Sioux City Journal from Sioux City, Iowa • 4

Scarlet Dancer A Columbus, teen has been chosen as a Husker Scarlet Dancer. page A7 nnnv Saturday July 13, 2002 mi; i i ftasmussen rams of DHS layoffs, im oris "This is a painful process and there will be holes in our umbrella," Ras DES MOINES (AP) More layoffs are looming and there will be reduction Under its medical services programs, the state will reduce the rate it pays for agencies which provide services like transportation for sick patients, and the number of contracts the state has with private agencies which provide care will be pared. Rasmussen said the state will also put in place waiting lists for the admission of troubled children to group care homes. She noted that the $44 million reduction in state funding sparks a "significant" cut in federal funding, which is often tied to the level of the state's mussen said. 'There will be a reduction in preventative services, fewer psychiatric and substance abuse services and waiting lists for group home placements." Rasmussen said the agency began the new budget year earlier this month with $44 million less than it had to spend last year anH a new uavp nf rprfiietinns is be left unfilled for all of the budget year.

Another 15 to 20 layoffs are planned on top of that. DHS workers, like the rest of state government, had to take six days of unpaid furloughs during the year to cover a budget shortfall sparked by a weak economy that's cut deeply into state tax collections. Major state facilities operated by the DHS will see 52 positions which are currently vacant left unfilled throughout the year, and another reduction in force of 40 workers is coming. That will have an impact on the number of people who can be served, Rasmussen said. There will be a reduction of 12 beds at the mental health facility at Cherokee, five beds art Clarinda and a substance abuse treatment facility at Mount Pleasant will lose 30 beds.

That will lead to expanded waiting lists for treatment at those facilities, she said. The agency's administrative section will see 50 vacant positions left unfilled and another 62 furloughed. Rasmussen noted that the latest reductions means roughly one-third of the 386 administrative jobs at the agency are now gone. in services because 01 state cuts, Department of Service head Jesse Ras-mussen warned Friday. She said the cuts will leave some of the state's most vulnerable citizens waiting in line for i In a memo to the 5,000 work- ers at the state's largest agency, spelled out the details of what will have to be done to keep the department running.

the agency's positions will Sioux City's Bickford Cottage challenges state agency ruling i tit i CI I KTIV Television co-founder Dietrich Dirks ponders a question this week in his Sioux City home. broadcaster will celebrate his 100th (Staff photo by Tim Hynds) Pioneer Sioux City broadcaster Dirks celebrates 100th birthday By Glenn Olson Journal staff writer Sioux City's Bickford Cottage 1 is challenging a state agency's ruling that the facility is operating as an unlicensed health care facility and must relocate at least six residents. Bickford Cottage 1 is certified by the state as an assisted living facility and is located at 4020 Indian Hills Drive. It has the capacity to house 36 residents and currently has 31. Bickford Cottage 2 has housing for 40 residents.

After conducting a scheduled recertification visit to Bickford Cottage 1 in May, the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals (DIA) determined that "eight tenants present during the monitoring visit required more substantial care than could or should have been provided at Bickford." In a letter dated June 22, the DIA stated that Bickford Cottage could seek licensure as a nursing facility, skilled nursing facility or residential care facility. In the interim, however, the department ordered that at least six of the eight Bickford residents must be relocated to licensed facilities that can provide the appropriate level of care required. The residents are to be relocated within 45 days of the date of the letter. The DIA letter said Bickford Cottage would be permitted to provide the higher level of care to two residents as a licensed assisted living program. Mike Eby, president of Bickford Cottage's owner, the Eby LZ JL AY Rasmussen inevitable.

For instance, in field operation, 118 vacant he also called the radio play-byplay for Nebraska football games throughout his 15-year tenure. While in Lincoln, Dirks help found the national Junior Chamber of Commerce and sat on its board for two terms. He also established a local Jaycees chapter. He served on the national board of the National Association of Broadcasters, as well. In 1936, Dirks married his secretary, Ada Bell, whom he remembered Thursday as "a wonderful girl." She passed away in 1998.

In the early 1940s, the couple decided it was time to own their own business. After 15 years at KFAB, Dirks sought a broadcast license for a radio station in Sioux City, KTRI. Opposition from existing media owners slowed the process down, Dirks recalled, but after two years, he was on the air, with a string of "booster" stations serving northern Nebraska and southern South Dakota. He later added KCOM radio, the present-day KMNS. "We had the opportunity to serve a lot of people," Dirks said, "It's surprising how dependent people were on radio for news.

For ranchers and farmers it was quite an important source for weather. Because of its immediacy they could get their livestock in before a storm." In 1953, Dirks' KCOM Broadcasting applied for a television license in partnership with Perkins Brothers owner of KSCJ radio. KTIV went on the air Oct. 10, 1954 Fair Board initiated the market in response to producer requests and as an additional way to put its fairgrounds to community use year-around. The fairgrounds had been leased from Atokad Park for more than 50 years, but are now owned by the organization that puts on the fair.

