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Wednesday, July 23, 2008 Top Stories PINCH ME! Winterset: STATE softball champs! The Winterset softball team proved why it has been ranked No. 2 most of the year in the state Class 3-A softball rankings. And then some. After rolling through the Regional play and snagging Winterset's third-ever berth in the state softball tournament, the Husky softball squad packed their bags and hit the road to Fort Dodge. Hopes were high. But as any trip to a state tournament, the optimism was guarded. Quarterfinal round With over 1,000 softball enthusiasts in attendance, the Huskies were surrounded by familiar faces nearly two hours away from home as they opened State competition last Wednesday night, facing Western Dubuque of Epworth in the quarterfinal. The home stands were drowning in yellow with shirts emblazoned with the words, "Knock 'em Out 2008." Drawing in the big crowd with a 7:30 start, Winterset was surrounded with chants, cheers, words of encouragement, nervousness and excitement. This was especially true at the end of seven innings as Winterset was tied, 2-2, sending the game into extra innings. Younger girls looking up to the high school athletes chanted cheer after cheer in unison, something rarely heard of at a softball game as Winterset's Macie Silliman slapped a two-run homer to close the ninth for a Husky victory, 4-2. [read the entire article] TRACTORS PARADE THROUGH MADISON COUNTY So just how many parades through Madison County can you list over the past few days? Well, there was the parade to the county fair. There was the parade of I-35 supporters to the state baseball tournament. There was the parade back and forth from Fort Dodge for Winterset's state champion softball team. There was the parade of cyclists through Winterset on the PUSH-America bike ride. There was the parade at the Old Settler's celebration over the weekend. And on Monday, there was a parade of antique tractors traveling through Madison County. The tractor ride — an antique tractor ride — is the focus for a moment. Warren County Tractor Ride An estimated 80-90 farm tractor enthusiasts from throughout central Iowa gathered in Indianola Monday morning for the fourth annual Warren County Corngrower's Tractor Ride. They left on about a 65-mile sojourn out of Indianola, from the Warren County Fairgrounds, through St. Marys and St. Charles to Winterset, where they had lunch at Barker Implement. Then they left for Cumming, Norwalk and the trip back to Indianola. [read the entire article] BURN BAN BEGINS NEXT WEEK City council gives final approval to new ordinance Got any leftover tree limbs and branches to burn? Get it done now. Next week at this time, it will be illegal to burn in Winterset. That means just about anything. Trash has always been a no-no, but people seem to do it with apparent disregard to the law. The Winterset City Council on Monday passed on third reading the new city ordinance which bans open burning within the city. It's called Chapter 12. The Ordinance Number is 561. The five-member council passed the ordinance with virtually no discussion. The vote was 4-1 in favor of the ordinance, which councilman Howard Harrell voted against. Not that he's a fan of open burning, but there are some exemptions in the ordinance which allows people who own larger lots — of three acres in size or more — to burn landscape waste. Harrell says a burning ban should affect everyone, and has refused to vote in favor of the ordinance because of that. An ordinance takes three readings by the city council to become law. The effort began in mid-June, and Monday's meeting was the third consecutive reading of the ordinance. The ordinance becomes effective when it is published in the Madisonian, the official newspaper of the city of Winterset. [read the entire article] BUSINESS EYES WINTERSET The city of Winterset is apparently one of the finalists to recruit an overseas business to Iowa. The company, which has not be named, manufactures parts for wind engines. Company officials apparently have narrowed the choice for their first U.S. plant location to Winterset and Norwalk. Several other Iowa communities, including Des Moines, are no longer in the running. Local economic development officials say a decision could come as soon as later this week. Officials are apparently eyeing the former Eaton-EAC building, also known as the 3D building, and also the Clark Industries building — located on the northwest corner of the city's industrial park on the east side of Winterset — as a location for the company. [read the entire article] BICYCLISTS STOP IN WINTERSET ON RIDE ACROSS AMERICA The 20-year tradition continues ... Ride for the memories. Ride to promote awareness for people with disabilities. Similar sights Friday in Winterset, Texas and Colorado, as members of three teams of cyclists biking across the United States in Push America’s Journey of Hope — an average 75 mile per day 4,000-mile trek from San Francisco and Oregon to Washington D.C. — to