The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 16

Central Edition The Des Moines Register Page2B Thursday, July 10, 2008 D.M.-area school boards mostly ready for new law three-year terms. Carlisle: Will shorten John Judisch and Mark Randleman's terms. Two seats up this fall will be three-year terms. Extend all terms open in 201 0 Ankeny: Will extend Trent Murphy's and Andrew Martin's terms. Three seats are up for election this fall; the two highest vote-getters will win three-year terms, and the third-highest vote-getter will serve a one-year term.

Southeast Polk: Will extend Lori Slings' and Katie Temple's terms. Three seats are up for election this fall; the two highest vote-getters will win three-year terms, and the third-highest vote-getter will earn a one-year term. Urbandale: Will extend the terms of Doug Gulling, Cate Newberg and Mark Wierson. Two seats are up for election this fall; the highest vote-getter will earn a three-year term, while the second-place vote-getter will earn a one-year term. North Polk: Will extend Keith Mue-hlenthaler's term.

Two seats are up this fall, and one will be a three-year term, while another will be a one-year term. Candidates are asked to specify which seat they plan to run for. Norwalk: Will extend the term of Rick Kaul by one year. The two seats up for re-election this fall will be three-year terms. Shorten and extend terms up in 2010 West Des Moines: Will extend terms By MEGAN HAWKINS mehawkinsedmreg.com A majority of Des Moines-area school boards have decided how to comply with a new state law designed to streamline the election process and create uniform terms for their members.

Some terms will be cut, others lengthened, and a few elected officials have volunteered to step down early. Des Moines school officials, meanwhile, dropped an idea to challenge the law in court. The issue must be resolved by Aug. 1. BACKGROUND: Lawmakers last spring decided that Iowa school board elections beginning in 2009 will be conducted every other year rather than annually.

Board members will serve four years instead of three. The move was made to save taxpayers an estimated 1 million a year on elections. REACTION: Individual boards needed to shorten or lengthen by one year the terms of members elected in 2007 who would have been up for re-election in 2010. Of 14 districts surveyed, two boards will shorten the terms of all members elected in 2007; five will extend terms; and four others will use some combination. Three more have yet to vote.

Shorten terms of newest members Des Moines: Will shorten the terms of Patty Link and Jon Narcisse. Three seats up for election this fall will be for H. Milton Cole and Mark Lyons. Susan Moritz, the senior member of the board, offered to shorten her term. The two seats up this fall will be three-year terms.

Johnston: Will extend terms of Mike Farrell and Tracey Orman. A third filled in 2007 by Karen Coal-drake, who died in March, will be shortened; someone will be elected this fall to a one-year term to fill the vacancy. The other two seats up this fall will be three-year terms. Waukee: Will extend Larry Lyon's term and shorten Wayne Cooper's term. Cooper, board president, offered to have his term shortened.

The two seats up this fall will both be three-year terms. Dallas Center-Grimes: Will extend Angela Glasgow's at-large seat term and shorten David Eilers' District 1 term, after the two agreed on that plan. The three seats up this fall will be for three-year terms. To be determined Indianola: The board will act Monday. A school official said the board will probably extend terms for both board members elected in 2007; three seats up this fall would be for one- or three-year terms, either assigned or based on votes received.

Bondurant-Farrar: Will decide Monday. The superintendent will recommend that members extend the terms of both board members elected in 2007; she will recommend that this fall, one seat be a one-year term and one seat be a three-year term. Saydel: Will decide Monday. I More on Kirby The Rev. Jim Kirby spent 10 years as a cameraman at Iowa Public Television before he joined the priesthood.

Kirby's been a visual person. He decided to use his talents with a camera to capture student achievements at Dowling Catholic during his 10 years at the school. "I love taking pictures of people succeeding," he said. "I want others to see that." Metro Communities From Register staff and news services I ANKENY Public meeting on beltway plan today An open house on plans for a northeast beltway will be held from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. today at Snyder Associates, 2727 S.W.

