Argus-Leader from Sioux Falls, South Dakota • Page 13

Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, S.D. Monday, June 4, 1984 Obituaries 3 Classifieds 5-8 William Reynolds William J. "Bill" Reynolds, Republican candidate for Minnehaha County Robert Kolbe Robert Kolbe, Republican candidate for Minnehaha County Commis Jack Rentschler Jack Rentschler, Republican candidate for Minnehaha County Commis James Zweep James Zweep, Republican candidate for Minnehaha County Commis sion. sion. Robert Kolbe has taught high school science at Luverne, punched the time clock in a commission.

William J. "Bill" Reynolds says he learned to communicate with people as the customer relations supervisor for Northwestern Bell. That is one sion. Jack Rentschler has served on boards ranging from the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce to the executive committee of the Minnehaha li! Reappraisal issue divides the candidates By LISA RYAN Argus Leader Staff A plan to reappraise property in Minnehaha County has divided the four Republicans running for the nomination to the county commission. Present commissioners are considering a plan to reappraise commercial, rural and residential property to ensure property owners are paying the same level of tax.

After serving for five years on the Minnehaha County Planning and Zoning Commission, James Zweep wants a seat on the county board. factory in Cali fornia, worked construction and owned a clock repair business Robert at Sioux Falls. "I am going to im0c attempt fo bring JmeS a positive atti- -weeP expert- The tude to the county comm ission," he said. reason Keyn- William olds, 51, is run- mianJ for the Re- Reynolds publican nomination for the Minnehaha County Commission. "I have a lot of empathy for people and a lot of feeling for the community," he said.

"I'd like to contribute my talents." This is the first time that Reynolds has run for office, although he has worked on mayoral and commission campaigns, including those of former Mayor Rick Knobe and City Commissioner Dick Peterson. Reynolds is a native of Omaha, Neb. He has lived in Sioux Falls for 18i years. He and his wife. Rose, have two sons: Bill the managing editor of TWA Ambassador in St.

Paul, and Michael, a student at Northwestern University in Evanston, 111. nepuDii- can Party. tac But his cam- Rentscnler paign for a seat on the Minnehaha County Commission is his first try for public office. Rentschler, 53, a native of Center Point, owns Rentschler's Truck Plaza. In his 16 years in Sioux Falls, he has served on the county Fair Board, the Industrial Board, the Crippled Children's Hospital Board, the Rotary, the Airport Board and an advisory board for the business school at the University of South Dakota.

Rentschler and his wife, Joyce, have five daughters: Sally, Betsy and Becky, Sioux Falls; Cindy, Washington, D.C.; and Kathy, Fort Wayne, and two sons: Jack Jr. and Brent, Sioux Falls. ences from those jobs will help him as a Minnehaha County commissioner, he said. The owner of Kolbe Clock and Repair Shoppe for 12 years, he has no previous political experience. But he is familiar with the commission he usually spends Tuesday mornings at commission meetings.

"I've been at the county commission as regularly as the commissioners themselves, he said. Kolbe said he is politically independent: "I owe no group anything. I have no ties, no axes to grind." A native of Sleepy Eye, Kolbe has lived in Sioux Falls for 15 years. His wife, Jane, works as a librarian at Sioux Falls College. Zweep, 45, is a Brandon farmer.

Although this is his first attempt at public office, he and his wife, Sandra, have served as precinct committee workers for Brandon Township. He is the chairman of the planning and zoning board. Zweep said he has attended commission meetings in the past year. The Brandon native and his wife have two children: Carri, who is married and lives in Phoenix, and Scott, a student at South Dakota State All but Zweep see asbestos' present clanger By LISA RYAN Argus Leader Staff If asbestos fibers in the courthouse ceiling threaten workers' health, then the material must be removed, candidates for the Minnehaha County Commission agree. But Robert Kolbe, Jack Rentschler, William J.

Reynolds and James Zweep, who are running for the Repu-bican nomination to the commission, say there needs to be more study about the effect of asbestos and the cost of removing it from the courthouse ceiling. An architect designing the remodeling of the courthouse found between 3 and 8 percent asbestos fibers in the courthouse ceiling. Taxpayers could spend $240,000 to remove the material linked to lung cancer and respiratory illnesses. Kolbe, the owner of Kolbe's Clock and Repair Shoppe, said asbestos must be handled as any other hazardous waste material: "It will have to be removed now or sometime. Period." Removing the fibers now will be cheaper than removing them in a few years, and it will reduce the possibility of lawsuits against the county, he said.

Other candidates said they wanted more information about the problem. "Is it an absolute necessity to be done yesterday?" Zweep, a Brandon farmer, asked. "Maybe it could be an ongoing problem for a year or two." Zweep said he needs more information before he decides whether the asbestos fibers are an immediate danger to courthouse workers. The customer relations supervisor at Northwestern Bell, Reynolds said commissioners should replace the ceiling. The method would depend on the plan to remodel the courthouse, he said.

