Gwen of Washington; four children: Mike (Suzi) Shepherd of Wayland, Lori (Mike) Baldrige of St. Paul, MN, Bill (Angie) Shepherd of Edgefield, SC, and Melissa (Orbie) Brown of Washington; 12 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren.

Preceding Ed in death were his parents, two brothers Sam and Bill, and a sister Sarah Bohne.

Collins Capitol Connection

By Allison Jacobs · Friday, March 22nd, 2024 at 2:11 pm CDT

To the People of House District 95

 

This week was longer than usual in the House as debate stretched into yesterday evening. After much debate, the House amended the AEA proposal that the Senate sent over earlier in the week, incorporating much of the initial proposal that the House passed a few weeks ago after working with AEA Chief Administrators from across the state.

 

House Sends AEA Reform Bill Back to the Senate with Amendment

I agree with the Governor that our special education students deserve the very best. As I’ve learned more about this topic this year, it’s become clear that we can do better. Despite Iowa spending over $5,300 more per pupil on special education funding than the national average, we’ve ranked 30th or worse in 9 of the 12 national assessments on special education performance. The U.S. Department of Education has categorized Iowa as “Needs Assistance” in providing quality education to students with disabilities, with the risk of falling to “Needs Intervention” next year. Our system, where the money is automatically sent to the AEA’s, and the AEA’s having oversight of their own services, is unique to Iowa and leaves very little room for accountability. We know that the AEA’s are doing critical work for our schools, and we have no intention of leaving school districts high and dry without access to those services. However, we can make a few changes to improve the system.

Our plan will give school districts more flexibility, provide more accountability in the AEA system, and empowers a task force to study how to improve special education in Iowa. I voted yes on this bill because it contains some big wins for schools that the House has fought very hard for this year, and I will share many of those below.

This bill increases teacher salaries:

This bill increases the minimum teacher salary to $47,500 in the first year, and $50,000 in the second year. This will put Iowa’s minimum teacher salary at the 5th highest in the nation. When adjusted for cost of living, this puts Iowa’s beginning teachers in a great spot compared to their peers.

It also adds a second tier for minimum teacher pay. Teachers who have 12 years of experience can make no less than $60,000 in year one, and $62,000 in year two. The addition of this second tier means a lot of new money particularly for rural schools since the money it takes to get to that salary level will go to each school district accordingly.

The bill also allocates $22.3 million for the teacher salary supplemental pot of money for schools so they can increase veteran teacher pay and to help with the pay compaction concerns we have heard from some school districts as they redo their salary schedules to account for these new minimum salaries.

Most importantly, all of this money will be built into the base going forward, meaning it will increase with state supplemental aid in subsequent years.
This bill will incentivize retired teachers to help fill workforce gaps in schools:

This bill contains a policy that allows retired teachers to return to the classroom without affecting their IPERS benefits. These teachers would be able to return to schools in a limited capacity after just one month of retirement. This will incentivize experienced teachers to return and alleviate some of the workforce struggles facing our schools.

This bill raises pay for paraprofessionals:

This bill allocates $14 million to increase pay for educational support staff. The House fought tooth and nail to have this proposal included in this legislation to raise the pay for our paraprofessionals who do such important, difficult work.

This bill contains a significant amount of new money for schools:

In this bill, we set the Supplemental State Aid increase at 2.5% for this fiscal year. The House originally passed 3% SSA and that’s certainly what we would’ve preferred. However, the silver lining is that with a 2.5% SSA increase, the little over $110 Million increase to put toward salaries, and new funds we plan to allocate towards school safety, the new money for Iowa schools equates to the equivalent of more than 5% SSA for this fiscal year.

This bill creates a task force to study ways to improve special education:

The task force will review the current AEA system and look for areas for improvement. They will look for ways to improve services, consolidate buildings, provide effective oversight, eliminate redundancies, and ultimately achieve better outcomes for Iowa students.

This bill brings AEA Chief salaries more in line with Superintendents:

This bill states that the AEA Chief salaries cannot exceed 125% of the average superintendents’ salaries within their region. Currently, the 9 chiefs each make around $300,000 annually.

Wrapping Up:

There have been a lot of moving parts as this bill has morphed throughout the legislative process. I cannot blame you if you’ve had a hard time keeping track. I want to alleviate some of the concerns that have circulated around past proposals:

  • Because this bill requires school districts to use the AEA’s for special education services, there will not be any disruption to special education services.
  • Also, it does not put the AEA’s under the Department of Education which I had many concerns with.
  • Most importantly, this bill does not terminate any AEA employees.
  • Finally, this bill does not prohibit the AEA’s from performing any of the services they do now.

