Underage Drinking Law

State Lawmakers are considering legislation, comparable to Washington's ordinance, that makes it illegal to knowingly allow minors to consume alcohol on property. County Attorney Barb Edmondson says one law being looked at is altering the state law that makes it illegal to provide alcohol to minors and to also make it a crime to knowingly allow minors to consume alcohol on property. 

Military Academy Appointments

Congressman Dave Loebsack is looking for area students interested in attending one of the military academies. Representative Loebsack says there is a shortage of mid-level career officers in the armed forces. The only way a student can attend one of the academies is through congressional appointment. You can find information about applying for a nomination at Representative Loebsack's website,www.loebsack.house.gov.

Kalona Days

Kalona Days are continuing preperations. Kalona Days Chairman Dave Finley says the organizational meeting for new and returning committee members is scheduled for Tuesday at 5:00 pm in the Kalona Chamber Building. Finley says this year's event will be June 19 and 20, in the streets of downtown Kalona in celebration of Kalona's 130th birthday.

Movie Night

The Kalona Library will be holding a movie night this Thursday. Youth Services Librarian Marissa Tartaglia says when schools are cancelled or get out early they like to hold activities at the library to give the kids something constructive to do. She says in conjunction with the early-out on Thursday, the 26th, the Kalona Public Library will be showing the movie Wall-E from 1:30pm to 3:10pm.

Legislative Briefing

State Senator Becky Schmitz and Representative Larry Marek are coming to Washington to update residents on issues state lawmakers are working on. The Chamber is putting on the Legislative update which will be in the county courthouse this morning at 10. If you can't make it, you can listen to KCII at 1pm as we will broadcast a recording of the update on the radio and online atwww.kciiradio.com

Parents as Driving Teachers

The Mid Prairie Home School Program is trying to get a bill passed through legislation. Home School Supervising Teacher Andrea Farrier says it looks like they have democratic sponsorship in both the house and the senate for parent-taught driver's education for home schooling families. She says things are not finalized yet but the bills have been submitted to LSA, and she is very hopeful about their potential to get out of the transportation committees and to the floor for debate.

Prevailing Wage

Two Washington County Supervisors went to Des Moines to voice their opposition to the prevailing wage bill. Supervisors Adam Mangold and Wes Rich left yesterday. Mangold says after reading the proposed legislation, his interpretation is that a wage would be set by the state from information they gather from workers around the state, and that would be applied to all projects in which state money is used. Mangold says he feels this will increase the costs of projects to local governments. Mangold says according to Iowa Republican Party officials, they believe State Representative Larry Marek from Riverside will be the deciding vote. Marek said last Saturday he planed to vote against, then this week it is Mangold's understanding he changed his mind. Now after talking to constituents again, Mangold believes Marek will vote against it. 

Stimulus Money for Education

Earlier this week Iowa Congressman Dave Loebsack reported to the Washington School District, they'd get around $500,000 from the stimulus package, but it may not be that simple. Interim Superintendent Dave Sextro says the Iowa Department of Education says that the money will be earmarked for title one education. Sextro says the department is urging districts to sit back and relax until they get final notification on how much will be coming. According to Sextro title one is a program that gives students who struggle with reading and math extra help to bring them up to their grade levels.

Tax Preparation Awareness

As you prepare your taxes this year, there might be a few credits you are able to claim that you might not have known about. ISU Extension Family Resource Management Specialist Mary Wienand says one you want to be aware of is the earned income credit. She says because people's situation may change, such a change may have put them within the requirements to be able to claim the earned income credit which can be worth as much as $4800. She also says some tax payers are unaware there is a $500 credit for childcare on your state taxes. Finally you might be eligible for free tax preparation assistance. You can learn more at www.irs.gov.

Read Across America

Students in Kalona Elementary School will join millions of their peers across the country to celebrate the ninth annual National Education Association's Read across America Day on Monday, March 2. Second Grade Teacher, Kerri Bell says NEA's Read Across America Day, which falls on Dr. Seuss's birthday, expects more than 45 million readers, both young and old, to pick up a book and read. Kalona Elementary Family Literacy Night will be Monday, March 2 from 6-7:00p.m. in the Kalona Elementary Media Center

Wellman House Fire

The investigation into a Wellman house fire has been concluded. The fire seriously damaged a home owned by Tim Hathaway. Wellman Fire Chief Jeff Fair says the home was engulfed in flames before they arrived on the scene. Fair says the home was so badly damaged there was no way to conclude what had started the fire. The home is considered a complete loss. He says the investigation has been closed.