Rentschler, the owner of Rentschler's Truck Plaza, said he supports doing whatever is needed to solve the problem. "First of all, I would make sure we Candidates Robert Kolbe, a clock-repair shop owner, and William J. Reynolds, customer relations supervisor at Northwestern Bell, support the reappraisal, while Brandon farmer James Zweep questions the urgency. Jack Rentschler, owner of Rentschler's Truck Plaza, said he needs more information to form an opinion. Tuesday, voters will chose two of the men to run in November for the seats held by Richard Flynn and Nils Aspaas, who are not seeling re-election.

Reappraising all property in the county is a good idea because it will set the same standards for all property owners. Koble said. It is unfair to have commercial property owners paying taxes on 55 percent of market value while homeowners pay at 65 percent, as now is done. Kolbe said he supports a modified version of a plan to have township board members reappraise farm buildings. The reappraisal boards would include three members from the board itself and three from a board that does not neighbor the first board.

The county should use an outside firm to appraise commercial property and in-house appraisers to value homes, he said. Reynolds also said he supports the plan to reappraise all the property in the county: "I get the feeling from visiting people that taxes are not being assessed fairly." Reynolds said he would need time to ReappraisalSee 3C had the correct advice from professionals," he said. Kolbe said the discovery of asbestos clouds another major issue: The remodeling of the courthouse to accommodate Magistrate Court, now in City Hall. Removing the asbestos fibers takes precedence over consolidating the court he said. The commissioners should realign available space inside the courthouse instead of constructing a separate building, he said.

The county could handle the estimated $1.2 million remodeling bill by paying it during a three-year period, he said. A bond issue probably wouldn't set well with voters who recently rejected a bond issue for a new Washington High School. Reynolds said Magistrate Court should be moved into the county courthouse. He said he would support a bond issue if the county couldn't find enough money another way. "I don't profess we should go out and increase taxes," he said.

"We should take the opportunity to look at alternative ways. Are there funds available to be directed to that?" Rentschler said the remodeling and financing could be moot issues before the new commissioners take office in January. The present commissioners probably will settle the issue long before then, he said. Rentschler said he would need more information to decide the courthouse issue. Zweep said the commissioners' $500,000 plan to build a meeting room and remodel the courthouse might leave future commissioners facing the same problem.

"I feel that if we're going to go through the process again, a stopgap measure is not the answer," he said. The county is growing, so the court house should expand enough to handle the next 10 years or more, he said: "A one-shot deal is more economical in the long run." Zweep suggested constructing an addition to the building, although the county does not have enough money on hand to pay for it. Putting a bond issue before voters and attracting outside investors are possible ways to fund the building, he said. The candidates also talked about what they think will be the most important issues for the county in the next five years. The county's income and expenses always will be dominant issues for taxpayers, Kolbe said.

"They think we ought to be living within our means," he said. "In an inflationary period, people think, 'Our salaries don't go up, but taxes always Reynolds said he is unable to pick one issue that will dominate the county. Confusion about the issues was one reason he decided to run, he said. "We need to get the issues more clearly identified," he said. "We need to have a long-range plan and a timetable to do it." Rentschler said the commission must work to attract industry and jobs to small towns.

"One issue that I feel strongly about is trying to work as a county commission with smaller communities to try to improve the economic base," he said. Zweep said a plan to reassess all the property in the county could dominate the next few years. "It is not going to be a popular issue," he said. State and federal regulations that increase the county's responsibilites will concern commissioners, especially because they will have little to say about the changes, he said. Auctioneer's cry erases years of family memories Just Folks fc 1 By Debbie D.

Woodden 4 up The auctioneer moved on to the tool shed and back to the household items. The old kitchen table wasn't worth much. But I ate the best cornbread pancakes in the world sitting at that table. You couldn't use a fork to eat Grandma's cakes. Those pancakes melted on the plate.

I took a lot of pictures: my dad lifting tools high in air so bidders in the back could see, my mom bidding on Grampa's butcher block. When it came time to leave, I made a final trip to the old two-seater outhouse the one Grandpa Roy made me use even on the coldest winter nights because the windmill didn't always create enough water pressure to flush the toilet. I will never remember Saturday, June 2, 1984, as a good day. But I will remember it. Just Folks is a column about people who live and work In the Sioux Empire.

If you know of someone who would make a fitting subject, write Debbie D. Woodden, Argus Leader, P.O. Box 5034, Sioux Falls, S.D. 57117-5034. Argus Leader photos by FRANK KLOCK Sioux Falls to Brandon Canoe Race.

