The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 20

2B DES MOINES SUNDAY REGISTER September 7, 1986 IQWAJQUHflAL Amana Society bemoans profusion of signs to colonies REGISTER PHOTO SV MARRY BAUMERT THE TALK last fall in favor of the Exit 225 sign. The second sign was erected Aug. 27. Shoup said the supervisors led under pressure mounted by business people from Williamsburg, Marengo and a few business owners from West and South Amana. Shoup said those business owners are hoping some of the 1 million tourists who visit the Amanas each year will use Exit 220, stop in their towns and spend money.

Amana Society officials are upset that the new sign points out Exit 220 as a route to the Amanas mostly because they believe V-77 is unsafe and confusing, Sboup said. "The Marengo and Williamsburg business communities are trying to distract visitors from the Amanas onto an unsafe road and into their towns. We don't need any fatalities," said Dennis Schrag, the Society's general business manager. The battle is even more confusing because V-77 had been the primary route to the Amanas since the late 1970s. The gravel road leading to the colonies then county road W-21 and now Iowa Highway 151 became too worn to use.

When W-21 was paved and named a highway in November, the Exit 220 sign pointing to the colonies was removed. Carl Oehl, who owns a cafe and gourmet shop in South Amana, said because Exit 220 had been designated on maps as the primary route to the colonies for years travelers this summer have become confused looking for a sign that wasn't thor Shoup said now everybody wants a sign. "The way things are going we would've bad Amana exits from Victor to Iowa City," he said. CENTRAL dora Slaw a 9 Manes Grinnell Hartford GRINNELL LANDSCAPE Volunteers were rolling ip their sleeves in Grinnell Saturday to landscape the gateway to their city. They planted nearly 250 plants and shrubs along Iowa Highway 146 south of town and at the Interstate Highway 80 interchange.

Roto-tillers and hole diggers have been preparing ground for the plantings. Plans are to landscape the four quadrants of the Grinnell interchange and Grinnell's interstate signs, and four businesses on the way into town also are planning landscaping. The beautlfica-tion project is part of the Grinnell 2000 Foundation, whose aim is to prepare for the city's future. Several organizations and individuals have pledged more than $7,000 toward the landscaping project DES MOINES TREASURE AUCTION If you're still looking for the jewelry your late Aunt Betsy left behind, but you couldn't find, it may shock you to know it may be going up for sale soon. State Treasurer Michael Fitzgerald is planning an auction for Sept 14 to sell $30,000 worth of unclaimed items from safe deposit boxes.

Fitzgerald said his office was unable to locate the owners of the items through its "Great Iowa Treasure Hunt" The items to be auctioned off include 1878 Morgan silver dollars, an 1898 $1 silver certificate, a diamond ring, four 1893 Colombian stamps and an eight-place setting of sterling silverware. The auction will be held at the Hotel Savery in downtown Des Moines starting at 12:30 p.m. By PAULA YOST After a 20-year wait for a paved exit from Interstate Highway 80 to the Amana Colonies, Amana Society officials now say there are too many highway signs pointing the way to the state's tourist mecca. They're citing selfish business interests from nearby towns as the reason for the glut of highway signs. "Everybody has a vested interest," said Don Shoup, secretary-treasurer for the Amana Society.

"The problem is the Iowa County board of supervisors listened to the people with vested interests from different towns." The controversy is the latest chapter in a story that began in 1965, when the Iowa Department of Transportation promised one direct route to the seven colonies, Shoup said. Sboup said he thought the story bad ended in November when U.S. NORTHWEST Arnolds Park CHerokee Sioux City CHEROKEE LOOKING FOR A SIGN Cherokee County is instituting a rural address system to identify houses more quickly when there is a medical or fire emergency. In the process, the county is trying to give a learning and working opportunity to the mentally handicapped, and may have Cherokee County Work Activity Center clients number and letter the 3,000 aluminum signs. SIOUX CITY TAKE OFF The contest to mime Sioux City's Mnnicipal Airport has really taken off, sponsors say.

Officials have received lore than 900 entries so far, and le deadline is still nearly a week way. The winner, to be an-ounced Sept. 20, will receive jur round-trip tickets for friends ho live anywhere in the conti- ntal U.S. to fly to Sioux City. hey'll receive three nights of ee lodging at the Sioux City Hil- n.

