Page 1 - Clear Lake Mirror Reporter E-Edition 4-20-2016

Teams are off and running
Weather
Mostly sunny Fri. and Sat. with a chance of an
isolated shower on Sunday.
USPS 117-120 VOL. 146 Issue 16
Clear Lake
Mirror-Reporter
CALENDAR
Thursday
Green Expo
Area businesses and non-
profit organizations will show-
case their products, services and
missions at the annual regional
Green Expo Thursday, April 21,
at the Surf Ballroom. The fes-
tive, informal atmosphere fea-
tures free food, a cash bar and
door prizes. The public also
gets to vote at the Green Expo
on the “Best of Show” winner
in the Re-Purpose Competition
sponsored by the Clear Lake
Arts Center. The Green Expo
is from 4-7 p.m. Thursday in
conjunction with the Clear
Lake and Mason City Chamber
of Commerce Business After
Hours. Admission is free.
Saturday
Earth Day fun
A drone demonstration, a
Go Wild costume parade, bat-
tery and expired medicine recy-
cling stations and a lively Hu-
man Hungry Hippo game are
just some of the many new ac-
tivities at this year’s Clear Lake
Earth Days Outdoorfest on
Saturday, April 23, in City Park
starting at 10 a.m. Wild preda-
tor birds, a bounce house, tug of
war, Jeopardy game, food truck,
Water Rocks! conservation sta-
tion from Iowa State University
are just a few of the other fun
choices. Events are all free and
open to the public. A complete
schedule of Earth Day events
appears in a special section in-
cluded in this week’s Mirror-
Reporter.
More CALENDAR
on page 2
Inside
Opinion..................4-5
Weather.................... 5
Sports..................9-12
Legals................12-13
Classifieds.........14-15
The lake level dropped .96”
to its new level of +2.76”
above the weir. Last year at
this time the lake measured
+5.04” above the weir.
Mail: 12 N. 4th St.,
Clear Lake, IA 50428
Telephone: 641-357-2131
Fax: 641-357-2133
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.clreporter.com
@CLReporter
(641) 357-2612
www.LakeChev.com
3005 Willow Creek Ct.
Clear Lake
pg. 9
More weather on page 5.
April 20, 2016 Serving Clear Lake and Ventura since 1869 • Hometown newspaper of Steve & Deb Duregger $1.50
Council tables decision on Main Street sidewalks
Personalized bricks could be include the current pavers. clear favorite in three design plans pre- brick paver transition area, noting the
impacted by design choice Jason Petersburg, of Veenstra & sented by Petersburg. new brick pavers would have squared
Kimm, reported on a public infor- Three respondents preferred a off edges so that the sidewalk can be
The Clear Lake City Council ta- they chose not to re-use the pavers in mation meeting held March 31 about concrete walkway flanked by new swept and snow easily removed. The
bled a decision Monday night about the new design. Main Avenue sidewalk options. Twen- brick strips closest to buildings and re- engineer’s estimate of cost for that op-
the look and materials for new side- The group voted 4-1 to table a ty-two citizens attended the meeting, claimed bricks in the transition area by tion was $603,000.
walks on Main Avenue downtown. decision until Tom Coffey, executive representing 15 (approximately 30 light posts to the curb. Those respond- The cost estimate for the third
Four of the five Council members said director of the Chamber, can address percent) of the properties along Main ing said the plan addresses safety and option, which was a new brick paver
they needed more information about what might happen to the approximate Avenue. Nine questionnaires handed snow removal concerns. The engineer’s walkway with a reclaimed brick paver
what might become of personalized 3,000 personalized bricks scattered out at the meeting seeking input about estimate of cost for that option was transition area was $591,000.
brick pavers which were purchased along Main Avenue in the event City various construction issues, including $509,000. Councilman Gary Hugi said
through the Chamber of Commerce if leaders choose a design which does not what kind of pavement was preferred, Four respondents favored a totally he believes the brick paver walkways
were returned to the city. There was no new brick paver walkway and new
See COUNCIL on page 2
New owners Ventura woman
plan to charged with
continue theft from
legacy of the cancer charity
Lake Theater
A Ventura woman is ac-
by Marianne Morf cused of stealing from a cancer LEANNE R. HICKS
Aaron Donaldson remembers visiting charity. pear in Cerro Gordo County
his aunt in Clear Lake each summer and do- Leanne Renee Hicks, 51, District Court April 29. On-
ing three things: Going to eat at The Ritz, of Ventura, was booked into going criminal conduct is a
getting a treat at the Bakery, and going to a Cerro Gordo County Jail Fri- Class B felony punishable by
movie at the Lake Theater. day, April 15 on charges of up to 25 years in prison, while
Two of those options aren’t possible any- ongoing criminal conduct and second-degree theft is a Class
more— Donaldson is determined the third second-degree theft. D felony, punishable by up to
will remain. Authorities allege that five years.