Senator Grassley visits

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley held a town hall meeting in Washington, and talked a little about congressional efforts to address the economy. Senator Grassley says the government is not wanting to be in the bank investment business, so the hope is banks will buy back the stocks the government has purchased in the next two years. He says the government did something similar with Chrysler about thirty years ago. Yesterday's meeting was part of a bigger series of meetings Grassley is holding to gather input from constituents.

Schmitz Labor

The recent discovery of the activities at the Atalissa turkey processing plant and at the meat packing plant in Postviille, has State Senator Becky Schmitz calling for stronger enforcement. At Atalissa it was discovered mentally disabled men were living in poor conditions and at Postville, child labor laws were being violated. Schmitz says the state needs to address these problems. She says failure to enforce labor protection laws especially those concerning wages, cheats workers, drives down wages and is unfair to those businesses compliant to labor laws.

County Attorney vs. Underage Drinking

Washington County's Attorney was recently at the State Capitol talking about ways Washington has fought underage drinking. Barb Edmondson spoke at a press conference sponsored by Iowa Alliance of Coalitions for Change. It's a youth coalition formed to fight underage drinking. Edmondson describes strategies to reduce underage drinking such as social host ordinance passed both by the City of Washington and the county. She also serves on state and national committees that address juvenile issues such as underage drinking.

Demon Dash for Cash

Washington Community Schools and Bodywrx are putting on a 5K Run/Walk and Mile Run/Walk to raise money for local schools. They are calling Demon Dash for Cash, Teri Hartzler is the chair of the event. She says it will be April 18th at the Washington Junior High. The proceeds go towards the purchase of books for the media centers and libraries for the four schools in the district. Hartzler says there are sponsorship packages available.

Paving Work

Kalona will be getting new paving work done. The Kalona City Council approved moving ahead on paving 10th Street from Highway 22 to the middle school by beginning to bid for design work. One block of F Avenue would also be paved. City Administrator Doug Morgan said the engineers had given the probable cost at $149,000. The street would most likely have 7 inches of concrete at 31 feet in width. He noted the entrance to the school was currently 25 feet wide, so the last block of the paving project would narrow to conform to the school entrance. The City Council agreed that this paving work should be number one priority this year.

Valentine Craft Event

The Kalona Library held a Craft Event on Valentines Day. Youth Services Coordinator
Marissa Tartaglia says on Valentines Day kids came to the library to make different things. Tartaglia says youth have been coming to the library more and more, she says every week it seems that more kids are attending the library and participating in different events such as the craft event and reading groups.

ISU Crawfordsville Research Farm Educational Meeting and Annual Meeting

Everyone is invited to the ISU Crawfordsville Research Farm Educational Meeting. The annual meeting for the SE Iowa Agricultural Research Association will begin at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 5 in the Washington County Extension office in Washington. Gary Bickmeier, the Keokuk County Extension Education Director says after a short business meeting, Kevin Van Dee, farm superintendent for the SE Iowa Research & Demonstration Farm will give an update on research occurring on the farm. Again the event will be 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, March 5 in the Washington County Extension office in Washington.

Washington Y Director

The Washington Community Y will be looking for a new director. Darren Pickles has accepted a job in the Lancaster metro area in Pennsylvania. He will be the branch director for the Lancaster Y which is opening a new 45,000 square foot facility on 10 acres of land. Pickles says this opportunity just kind of fell on him and it was the toughest decision he's had to make. Pickles last day at the Washington Community Y is March 6th.

Prevailing Wage

One Washington County Supervisor is opposed to the idea of requiring prevailing wage on state funded projects. Supervisor Wes Rich says lawmakers are looking at requiring the area's prevailing wage be used on projects that involve state money. Rich says the requirement of using prevailing wage will likely force projects to cost more which could lead to higher taxes.