Meals, gifts from local busi- aesses and a limousine are also ficluded. Contest chairman Paul lson, owner of KZZL radio, said Is purpose is to attract attention the newly expanded and im- roved airport and to show off the ity to four out-of-towners. "We an't believe the response," he laid. SHELDON TREES MEET THE BLADE It's tot exactly "The Iowa fhainsaw Massacre," but the city If Sheldon is losing trees to Dutch lm disease, a disease that ran ftmpant across most parts of the state in the 1970s. City street superintendent Virgil Wehmeyer that each year city crews are ailed out to cut down up to 30 frees that have fallen victim to disease.

Wehmeyer said that ki past years the city has tried to feat the trees, but "90 percent of ftose that were treated got the Jsease anyway." He added: "It's st one of those things that's been joing on for the past 15 years." Despite that, "there's still lots of tun trees" in Sheldon, he said. MILFORD SHARING TALKS The Millard school board will hold a public hearing Sept. 23 to get Sublic input on an offer from the molds Park school board for an Academic sharing program. Mil-ford Superintendent Marvin Anderson said the two schools cur-aently have limited sharing of lasses and activities at the high school level, with some students rom each school going to the oth-(r for some classes. "They'd like do a total sharing program.

Lnderson said, with grades nine hrough 12 from Arnolds Park omlng to Milford for classes and rades six through eight from lilford going to Arnolds Park. he program would allow the schools to combine some classes and Increase class sizes for more efficiency. Anderson said a consultant from the Iowa Department of Education will make a presentation on class sharing at the Sept 23 meeting, and citizens will be able to ask questions and give their opinions. ARNOLDS PARK POPULAR QUEEN In the less than three months since it was launched, more than 20,000 passengers have cruised around Lake West Okoboji on the Queen II riverboat. The Queen II, launched June 20, is the successor to the original Queen, which sailed the Iowa Great Lakes from 1884 to 1973.

The Queen IL which left port six times a day during the summer season, now sails only on weekends at 2, 4 and 6 p.m. Special cruises for groups and organizations are available at 6 p.m. dally and the public is invited to Join those cruises. Amana Society secretary-treasurer NORTHEAST Hampton Cedar Falls Cedar Rapids Maquokotay CEDAR FALLS A VISIT WITH KURT University of Northern Iowa student Andy Oxley's letter to Austrian president and former U.N. General Secretary Kurt Waldheim must have been convincing.

It netted Oxley and several UNI students a visit with Waldheim earlier this summer. The 13 students, visiting Europe on a German language study program, were invited to meet Waldheim Aug. 2, a little less than a month after he was elected to the office amid charges that be was involved in war crimes in World War II. The students came to Bad Voeslau, a small resort town south of Vienna, where Waldheim was guest of honor at the town's 850th anniversary celebration. He reportedly kept a group of dignitaries waiting for 40 minutes while he chatted with the Iowans.

MAQUOKETA A RINGER It's been 55 years, bat Glen "Red" Henton just keeps getting better and better. Henton holds the world champion horseshoe title in the intermediate division for the second year. He began tossing horseshoes at the age of 10 and began competing at the age of 40. In 1961, he won the state tournament in Des Moines, a title he has won 18 times since. He has competed in 25 world tournaments, the last two in the intermediate division.

And, if that's not enough, Henton is also in the Guiness Book of World Records twice, once in 1965 for tossing 175 ringers in one game and once last year for having a 72 percent ringer average in 11 games. He won't be defending his intermediate title next year, however. At 66, Henton moves up into the senior division. CEDAR RAPIDS TROPICAL TREAT The Tait Cummins Pineapple Ball fund raiser will be held here Sept. 14, but you don't need a grass skirt or a ukulele to get in.

The annual ball, named for the late Cedar Rapids sportscaster who was an active supporter of the cause, is the culmination of the "Pineapple for People" campaign, in which pineapples were sold in the Cedar Rapids area to raise money for Camp Courageous of Iowa, a camp for mentally and physically handicapped people. MAQUOKETA MAKING TRACKS For awhile there, It looked like the horse racing track at the Jackson County Fairgrounds would be no more. "There was too much finger-pointing, and nothing was getting done. Fortunately, that ended," said County Supervisor Rick Dickinson. The track had fallen into disrepair because it hadn't been serviced in 20 years.

The clay coating had worn off, leaving a sand track that was so hard on horses' hooves that most trainers took their horses to Mon-ticello. But the track will soon have a foot-thick coating of clay. A group of volunteers will work with a county road crew at the end of this month hauling and packing clay donated by Bob Lar-key, a horse owner from Maquo-keta. HAMPTON WHERE THERE'S SMOKE there are firefighters, at least In Hampton. Chief Ron Weldon said the Hampton fire department recently bought a $600 smoke generator to train firefighters to work under smoky conditions.