Snyder Blvd. in Ankeny. The proposed beltway would extend north from the intersection of Interstate Highway 80 and U.S. Highway 65 near Altoona. It would turn west near Elkhart and meet with the Mile Long Bridge over Saylorville Lake.

Today's meeting will begin with a presentation on possible routes and other criteria for the beltway. Representatives from the beltway project consultant team and Polk County will be available to discuss the project with residents. Visit the project Web site, www.polkcountyiowa.govpublicworksPages neBeltway.aspx, for more information. Christian bands to play at festival Contemporary Christian bands will play during Ankeny's SummerFest at a concert billed as Soak up the Son. Music begins at 6:30 p.m.

Saturday at the Ankeny band shell next to City Hall, at 410 First The event will feature performances by bands from four Ankeny churches. I GRIMES Talks planned on street-address system Grimes residents are invited to attend an open house at 6 p.m. today to share views on a proposal to revamp the city's street-address system. The meeting will be held at the Dallas Center-Grimes High School auditorium, 33521 240th St. in Grimes.

Grimes, which has annexed land from Polk County and more recently from Dallas County, now has three addressing systems. Details of the proposed changes can be found on the city's Web site, www.grimesiowa.gov. I DES MOINES Channel 13 to produce Fox newscast Beginning in September, WHO-TV (Channel 13) will produce a new evening newscast for Sinclair-owned KDSM (Channel 17). The newscast, titled "13 News at 9 on FOX 17," will air from 9-10 p.m. Monday through Friday, and p.m.

Saturday and Sunday. Fox affiliate KDSM, which has had a half-hour 9 p.m. newscast, had a 4 percent market share during May. NBC affiliate WHO-TV, owned by Local TV LLC, was No. 2 in the 10 p.m.

news slot with a 14 percent market share. Gay pride events set for October Des Moines' gay pride festivities have been rescheduled for the weekend of Oct. 4. The event, originally scheduled for the second weekend of June, was delayed because of flooding. Event organizers announced Tuesday that the PrideFest Street Party in downtown's East Village will be on Oct.

4, and the annual PrideFest Parade on Oct. 5. Most of the activities are free and open to the public. See www.capitalcitypride.org for more details. More time OK'd to file rights complaints Des Moines residents will be given more time to file civil rights complaints under a decision by the City Council.

People filing complaints will have up to 300 days to file, rather than the previous 180 days. The Iowa Civil Rights Commission recently extended the time limit for filing complaints. City human rights officials said they wanted to do the same to prevent confusion and because some cases are investigated by both agencies. For information, call 281-4121 or (800) 457-4416. City to aid former dealership's renovation City officials have agreed to pay the developers of a former vehicle dealership up to $550,000 to convert the building into a restaurant with outdoor seating and offices.

1717 Ingersoll LLC will receive 10 annual payments of $55,000 if it meets certain conditions that include a 10-year minimum assessment of $2.6 million to redevelop the former Stivers Auto Sales Center at 1717 Ingersoll Ave. The money will come from taxes generated in the Metro Center Urban Renewal Area. The project is expected to generate $70,000 a year in taxes after the 10-year period. The renovations on the $3.6 million project are expected to be completed by Dec. 31.

City to cover 2 workers' conference costs City officials will spend about $3,300 to send two employees to conferences this month: Police Capt. Dana Wingert will travel to Las Vegas for the National Institute of Crime Prevention's racially biased policing program, $1,300. Human Rights Director Rudy Simms will travel to Washington, D.C., to attend the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's national fair housing training academy, $2,065. Roosevelt debate team wins honors The Des Moines Roosevelt High School debate team has reached the top.

The team was named one of the top 10 in the country, based on its performance last month at the Desert Lights National Tournament in Las Vegas. Coached by Harry Strong, the team was named a Schwan School of Excellence in Debate, which is a major honor considering there were more than 600 teams in the running, said J. Scott Wunn, executive director of the National Forensic League, which sponsored the competition. See some of Kirby's pictures at DesMoinesRegister.com. KIRBY FROM PAGE IB ability to advance a philosophy Kirby strove to ingrain at the school: "Everyone is a campus minister." Kirby wasn't sure how he'd lead the campus ministry program when he started at Dowling Catholic.