We took a lot of feedback from Iowans in the crafting of our original House bill, and the amendment we sent back to the Senate. We heard from parents, teachers, superintendents, and most importantly – the AEAs. I want to thank the many AEA employees in my district that have called, emailed, and attended my forums throughout this legislative session – your feedback helped in crafting this proposal, and your continued work serving Iowa’s students is greatly appreciated.

Central Lee Community School District Meeting Agenda 04/02

By Yorke Prough · Friday, March 22nd, 2024 at 8:19 am CDT

CENTRAL LEE COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICT DONNELLSON, IOWA 52625 DISTRICT OFFICE

TENTATIVE AGENDA                                                                                APRIL 2, 2024

PUBLIC HEARING – PROPOSED PROPERTY TAX LEVY

  • . Roll Call
  • 7:00 A.M.

PUBLIC HEARING – PROPOSED PROPERTY TAX LEVY FY2024-2025

  1. Adjourn (Motion)

Henry County Farm Bureau “Supermarket Sweep” Sees Nearly $1500 in Donations to Fellowship Cup

By Yorke Prough · Friday, March 22nd, 2024 at 7:08 am CDT

The Henry County Farm Bureau hosted the 2nd Annual Supermarket Sweep competition at the Mount Pleasant Hy-Vee on Thursday afternoon. With 5 teams competing, there could only be on winner. Congratulations to Farm Credit Services of America for coming closest to $250 collection of groceries at $256.50. Chem Gro and Iowa State Bank also participated and the Henry County Sheriff’s Office won the “best decorated cart.” The Mount Pleasant Noon Rotary were honored with “greatest grabber” after they collected just shy of $500 in groceries.

Collectively, all five teams contributed $1466.51 in groceries which were donated to the Fellowship Cup.

 

Sports, March 22nd

By Slaten Swords · Friday, March 22nd, 2024 at 6:50 am CDT

High School Track and Field

The Steve Roth Relays commenced yesterday in Washington with most of Southeast Iowa in attendance, here’s some highlights from the meet.

Kaiden Amigon of Columbus took first place in Class C of the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.25 seconds. Landon Seibert of Danville grabbed third with a time of 11.89 seconds. 

Landry Haberichter of West Burlington took the gold in Class B of the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.04 seconds. 

Staying in Class B, Kyler Crow of Mediapolis took first with a time of 24.10 seconds in the 200 meter dash. 

Ayden Doyle of Danville finished in first place in the 200 meter dash followed by Amigon and Clayton Miller of WACO with the top time being 22.83 seconds. 

Mediapolis finished a few ticks behind the leader in the 4×100 meter relay to grab second place for Class B.

In Class B, Noah Schmidgall and Lathen Keller of Mediapolis finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively, in the 400 meter dash, while West Burlington’s Caden Schwenker took eighth place. 

For Class C, Sheaden Adams of Winfield-Mt. Union took gold in the 400 meter dash with a time of 55.24 seconds. Kessler Whaley of Danville took second place. 

Sticking with Class C, Kohlby Newsom grabbed another first place finish for Winfield-Mt. Union with a time of 2 minutes and 6 seconds in the 800 meter run. 

In Class A, Jude Dykstra of Mt. Pleasant raced to a time of 2 minutes and 9 seconds in the 800 meter run, which was good enough for sixth place. 

Mediapolis populated the top spots in the 800 meter run with Logan Rosas capturing first place with a time of 2 minutes and Owen Schmidgall nabbing second place with a time of 2 minutes and 6 seconds. This helped get them a first place finish in the 4×800 meter relay.

Solomon Zaugg of Mediapolis won the gold in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4 minutes and 30 seconds. In Class C, Carter Fesler of Danville took first place with a time of 4 minutes and 50 seconds. 

In Class B, Adam Sobczak finished in first in the 400 meter hurdles with a sub-minute time (59.79 seconds). Gabriel Hemsworth of Winfield-Mt. Union took first place in Class C with a time of 1 minute. 

In Class B, Noah Schmidgall and Nathan Schmidgall finished in first and second place, respectively, in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet and 6.5 inches being the best jump. 

In Class C, Amigon finished with a jump of 19 feet and 2 inches, which clinched first place. 

Avin Truong of Mt. Pleasant leapt to a second place finish in the Class A long jump with a distance of 20 feet and 6 inches. 

Mason Watkins of West Burlington grabbed second place in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet and 10 inches. 

Jake Edwards of Winfield-Mt. Union  jumped 5 feet 10 inches in the Class C high jump for a first place finish. Louden Huisenga of WACO took second with a jump of 5 feet and 8 inches. 