The city paid half of the cost for the smoker, which Weldon says a lot of departments the size of Hampton's volunteer force normally may not have. The generator emits a non-toxic smoke that fills a house or other building, and teams of firefighters go in to bring out a 1 Amana Colonies Highway 151 was completed and a sign directing travelers to the colonies was erected at Exit 225. But the supervisors recently approved a plan to post a sign at Exit 220 marking county road V-77 as a route to the colonies. A sign bad marked the road as a route to the colonies for years, but was removed SOUTHWEST Logan Ruff Rati Half Chariton Srtsnandonh LOGAN FLYING SOON? An industrial development group from Harrison County is hoping airplane pilots will be able to make visits soon. The group, the Harrison County Improvement Association, is making plans for an airport near here, said Jerry Searle, a consultant from Ankeny who is helping the group to select a site and plan the airport.

The proposed two-runway airport would be adjacent to county road F-50, 3 Mi miles east of Interstate Highway 29. Searle said the airport is needed because most pilots and businessmen who fly are going to other airports. Searle said it hasn't been decided yet how to pay for the airport CHARITON BUSINESS MEATS ITS END After nearly a century in business, the Steinbach Meat Company in Chariton closed its doors Sept. 1. Co-owner Jim Steinbach attributed the closing to the poor farm economy, higher utility costs and changing consumer habits.

"People used to have lockers," Steinbach said. "Now they have deep freezes." Steinbach said the decision to close the business, which was started by bis grandfather in 1889, was a difficult one. "I hate to close the business, but it's just a sign of the times," he said. COUNCIL BLUFFS SIGNING OFF Plans to hire a sign language interpreter for Council Bluffs City Council meetings have been put on hold while the council considers the idea ol offering closed captioned programming to deaf viewers through a local cable television channel. Council member David Tobias said a study is being conducted to see if the idea is financially feasible.

Programming would be offered through American Heritage Cablevision in Council Bluffs. Tobias said the council supports the idea because of the large number of hearing-impaired citizens in the area attending the Iowa School for the Deaf. If the television idea proves too costly, the council will again consider hiring a sign language interpreter. RED OAK TESTING THE WATERS The Montgomery County Memorial Hospital will be surveying about 500 families in and around Montgomery County to gauge public sentiment on the hospital, the quality of its services and planning. Hospital administrator Allen Pohren said the survey will include responses from outside Montgomery County to include people who may use the hospital in the future.

Pohren said the recent decline in use of rural hospitals was one of the reasons the survey was commissioned. The survey will cost an "estimated $12,000, Pohren said. SHENANDOAH POLICE PARLEY Talks are under way between the city of Shenandoah and adjoining Fremont County over who will provide police protection for a shopping area along the border of Fremont County. Fremont County Attorney Ray Aranza said the Orchard Corners shopping area isn't inside the Shenandoah city limits, but shop owners want Shenandoah police available to answer calls in the shopping area. Shenandoah officials say they can't send officers into the area because they have no jurisdiction there.

Fremont County says they'll be happy to protect the area, but can't give it preferential treatment Talks are focusing on an agreement allowing Shenandoah police to answer calls from the shopping area, but the stumbling block seems to be who's going to pay for the added protection. I Amanas rig Williamsburg ffi-SP i "1 Don Shoup with one of the signs. SOUTHEAST Williamsburg Atal'ssa Dliymuf I Albia Fairfield; WILLIAMSBURG MOUSETRAP CANDIDATE Daniel Drlscoll invented a better mousetrap. Now he wants to re-invent democracy. The 40-year-old Williamsburg man announced his write-in campaign for Iowa governor this week.

He'll run as an Independent Democratic Republican. "I'm not extremely interested in politics and I don't have a campaign fund," he said. "It's an exercise in democracy. If any good comes from it, fine." DriscoU's sole interest is in getting people to discuss the issues and problems facing the state before the general election in November. Driscoll describes himself as a writer, an inventor and chief operating officer of The Four Horsemen Limited, a company he formed more than a year ago to market his patented mousetrap, the Mousebuster.

BRIGHTON SCHOOL GROUP A group calling itself People for Better Education is fighting the Washington School Board's decision to close the Brighton Elementary School and bus Brighton elementary students to Washington after the 1986-87 school year. The group of about 40 Brighton and Washington residents organized in late August after the board's decision. Jan Mullikin, a spokeswoman for the group, said the group has moved to retain an attorney and plans to file an appeal with the Iowa Department of Public Instruction in hopes of keeping the Brighton school open. FAIRFIELD NO LOITERING In an attempt to cut vandalism, the city of Fairfield is devising an ordinance prohibiting anyone from loitering in the Central Park district after 10:30 p.m. "Theoretically, people there with a purpose won't have a problem at all," said Councilman Philip "Tib" Young.