The Des Moines-turned-Clear Lake between June 14, 2014, and
resident is now the new owner of the Lake Jan. 4, 2016, Hicks repeatedly
Theater. He purchased the building and misappropriated funds from
business from Betty Sherman and her fam- “Buddies for Boobies” while
ily, effective April 15. she served as president of the
Donaldson said he intends to keep the nonprofit organization. Hicks
theater running in a “business as usual” allegedly stole more than
manner. That is welcome news to the Sher- $1,000 but less than $10,000.
man family, which has run the business for Hicks was booked into the
40 years. Cerro Gordo County Jail on
“After 40 years a good offer came in and April 15; she posted bond and
we accepted it,” said Bob Sherman, adding was released.
the time seemed right to sell. “The fact that Hicks is scheduled to ap-
it will remain a theater is great.”
In preparation for the ownership tran- New owners Aaron Donaldson and Erin Schieffer plan to keep the Lake Theater a viable part of
sition, Donaldson spent time at the theater the Clear Lake community. The Sherman family sold the theater after 40 years of operation April
over the past few months, learning every- 15.-Reporter photo by Chris Barragy.
thing from the digital projection system to
concession operations from the Shermans. purchased the business. In the decades to ‘mom-like’ figure who would remind kids to This is a weekly feature highlighting some of Iowa’s unsolved homi-
Bob and John, along with their brother follow each member of the family was in- behave and keep their feet off the seats. cides in the hopes that it will lead to new tips and potentially help
Tom, all worked at the theater throughout volved in the theater’s operations in a vari- “We want the community to continue solve cases. The project is a partnership between this newspaper and
their school days and into adulthood. ety of ways. Betty was typically stationed to count on the theater, as it has done for
Betty Sherman says she clearly remem- at the ticket window, welcoming film-goers. the last 40 years, and honor them (Sher- other members of the Iowa Newspaper Association.
bers the day back in the late 1970s, when Those like Donaldson, who have enjoyed mans) and what they have done— build on
Bob said he heard the theater was going to the theater for years, also know Betty as a Young mother never
be sold by Central States and he thought his See LAKE THEATER on page 2 returns from work
parents should buy it.
“We had just started a golf course here--
what did we know about a theater?” Betty
told him. A short while later Betty and her
late husband, Gene, told the boys they had
Case Summary by Jody Ewing
Willie Ann Rucker would never know what became of her
two daughters or her son; nor do they know whatever became of
her.
On April 8, 1979, Willie Ann Rucker called her sister from
a grocery store after working late and asked her to take the three
children to her apartment on West Donald Street in Waterloo,
Iowa, where she would meet them. Rucker, 27, was recently di-
vorced and worked as a cocktail waitress in an east side lounge.
Her sister cared for her three children — daughters Kim (10),
Deena (9), and son David, one year old.
Rucker never arrived.
Just days earlier, the attractive young mother had placed a call
to police and reported that her boyfriend was scaring her. And,
Work resumes on 12th Avenue South according to family members, Rucker would never have just aban-
doned her children or not checked in with them were she alive;
Crews from PCI resumed work on the 12th Avenue South bridge this week. According to Public Works Director Joe Weigel, rock base was most of the family believe Rucker was killed by an ex-boyfriend.
being prepared in order for Wicks Construction to pave this week, weather permitting. The bridge, which leads the way to the new McKes- They reported her missing to the Waterloo Police Depart-
son plant from the west, was closed through the winter months. Completion date for the project is May 30.-Reporter photo. ment on April 12.
Looking for a mother in every city
Growing up, Rucker’s two daughters and other family mem-
bers shielded little David from the truth about what happened.
They told him she’d been killed in an automobile accident when
he was a year old, and it wasn’t until he attended a family reunion
See GONE COLD on page 2
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