Page 6 - Clear Lake Mirror Reporter E-Edition 2-24-2016

Opinion
Page 6 • Feb. 24, 2016
25 Years Ago
February 1991
After days of warm temperatures,
North Iowans were rudely reminded
that it is, indeed, still winter. Wind
gusts near 40 mph created white-
out conditions on area highways and
made travel, even by foot, difficult.
Property taxes for Clear Lake
residents will rise approximately 3.8
percent to support several local capi-
tal outlays and position the city for
what lies ahead. The proposed 1991-
92 budget is $4,777,311. Although
that figure reflects a net decrease
of $43,584 from the current year’s
amended total budget, City Admin-
istrator Tom Lincoln says demands
placed on the city’s budget have not
decreased.
Kirk Sorbo, of Clear Lake, has
been selected to attend the 1991 Na-
tional Young Leaders Conference in
Washington DC. Kirk is the son of
Bill and Cheryl Sorbo, of Clear Lake.
He is a senior at Clear Lake High
School.
The advent of war in the Persian
Gulf has prompted Americans to dis-
play all types of symbols to show they
are keeping troops in their thoughts.
Deb Buchanan, a seamstress from
Clear Lake, has expanded on a World
War II idea to remember soldiers and
has begun producing “Saudi flags.”
The Clear Lake post office lobby
has been expanded to accommodate
more postal boxes, as well as a stamp
machine and drop boxes.
Ron and Judy Klemm, of Clear
Lake, opened “The Coffee Break.”
The new business, located at 505
Main Ave., offers visitors more than
50 choices of coffee beans, as well as
many decaffeinated blends and two
kinds of loose and bagged teas. Cof-
fee will also be available by the cup to
go.
Aggressive, feisty and intimidat-
ing all may be used to describe the
Clear Lake girls basketball team in
their 59-49 come from behind vic-
tory over Forest City. The Lions were
down eight at halftime. The Clear
Lake guard court of Kendra Berge, Jen
Keifer held the Indians to just seven
third quarter points, while the for-
ward court of Kathy Walls, Heather
Datema and Mindy Day put together
19-points.
The Clear Lake wrestling team
beat favored West Hancock of Britt
to win its first sectional tournament
since 1973. Seven Clear Lake grap-
plers advanced to the District tourna-
ment, five were sectional champions.
Champions on the day included Chad
Whitecotton, Brandon Frampton,
Shawn Zimmerman, Mike Andrews
and Jason Salge. Also advancing are
Where do you read?
Joyce Pinke, of Clear Lake, and her family went to Steamboat Springs, Colo.
for the Christmas break. Pictured reading the Clear Lake Mirror-Reporter
with Joyce (center) is Ben and Laura Pinke, of Steamboat Springs, and their
children, Levi and Hannah and Lilly Schildroth. -Submitted photo
12 N. 4th St., Clear Lake, IA. 50428 • Ph. • 641-357-2131 • Fax • 641-357-2133
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REMEMBER WHEN
Wrestler recognition, 1991
Clear Lake Wrestling Coach Gary Weber was joined by Mayor Lois Kotz, School Superintendent Steve Voelz, and
Booster Club President Bill Cooney in 1991 in congratulating the Clear Lake Wrestling team on their second place fin-
ish at State. A special ceremony was held for the team, with speakers noting that success, like that experienced by the
wrestlers, breeds a successful attitude in all aspects of the school. Hopefully a tradition is being started.
Craig Billings and Andy Hansen. a group of 12 ladies. The fun loving
Ventura’s Scott Hinrichs scored group played court whist, enjoyed
his 1,000th career point in last week’s a light lunch and ended the evening
75-64 victory over Dows. dancing to radio music.
Jim Hansen Ford, of Clear Lake, A coupe driven by Harold Shoop
is offering a showcase of cars and and a large car driven by F.P. Walker
trucks for sale. Featured 1991 cars collided at the corner of 5th St. and
and trucks include: Aerostar window North St. The coupe turned, striking
van, $14,177; F150 pickup, $11,995; a telephone pole, damaging it so it re-
Ford F250 4X4, $16,459; Ford Rang- quired the services of the wrecker to
er, $7,388 and a Festiva L+, $6,473. get it to the garage. The Walker car
was not damaged.
50 Years Ago
February 1966 100 Years Ago
A petition for a merger of the February 1916
Mount Vernon Township School Dis- George Gardner lost his faithful
trict with the Clear Lake Community family driving horse a few days ago. It
School District was approved Friday was 31 years old. George raised this
by the Cerro Gordo County Board. horse and owned him always. Its loss
A break-in at the Farmers’ Lum- will be felt by every member of the
ber Company, 12 N. 8th St., was re-
ported to the Clear Lake police. A
quarter inch drill was reported miss-
ing and the pop machine was dam-
aged.
Elgin Morris, assistant cashier of
the Clear Lake Bank and Trust Com-
pany, was elected president of the
Clear Lake Jaycees.
The Clear Lake Lions assured
themselves of a share of the North
Central Conference crown by turning
back Hampton, 65-52.
85 Years Ago LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
February 1931
The Harvey Wood home is under Public needs
quarantine for a couple of weeks ow- some input
ing to the death of the three-year-old
who suffered a communicable disease To the Editor,
which caused his death in a few days. Congress recently tweaked the
Miss Mary Siesseger entertained rules for filing for Social Security. In
the grand scheme of things it prob-
ably wasn’t a big deal. What wor-
ries me, though, is how little input
the public had. Congress obviously
passed the changes in order to save
money.