Young said increased vandalism in the park and the large number of people congregating there led the council to develop the measure. The ordinance should go into effect immediately if the council approves it, Young said. If it isn't passed, other measures, such as increasing police patrols in the area, may be considered, he said. A report on the ordinance will be presented at Monday's City Council meeting. ALBIA DUSTY ROADS Monroe County residents who live on county road T-31, commonly known as the Road, are upset because the board of supervisors decided to replace the road's sealed surface with rocks in an effort to cut costs.

Residents say they will be living in a dust cloud if the road is not sealed, and say they moved their houses and fences back 15 feet in the 1950s to get a dust-free surfaced road from the county. Seal-coated roads are hard-surfaced but not paved, board chairman Billy K. Myers said. The supervisors say sealing the road would cost $38,200, as opposed to $8,136 to resurface it with rocks. The county also will spread a dust-reducing chemical on the road in front of residents' homes if they pay the county $140 for each 400 feet of.

road treated. ATALISSA THROUGH RAIN AND SNOW Rural mail deliverer Jim Stucker has gotten the "Million Miles" award for his 30 years of service without a car accident though he's actually driven 836,280 miles in his career, 92 miles a day. His father was a postal carrier in Atalissa and surrounding communities from 1922 to 1945. Stucker delivers mail to 265 rural families, and says he knows most of them. HARTFORD CELEBRITY AUCTION The daily trip to the mailbox has bees a thrill this summer for Mary Fox.

Each day she has received packages from Hollywood stars, social notables and famous politlcos. The items will be sold to the highest bidders at a Sept. 13 auction for the Hartford Firemen's Auxiliary, of which Fox is a member. Proceeds will go to the volunteer First Responders, who treat people until help arrives. Among the goods for sale are 20 T-shirts from the musical group Alabama, pictures and a scarf from singer Wayne Newton, a paperweight from Ed McMahon, a color picture from "Magnum P.I." star Tom Sellock, a pen from Vice President George Bush and other items.

SLATER THE DOCTOR IS IN Slater hasn't had a doctor for 18 years, but now It has a new medical clinic complete with family practice physician, two dentists, two orthodontists and a pharmacy. The McFarland Clinic In Ames opened the satellite office ior business Aug. 19, and will have an open house today. Previously, Slater residents in need of medical care traveled to Ames or Huxley, but Dr. Paul Sunde, the new clinic's doctor, said it's important for people to have a doctor nearby.

The city, which raised $50,000 for the clinic, owns the new building, and McFarland leases It. Sunde said he's had about 10 patients a day since the clinic opened. ELDORA COMPANY SOLD Hawkeye Insurance Services of Eldors has been sold to Security Insurance Services, an insurance agency owned by Security Bank of Mar-shalltown. The sale became effective Sept. 1.

The purchase is expected to be approved in early 1987 by state and federal bank regulatory agencies. Gerald Bair tion. He grew up on an Iowa farm, and now is married with "three little Bairs." And yes, he does his own taxes. "But my wife pays the taxes," he said, laughing. Modest hero Ronald Bouvier doesn't consider himself a hero.

The 19-year-old desk clerk was overcome by fumes in March while helping evacuate about 300 people exposed to a toxic chemical leak at the Ramada Inn on the north edge of Des Moines. Bouvier couldn't smell the fumes because nerves to his nose had been severed in a car accident He was hospitalized for five days. "It makes me appreciate the life that I have," be says. "So many people take every breath for granted." Bouvier says be still has trouble breathing when exercising. NEWSMAKER OF THE WEEK Tax collector likes job Collecting taxes from hard-pressed Iowans is the worst part of being director of the state's Department of Revenue and Finances, says Gerald Bair.

But now Bair is also spearheading a two-month tax amnesty program in Iowa, which he hopes will bring the state $5 million to $8 million, "or even more." His office was given $250,000 to implement the program, and another $1 million for the post-amnesty effort to hire auditors and agents who will try to find delinquent taxpayers. Bair, 43, of Ankeny, says be loves his job, but since it's a governor-appointed position, Bair says he "figures my job is always in jeopardy every day." Appointed by former Gov. Robert Ray, he's been at it for 12 years, and has been with the department since he was 22 years old, when he started as a corporation auditor. He learned his number-crunching at Morningside College in Sioux City, where he received his bachelor's degree in business administra- FOLLOW-UP ON THE NEWS 1 Ronald Bouvier.