Harmon Ensminger of Mt. Pleasant tossed the shot put 44 feet and 1 inch for fifth place in the Class A shot put. 

Lastly, in Class C, Russel Coil of Columbus swept the throwing events with a toss of 141 feet and 1 inch in the discus and 48 feet and 1 inch in the shot put. 

The Mt. Pleasant girls team will compete at a meet in West Burlington on March 26th.

The WACO girls’ team will run on March 26th at West Burlington.

The New London and Central Lee boys’ teams will participate in a meet on March 25th at West Burlington.

The Mediapolis, Danville, Winfield-Mt. Union, and New London girls’ teams will compete in a relay on March 26th at West Burlington.

High School Soccer

The WACO boys’ team will open the season on March 28th against Fairfield on the road at 5 pm.

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ and girls’ teams will take on West Liberty on March 25th at home with the girls’ game scheduled first at 5 pm. 

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ will host Mediapolis on March 26th to start their season at 4:30 pm, while the boys’ will travel to Danville to play at 5 pm on the same day. 

The Danville girls’ team will face off against Assumption on March 25th on the road at 5 pm.

The Mediapolis boys’ team will take on Burlington on March 26th on the road at 5 pm.

College Signing

Another Panther will be donning the red and black next year as Reece Coffman signed his Letter of Intent to golf at Southeastern Community College (SCC) next year. Fellow Panther, Nate Dismang, announced his decision to golf at SCC back in December.

Coffman had the third best 18-hole average last season at a clip of 94.17 with the second-best 18-hole low of 84. The senior talked about how college athletics was always a desire after figuring out he was superb golfer, and he will get his chance at SCC,

“SCC was like my first choice because I wanted to, like, get Community College out of the way because I just want to get used to like the college feel and it’s closer to home so I can get some of my general education stuff out of the way before I move on to a bigger college.”

The Panthers are looking to improve upon their 4th place finish at the Southeast Conference meet from last season, but the senior is putting no added pressure on himself,

“Having fun is a good one, but obviously since next year I got to do really well, this year I’m thinking hopefully I can shoot low and play great golf this year. Have a great mindset going into college.”

Coffman plans on studying to become an Elementary School Teacher.

The Panthers hit the greens on Monday, April 1st, in their first conference meet at the Fairfield Golf and Country Club.

Southeastern Community College

SCC baseball will host Northeast Community College tomorrow in a doubleheader. 

The SCC softball team will travel to take on Indian Hills Community College tomorrow in a doubleheader. 

College Basketball

The Iowa women’s team will be the #1-seed in the Albany Regional for the National Championship bracket, which means they will host the first two rounds. The Hawkeys will take on Holy Cross tomorrow, March 23rd, at 2 pm.

The Iowa State women’s team will be making their 5th consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament as the Cyclones earned the #7-seed. They will face off against Maryland tonight at 6:30 pm. 

The #2-seed Iowa State men’s team ran away with their first-round contest against #15 South Dakota last night 82-65. Tamin Lipsey finished the contest with 17 points, sevens assists, and two steals. The Cyclones will take on #7 Washington State tomorrow at 5:10 pm. The Cougars defeated Drake yesterday 66-61.

The Iowa men’s team will face off against the #2-seed Utah on Sunday, March 24th, at 8 pm for the second round of the NIT. 

March Madness

The KILJ bracket challenge, sponsored by The Press Box and Wiley’s Interior Furnishings and Design, is officially underway with over 30 brackets submitted with the top three set to receive prizes.

Standings will be updated at the conclusion of each round.

This Day in Sports History

1969 – 31st NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Purdue 92-72 for a Bruins’ 3-peat; center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player for the third consecutive year.

1986 – HBO launches boxing’s heavyweight-title-unification-tournament.

1989 – Pete Rozelle announces his retirement as the NFL commissioner after 29 years.

Sports, March 22nd

By Slaten Swords · Friday, March 22nd, 2024 at 6:49 am CDT

High School Track and Field

The Steve Roth Relays commenced yesterday in Washington with most of Southeast Iowa in attendance, here’s some highlights from the meet.

Kaiden Amigon of Columbus took first place in Class C of the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.25 seconds. Landon Seibert of Danville grabbed third with a time of 11.89 seconds. 

Landry Haberichter of West Burlington took the gold in Class B of the 100 meter dash with a time of 11.04 seconds. 

Staying in Class B, Kyler Crow of Mediapolis took first with a time of 24.10 seconds in the 200 meter dash. 

Ayden Doyle of Danville finished in first place in the 200 meter dash followed by Amigon and Clayton Miller of WACO with the top time being 22.83 seconds. 