raise awareness, and hope for people with disabilities. Cyclists from all over the nation split into three teams for the ride across America — the Trans America Team, the South Team, and the North Team — with bikers from the North Team wheeling into Winterset Friday from Griswold. The local Winterset-Japan Friendship committee fed the riders victuals Friday night after their day in the Iowa sun, and rain, one of many days of extremes on the ride. [read the entire article] YOUTHS CREDITED WITH SPOTTING FIRE A dog, a cat and a kitten were rescued from a hot and smoky fire at the West Mills apparent complex last Thursday morning. Fire apparently started in the kitchen area in one of the lower apartments in an eight-plex shortly after 9 a.m. Three children, including both Michala Rosetti and Alicea Rosetti, noticed the smoke and alerted an adult, who notified local authorities. The fire heavily damaged the one apartment and caused some damage to the apartment above while all of the apartment units had smoke damage. All occupants of the building were evacuated. The dog, Pearl, jumped out of a window as firefighters removed a lower screen on the south side of the building. A kitten and a cat were also rescued from the apartment where the fire originated. No one was home at the time of the blaze. [read the entire article] COST MOUNTS TO PURSUE DUMPSITE LAWSUIT An attorney for Madison County says he's hoping a trial scheduled for next March will be a bench trial, rather than a jury trial. If it's a jury trial, it's a good bet there'll be a push to seek a venue change for the trial, according to Des Moines attorney Jack Hearn. The trial is scheduled to begin March 28. The trial is the result of a fight the county has been waging behind the scenes for over a year against a Des Moines recycling firm — Phoenix C & D Recycling — Madison County farmer Danny Patterson and the State Department of Natural Resources. The county has spent upwards of $170,000 fighting the company and the landowner, saying that a county special use permit should have been sought to dump what was billed as recycled material. Instead, the company got a permit from the DNR, which was later not renewed. [read the entire article] COUNTY JOBLESS RATE ON THE RISE Madison County’s jobless rate increased seven-tenths of a percent from May to June, state officials say. The unemployment rate rose from 3.6 percent in May to 4.3 percent in June. Warren County’s unemployment rate rose five-tenths of a percent from 3 percent to 3.5 percent from May to June, while Adair County’s unemployment rate rose from 3.3 percent to 3.4 percent. Union County’s rate also rose five-tenths of a point from 3.7 to 4.2 percent while Dallas County went from 3.0 to 3.3 percent. Iowa’s overall unemployment rate for June stood at 4 percent. There were an estimated 400 unemployed in the county in June, up 100 from May. [read the entire article] GOOD KID HAD G’DAYS IN AUSTRALIA Eleven-and-a-half-year-old Earlham student Jacob Taylor spent his spring fundraising — organizing a granny basketball game, coupon book sales, visiting door-to-door and setting up shop at Fareway — for an awesome adventure to the land down under. Last year, someone anonymously nominated the young man for a spot with the 50-year-old People-to-People Student Ambassador program. It turns out not only did the elector, think Taylor was a worthy candidate, members of the Madison County community did as well. Family, friends and folks the family had never met helped Taylor raise the enormous amount of money ($6,000, to be exact) it took for him to represent Iowa as a student ambassador. [read the entire article] FORGOTTEN MONEY: HOW TO FIND IT “Hey—it’s me. Your money. I know you’ve probably forgotten about me, lots of people have—you should see all the buddies I’ve made just waiting to be claimed. What’s that? If you had money waiting for you, you would know about it? Don’t be so sure.” Who doesn’t like a good treasure hunt? Well, it is simpler than ever to see if you have a forgotten “bit of gold” awaiting rediscovery. You’d be surprised at how many people do (about 1 in 44). A simple search for “Smith” in Winterset brought up 17 unclaimed money accounts—some with more than $100 waiting to be collected by its owner. [read the entire article] LOCAL GYMNASTS PLACE WELL AT NATIONAL COMPETITION Winterset kids are on the move again this summer, and the students at Winterset Gymnastics & Tumbling have some impressive ones that might not be in the typical child’s range of motion. When it comes to twists and flips, these youngsters are able to compete — and compete well. In mid-June, 10 tumblers and trampoline athletes caravaned east to Cincinnati, Ohio. Their destination: the USTA Gymnastics National Championship. For two days the children paired their skills against those of as many as 50 other gymnasts in each event. Once again, Madison County’s Hot Shots showed their stuff in impressive ways. [read the entire article]

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