Tom and his partner, Jim Lovell, won the recreational division of the race. MANDERSON They auctioned off the home place Saturday. The Woodden homestead, down to the last rusty horseshoe, was sold. As the auctioneer moved along the rows of merchandise set out on the yard, we watched people buy our memories. From the auctioneer's first "Who will give me $1 for this?" there were tears, tears for my children who will never know the love I found here.

It was all I could do to keep myself from bidding on everything. Great-grandpa's forge sold for $100. "One of the best blacksmiths around," I heard an old-timer say. "He made everything." Gatelatches, horseshoes, branding irons, tools carried his homemade trademark. If you knew what you wanted, CM.

nobody called him Chester Merle could make it. The day before the sale when my father, his twin brothers and his only sister, their spouses and I prepared for the sale we fired up the forge one last time. It didn't seem right to use it for the last time to make hamburgers and roast marshmallows. We sorted through everything before the sale. My grandfather, a storekeeper who doubled as postmaster, saved everything, including the instructions for income tax return forms for every year since the 1960s.

But family treasures like the picture my grandmother took the day my parents were engaged and my sister's birth announcement sent to Great-Grandma Tillie were found among the store receipts. I learned a lot about my grandparents as I manned the burning garbage bin. A letter from Holland told me for the first time that they sponsored families coming to the United States to work. We looked for things that we wanted to keep, reminders of another time, knowing if we didn't find them now we wouldn have a second chance. I found my treasure the hand-crank ice cream maker.

Hot summers on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation always called for homemade ice cream. Somehow it always tasted better when you cranked it yourself. Grandma Clara, who died three years ago, always asked us whether we wanted vanilla or strawberry ice cream. We always said strawberry. It wasn't until last Christmas that I found out our strawberry ice cream only had red food coloring in it.

Other things I bought at the sale the bolt rack from the store, a wooden cartridge box and the ice tongs CM. made. An old coffee pot and caste iron sausage stuffer I will use as planters. The antiques were sold in front of the log house, the birthplace of my grandfather and the place where CM. died.

I never knew but the only picture I've ever seen of him was taken in front of the log house, CM. holding a coyote he had shot. My memories of the log house are chasing kittens around the musty collection of magazines and tools. Grandpa Roy had a new batch of kittens every time we visited. Nicole Damm, 2, peeks between the rails of a bridge overlooking the Big Sioux River to get a glimpse of her father, Tom, an entrant in the Canoe race: Some like it fast, some like it leisurely r.

Jr ifw si 0 V. -jij tt dropped two cold beers to his father and friend. A regimented stroke was the trademark of the competitive crews. After five or six strokes, the pair would alternate and row on the other side of the canoe. The rowing is so consistent that even when Mike Gacke broke his oar near the finish line, he only missed two strokes while reaching for a substitute oar.

Jay Dodge and Greg Carmon won the competitive race in a time of 1:22.31, six minutes better than last year's winning time. Canoeists of all ages joined the race. Ten-year-old Tad Greenlee, the youngest, joined his father David in a race for the first time. Tom Behrend, who makes canoes and oars, stepped aside and let his son Rolfe compete with his friend Joe Hardin. Rolfe, 14, has been canoeing since he was 8.

"It's nide when they learn young," Tom Behrend said. "That's when they really enjoy it. They can take their friends and go out on the river and have fun." Sally Greenlee, Tad's mother, agreed. Tad wanted to row when the paddle was still bigger than he was, she said. By DEBBIE D.

WOODDEN Argus Leader Staff BRANDON A breezy, sunny afternoon made the second annual Sioux Falls to Brandon Canoe Race the perfect prescription for getting rid or the winter and spring blahs. For many of the recreational canoeists, whose canoes were equipped with tanning oil, a cooler of beer and an extra friend, the race was a cruise down the Big Sioux River. For the competitive crews, it was 9.2 miles of exhaustive paddling. Even in the two classes there was a variety of approaches to the race. Debby, Cindy and Cathy Hein, a well-oiled crew, had their legs hanging over the edge of the canoe when they left the starting line at Lein Park.

Bob Retzlaff and Terry Wagley were serious about their recreational race down the river. But while most racers take a plunge into the river at the finish line, Retzlaff and Wagley managed to fall in before they got to the starting line. One crew planned their race in advance. Tom Damm and Jim Lovell, winners of the recreational race in a time of 1:41.14, had Damm's 12-year-old son Mike stationed on the first bridge over the river. Just before the canoe passed under the bridge, Mike jl.

CM. Woodden homesteaded in a log house at Manderson. An auction Saturday scattered his belongings among other South Dakotans and ended a chapter of Woodden family history. The father-son team of David Greenlee and 10-year-old Tad Greenlee make waves as they race in the competitive division of the Sioux Falls to Brandon Canoe Race Sunday afternoon..