Mediapolis finished a few ticks behind the leader in the 4×100 meter relay to grab second place for Class B.

In Class B, Noah Schmidgall and Lathen Keller of Mediapolis finished in fourth and fifth place, respectively, in the 400 meter dash, while West Burlington’s Caden Schwenker took eighth place. 

For Class C, Sheaden Adams of Winfield-Mt. Union took gold in the 400 meter dash with a time of 55.24 seconds. Kessler Whaley of Danville took second place. 

Sticking with Class C, Kohlby Newsom grabbed another first place finish for Winfield-Mt. Union with a time of 2 minutes and 6 seconds in the 800 meter run. 

In Class A, Jude Dykstra of Mt. Pleasant raced to a time of 2 minutes and 9 seconds in the 800 meter run, which was good enough for sixth place. 

Mediapolis populated the top spots in the 800 meter run with Logan Rosas capturing first place with a time of 2 minutes and Owen Schmidgall nabbing second place with a time of 2 minutes and 6 seconds. This helped get them a first place finish in the 4×800 meter relay.

Solomon Zaugg of Mediapolis won the gold in the 1600 meter run with a time of 4 minutes and 30 seconds. In Class C, Carter Fesler of Danville took first place with a time of 4 minutes and 50 seconds. 

In Class B, Adam Sobczak finished in first in the 400 meter hurdles with a sub-minute time (59.79 seconds). Gabriel Hemsworth of Winfield-Mt. Union took first place in Class C with a time of 1 minute. 

In Class B, Noah Schmidgall and Nathan Schmidgall finished in first and second place, respectively, in the long jump with a leap of 18 feet and 6.5 inches being the best jump. 

In Class C, Amigon finished with a jump of 19 feet and 2 inches, which clinched first place. 

Avin Truong of Mt. Pleasant leapt to a second place finish in the Class A long jump with a distance of 20 feet and 6 inches. 

Mason Watkins of West Burlington grabbed second place in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet and 10 inches. 

Jake Edwards of Winfield-Mt. Union  jumped 5 feet 10 inches in the Class C high jump for a first place finish. Louden Huisenga of WACO took second with a jump of 5 feet and 8 inches. 

Harmon Ensminger of Mt. Pleasant tossed the shot put 44 feet and 1 inch for fifth place in the Class A shot put. 

Lastly, in Class C, Russel Coil of Columbus swept the throwing events with a toss of 141 feet and 1 inch in the discus and 48 feet and 1 inch in the shot put. 

The Mt. Pleasant girls team will compete at a meet in West Burlington on March 26th.

The WACO girls’ team will run on March 26th at West Burlington.

The New London and Central Lee boys’ teams will participate in a meet on March 25th at West Burlington.

The Mediapolis, Danville, Winfield-Mt. Union, and New London girls’ teams will compete in a relay on March 26th at West Burlington.

High School Soccer

The WACO boys’ team will open the season on March 28th against Fairfield on the road at 5 pm.

The Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union boys’ and girls’ teams will take on West Liberty on March 25th at home with the girls’ game scheduled first at 5 pm. 

The Mt. Pleasant girls’ will host Mediapolis on March 26th to start their season at 4:30 pm, while the boys’ will travel to Danville to play at 5 pm on the same day. 

The Danville girls’ team will face off against Assumption on March 25th on the road at 5 pm.

The Mediapolis boys’ team will take on Burlington on March 26th on the road at 5 pm.

College Signing

Another Panther will be donning the red and black next year as Reece Coffman signed his Letter of Intent to golf at Southeastern Community College (SCC) next year. Fellow Panther, Nate Dismang, announced his decision to golf at SCC back in December.

Coffman had the third best 18-hole average last season at a clip of 94.17 with the second-best 18-hole low of 84. The senior talked about how college athletics was always a desire after figuring out he was superb golfer, and he will get his chance at SCC,

“SCC was like my first choice because I wanted to, like, get Community College out of the way because I just want to get used to like the college feel and it’s closer to home so I can get some of my general education stuff out of the way before I move on to a bigger college.”

The Panthers are looking to improve upon their 4th place finish at the Southeast Conference meet from last season, but the senior is putting no added pressure on himself,

“Having fun is a good one, but obviously since next year I got to do really well, this year I’m thinking hopefully I can shoot low and play great golf this year. Have a great mindset going into college.”

Coffman plans on studying to become an Elementary School Teacher.

The Panthers hit the greens on Monday, April 1st, in their first conference meet at the Fairfield Golf and Country Club.

Southeastern Community College

SCC baseball will host Northeast Community College tomorrow in a doubleheader. 