But he knew he wouldn't do the post justice if he passed the hours in his office, or if students didn't see his face much outside the school chapel. "It's like anything else; you throw yourself in and you figure it out," he said. "Campus ministry is about being right on the ground with people." Kirby threw himself into as many facets of Dowling life as he could. He made himself visible in the hallways. He was a friend to the students.

His voice was the one on the public address system at Dowling Catholic basketball games. He used his experience as an avid runner to his advantage and helped coach girls' track and cross country. Kirby wanted to help students find faith, reason and spirituality in as many places as he could especially in places they never thought to look. A Bible verse from 2 Timothy "I have competed well. I have finished the race.

I have kept the faith." helped Kirby show student-athletes how something seemingly as simple as lacing up their running shoes and hitting the track could strengthen their spiritual life. "It's a great way to demonstrate how faith applies to even mundane diction. "We never want our students to think the poor and less fortunate are only in exotic, faraway places," Kirby said. "They're everywhere. They're right outside our front doors." Former Dowling Catholic students such as Ally Thrall have trouble imagining their alma mater without Kirby.

"The thought of him leaving Dowling just never occurred to me," said Thrall, a 2004 alumna who has since graduated from Creighton University. "Father Kirby embodies everything Dowling is about. He's the school's support system." Kirby struggles with the thought of leaving Dowling Catholic, too. He graduated from the school in 1978. It's a part of him.

His reassignment is a "painful and heartbreaking reality of the priest shortage," he said. Kirby will approach his new assignment today at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church much the same way he did when he arrived at Dowling Catholic 10 years ago: He'll throw himself into the job. "With God's help, we'll figure it out," he said. things like running," said Kirby, whose tag line on e-mails reads "run2win4him." One of the hallmarks of Kirby's tenure at Dowling Catholic has been the mission trips he's helped organize to places such as Brazil and Venezuela.

Instead of sunning themselves on a beach somewhere, students like Morrissey spent their junior- and senior-year spring breaks visiting different schools to teach students about health and wellness. They tried to be role models. Whenever they could, they tried to make kids in the most difficult circumstances smile. "That experience really affected me," Morrissey recalled. "Just to see smiles on the faces of children who have nothing touches you." Mission trips abroad have always been one of Kirby's priorities, but he knows he doesn't have to take students far to show them how mightily some of their fellow human beings struggle.

Groups of students sometimes go to help at House of Mercy in Des Moines. The facility provides transitional housing and various programs for parenting women who fight ad DesMoinesRegister.com What you don't want to miss online today Today's staff recommendations it iA II 1- VI Go hog wild What do you think of the new name for our hockey team, the Iowa Chops? Go to DesMoinesRegister.com sports for a poll and video of Wednesday's announcement. Oh, say can you sing? lowans are entering our contest to become national anthem singers at the Iowa State Fair: DesMoinesRegister.com anthemcontest On the run Get ready for Midnight Madness and other local races with a new runners' guide at dmJuice.com. Wednesday's most popular stories Here are the 10 most popular stories from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Wednesday at DesMoinesRegister.com. 1. Ticks on a plane; D.M. flight delayed 2. D.M.

frets gaggles of smokers will be public nuisance 3. Police body art bans called 'unreasonable' 4. Hockey team's new name: The Iowa Chops 5. State issues 9 violation notices in smoking ban 6. Rain-loosened boulder hit tracks, sent train into river 7.

Test drives turn into road trips at auto lots 8. D.M. officer arrested, police fail to take photo 9. D.M. police now question hit-run scenario in June 30 crash 10.

Olympics: Jones" shades hide her emotions How to Contact Us Kathy MHm, Asst. Managing Editor, (515) 284 8283 or kboltendmreg com Randy vans. Asst. Managing Editor, (5151284 8118 or revansadmreg com Get news updates on your phone Get news from the Register on your smart phone at http:rn.desmoinesregister.com. Sign up for breaking news text alerts at DesMoinesRegister.commobile.

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