Medicare benefits are sure to be
next. Here’s hoping Congress doesn’t
try to fly under the public’s radar
when it comes to tweaking those
benefits. With healthcare costs out of
control and neither party willing or
able to corral those costs, maintain-
ing Medicare benefits is key to mak-
Serving Clear Lake & Ventura Owner/Publisher...... Mike Finnegan
communities since 1869
[email protected]
Editor.................. Marianne Morf
[email protected]
Chris Barragy Michelle Watson Amy Palmer
[email protected] [email protected]
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Clear Lake Mirror-Reporter
Under The
Golden Dome, Too
Representative Linda Upmeyer
515-281-3221
[email protected]
Funnel week
This week was the first funnel
deadline which means that for any
House bill to remain eligible for con-
sideration, it needed to have passed
at least one House committee, and
vice versa for the Senate. In a few
family. weeks we’ll reach the second funnel,
At the present time a $50,000 where Senate bills must pass at least
damage suit is in progress. A.E. one House committee, and again, vice
Carter, living on route 4, had his two versa in the Senate. Subcommittee
daughters severely burned by an ex- and committee work consumed our
plosion of an oil can, one girl died a time as members made sure priority
few days later and the other was left bills would move forward. The fun-
scarred and a nervous wreck. It was nels exist to narrow the Legislature’s
alleged by the plaintiff the employ- focus as session moves along so that
ees of an oil company filled the fifty more attention can be put on bills that
gallon tank on the Carter farm with receive wide support.
a mixture of kerosene, gasoline and A complete list of bills that sur-
naphtha, instead of with kerosene as vived the funnel deadline will be avail-
directed. When Miss Frances used the able next week on the House Repub-
oil the next morning to kindle a fire lican website. Many of these bills
an explosion followed. are focused on growing the economy,
New middy blouses with embroi- creating flexibility for schools, devel-
dered initials, C.L.H.S., are on sale oping opportunities for Iowa jobs, as
at Sondrol’s for $1.25. Show your well as protecting Iowa families and
school spirit. taxpayers. Here are some examples:
More Flexibility for Schools
House Republicans continue our
efforts to ease the burden on school
districts by loosening up funds under
their control and providing local deci-
sion making. House File 2312 would
allow Professional Development dol-
lars ($30 million per year) to be used
to purchase textbooks and curriculum
for classroom purposes, if the pur-
chase includes professional develop-
ment material.
Banning Synthetic Drugs
Fighting against the use and pro-
ing sure retirees have access to much duction of synthetic drugs continues
needed healthcare.” to be a priority for House Republicans
and we addressed this again this year.
Bob Burns, House File 2309 continues that work
Mason City, Iowa to protect our young people by keep-
ing dangerous and deadly synthetic
Be fair to postal drugs off the streets, and making it
workers
To the Editor, Amanda Ragan
Two and one-half weeks ago when
we received approximately 12-inches State Senator
of snow and wind, Mason City kept
their postal workers home. City of- 515-281-3371 or 641-424-0874
fices in Clear Lake closed by 2:30, [email protected]
garbage pickups were cancelled, but
our postal workers had to be out in Raising awareness to stop human trafficking
the wind and unshoveled snow! I’m
just saying? Human trafficking is defined
as using force, fraud or coercion to
Lani Cook, exploit someone for sex or labor. It
Clear Lake is now a $150 billion industry, and
it’s happening here in Iowa— in our
schools, at our hospitals and on our
highways. While awareness about
the issue is growing, human traffick-
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easier to prosecute sellers.
Strengthening Iowan’s Second
Amendment Freedoms
House File 2279 follows the lead
of 41 other states to allow the pos-
session of a firearm suppressor after
going through a rigorous process.
Suppressors in reality are not what
we see in movies. Suppressors do not
silence firearms, but simply reduce the
decibel level, primarily for those who
shoot for recreation in competitions as
well as hunting. Another bill, House
File 2314, would protect the per-
sonal information of weapons permit
holders, so that those who may wish
to obtain a firearm by illegal means,
don’t have access to a list of potential
people to steal from. In addition, this
bill creates a more uniform permitting
process across the state, streamlining
the application process and ensuring
efficiency which will really help coun-
ty sheriffs and law enforcement. Both
of these bills received wide bipartisan
support during subcommittee and
committee hearings.
Spurring Growth in
Biochemical Production
House File 2288 will help grow
the economy and create new jobs by
incentivizing production of renewable
biochemical products, a new and ex-
panding industry right here in Iowa.
This bill will help establish Iowa as a
leader in production of value-added
by-products that benefit many indus-
tries right here in Iowa.
Protecting Taxpayers
While the state budget is not
subject to the funnel deadlines, work
continues to be done to ensure that we
live within our means and prevent the
use of one-time funding to pay for on-
going needs. Iowa families and busi-
nesses operate under this common
sense philosophy, and government
should be no different.
ing has only recently been recognized
as a crime by many. It’s hard to esti-
mate the reach of human trafficking
because related laws and definitions
of victims are changing quickly to ad-
dress the problem. For example, those
engaged in forced prostitution or sur-
vival sex are now regarded as victims,
rather than offenders.
According to the Polaris Project,
a human trafficking victim advocacy
organization, the average age of entry
into forced prostitution is 12 to 14 for
girls and 11 to 13 for boys. Many of
these kids have run away from trou-
bled homes. The National Network
for Runaway Youth reports that with-
in the first 48 hours of being on the
street, one in three kids are lured into
sexual exploitation, usually with the
promise of shelter, food or a fictitious
modeling contract.
SF 2095, approved with biparti-
san support in the Senate Education
Committee, requires mandatory child
abuse reporters be trained to recognize
and get help for kids affected by hu-
man trafficking. This includes those
who work with children through
health care, education, child care and
law enforcement.
See RAGAN on page 7
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