The SCC softball team will travel to take on Indian Hills Community College tomorrow in a doubleheader. 

College Basketball

The Iowa women’s team will be the #1-seed in the Albany Regional for the National Championship bracket, which means they will host the first two rounds. The Hawkeys will take on either Holy Cross tomorrow, March 23rd, at 2 pm.

The Iowa State women’s team will be making their 5th consecutive trip to the NCAA tournament as the Cyclones earned the #7-seed. They will face off against Maryland tonight at 6:30 pm. 

The #2-seed Iowa State men’s team ran away with their first-round contest against #15 South Dakota last night 82-65. Tamin Lipsey finished the contest with 17 points, sevens assists, and two steals. The Cyclones will take on #7 Washington State tomorrow at 5:10 pm. The Cougars defeated Drake yesterday 66-61.

The Iowa men’s team will face off against the #2-seed Utah on Sunday, March 24th, at 8 pm for the second round of the NIT. 

March Madness

The KILJ bracket challenge, sponsored by The Press Box and Wiley’s Interior Furnishings and Design, is officially underway with over 30 brackets submitted with the top three set to receive prizes.

Standings will be updated at the conclusion of each round.

This Day in Sports History

1969 – 31st NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship: UCLA beats Purdue 92-72 for a Bruins’ 3-peat; center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player for the third consecutive year.

1986 – HBO launches boxing’s heavyweight-title-unification-tournament.

1989 – Pete Rozelle announces his retirement as the NFL commissioner after 29 years.

2024 Citizen of the Year: Bob Griffith!

By Yorke Prough · Thursday, March 21st, 2024 at 7:47 pm CDT
Bob Griffith

The Mount Pleasant Area Chamber of Commerce presented the Citizen of the Year award on Thursday’s annual banquet. The 2024 winner is one who has lived their life in service of others. Committed and devoted to the Mount Pleasant Community, this person is always there to lend a helping hand. As someone who volunteers at many community events; Midwest Old Threshers, Festival of Lights, Main Street and Chamber of Commerce Events, an Election official, a City Councilman, and a proud Rotarian, this person is a great servant to Mount Pleasant. Congratulations to the 2024 Citizen of the Year, Bob Griffith.

Mark Hempen

Chamber staff members also select the Volunteer of the Year to recognize an individual who has had a significant impact on the Mt. Pleasant community. Congratulations to Mark Hempen, the 2024 Volunteer of the Year. He has helped with many Chamber events, including ribbon cuttings, Alive after 5’s, and setting up for Craft’s in the Park and being an emcee.

Also announced at the banquet was this year’s Ambassador’s of the Year. John and Janet Roederer take the job of Ambassador seriously and can always be counted on.

The Special Events Committee revamped the Community Impact Award this year, asking Chamber members to nominate a business, non-profit, group, or event that made Mt. Pleasant and Henry County a better place to live, work, and play. This year’s Community Impact Award was given to St. Alphonsus Church after hosting a 5K Fun Run to help bring awareness to arthritis.  Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!

Mt. Pleasant’s Reece Coffman Signs on to Golf at SCC

By Slaten Swords · Thursday, March 21st, 2024 at 4:50 pm CDT

Mount Pleasant, IA- Another Panther will be donning the red and black next year as Reece Coffman signed his Letter of Intent to golf at Southeastern Community College (SCC) next year. Fellow Panther, Nate Dismang, announced his decision to golf at SCC back in December.

Coffman had the third best 18-hole average last season at a clip of 94.17 with the second-best 18-hole low of 84. The senior talked about how college athletics was always a desire after figuring out he was superb golfer, and he will get his chance at SCC,

“SCC was like my first choice because I wanted to, like, get Community College out of the way because I just want to get used to like the college feel and it’s closer to home so I can get some of my general education stuff out of the way before I move on to a bigger college.”

Coffman heads into the season as one of the leaders and he credits head coach Robert Zeglen with his development,

“I mean, Rob has been a great coach. He was there for Young Guns and it’s nice having someone who you’ve known for a while to help coach because then you’re very familiar with how he teaches you and everything. He’s a good guy. He always helps with what you need and it helps you move on to be a better golfer and a greater golfer.”

The Panthers are looking to improve upon their 4th place finish at the Southeast Conference meet from last season, but the senior is putting no added pressure on himself,

“Having fun is a good one, but obviously since next year I got to do really well, this year I’m thinking hopefully I can shoot low and play great golf this year. Have a great mindset going into college.”

Coffman plans on studying to become an Elementary School Teacher.

The Panthers hit the greens on Monday, April 1st, in their first conference meet at the Fairfield Golf and Country Club.