Producers who wish to sell at the market must pay a $25 membership fee and a $2 daily fee each time they bring items for sale. In an effort to encourage youth participation, the membership fee is waived for 4-H and FFA members, but they are charged the daily fee. Several workshops are being A 7 The longtime birthday Sunday. if they choose. On the legislative front, Bickford Cottage has scheduled an open house from 11 a.m.

until 1:30 p.m. Tuesday for state legislators, the media, residents' family members and the public. Eby further contended "the interpretation of the rules (governing assisted living facilities) have changed not the rules themselves. We have been taki-ing care of the same kinds of residents ever since we opened in Sioux City five years ago. "But," Eby pointed out, "a new agency is now doing the inspections and has a different interpretation." Assisted living facilities had been inspected by the Iowa Department of Elder Affairs until April of this year when the responsibility was transferred to the Iowa Department of Inspection and Appeals which also inspects the state's licensed nursing facilities.

"We are very happy with the law," Eby said. "We just want to have help with the interpretation and would like to be able to insert that the residents should have the right to decide where they want to live. We feel the residents have been receiving good care and if they want to live with us they should have that right." In the meantime, Eby said, "We are complying with the state's request and are working with the families to move six residents to licensed nursing care facilities." Journal staff writer Nick Hytrek contributed to this report. 1 was a high school teacher and coached wrestling. "I'm not planning to go back and teach," he said.

So what careers would he be interested in pursuing? "Things with governmental affairs interest me or something that would allow me to continue to contribute to the community," Siegrist said. Siegrist, who will turn 50 in September, is married and the father of two small children. He will focus his employment search in the OmahaCouncil Bluffs area. "My intention is to stay here," Siegrist said. "The main thing is, I feel I'm not 1 ik We are challenging the ruling because we feel our residents' fair housing rights have been violated." Mike Eby Realty Group of Olathe, said Friday "we feel the eight patients fall squarely within the assisted living regulations." And, he added, his organization is challenging the DIA ruling on two fronts in the courts and legislatively.

"We are challenging the ruling because we feel our residents' fair housing rights have been violated," Eby said. "We believe they should have the ability to choose where they want to live." "If the resident wants to stay, the family wants the resident to stay and the resident's doctor says it's OK, they should have the right to stay," Eby said. Bickford Cottage filed suit Monday in U.S. District Court in Sioux City claiming the DIA ruling violates the residents' fair housing rights. The lawsuit also alleges that the DIA ruling violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Bickford has asked the court to issue an injunction against the DIA to keep it from forcing the discharge of residents. Bickford also is seeking a court order that the residents previously ordered discharged be allowed to return It still be involved in trying to keep the Republicans in power in the Legislature." Last year, Siegrist announced he wasn't running for another term so he could seek the Republican nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives. He came close, but lost to State Sen. Steve King of Kiron June 29 at a special nominating convention in Denison.

Technically, Siegrist is. still the house speaker, the most powerful position in that governing body, until it reconvenes in January. "My fiscal situation hasn't yet changed," he said. Prior to winning a seat in the Legislature in 1984, Siegrist 'V By Michele Linck Journal staff writer Dietrich "Dee" Dirks, co- founder of Sioux City television 'station KTIV, will celebrate his 100th birthday on Sunday. While the party, a family dinner at his Country Club Boulevard home, will be modest, Dirk's legacy is not.

Born July 14, 1902 to German immigrant farmers in Hil-dreth, Dirks and his family later moved to Lincoln so he and his three sisters could attend the University of Nebraska. There he was active in student government. Dirks earned his way through school singing with a quartet that traveled the region performing during the i summers. In the winter they performed at Omaha Orpheum Theatre. As a student, he said, he and a friend came up with UN-L's fight song, "There's No Place Like Nebraska." "We lifted it from an old songbook, from 'Dear Old Dirks remembered Thursday.

"We dressed that song up a bit" and performed it on Oct. 23, 1923 for a show at ROTC camp at Fort Snelling. "Just like that," he said, with a flick of his hand, "it picked up. Within a week we had an arrangement for Billy Quick," the longtime Nebraska band director. Dirks earned a degree in business administration in 1924 and put it to work in the broadcasting industry.

He began as program director at KFAB radio in Lincoln where on broadcast channel 4, making Sioux City a "two-channel -town," along with then KVTV, on channel 9. Dirks was KTIV's president and general manager, a post he would retain until he sold the station decades later. Perkins Brothers was a silent partner, he said, giving him full management control. The NBC affiliate began fully equipped to broadcast in color, although just a few programs were then available in the format. It started broadcasting as a low-power station, but boosted its power to the maximum 100,000 watts less than a year later.

In 1965, KTIV and KVTV joined in erecting the tower in use today in rural Hin-ton, Iowa. At that time it was the second-tallest structure in the world; the first was the tower of KXGO in Fargo, N.D. Dirks was involved in community affairs throughout his career, heading the YMCA board and chairing United Fund campaigns, a member of the Ki-wanis, Sioux City Concert Course and, in the 1960s, serving on the board of elders of First Presbyterian Church. Dirks said he has always enjoyed good health, except for "a little trouble" last year. He and Ada Dirks raised two children, both of whom remain in Sioux City: Susan Dirks Williams, a medical technologist, and John Dirks, co-owner of Jay-Lan of Iowa, a lawn service company.

Dirks' children, three grandchildren and six great-grandchildren will be among guests at the family dinner Sunday, offered for producers interested in getting involved in the market. A session for those interested in baking for sale at the market, Food Safety Regulations, will be held twice, at 4 and 7 p.m. on July 18 at the at the fairgrounds. The instructors will be food inspector Melva Ball and Carol Larvick, University of Nebraska Extension Service educator. Another workshop, Weights and Measures, will be held at 5 p.m.

and 7:30 p.m., also on July 18, at the fairgrounds, Participants will be instructed in state regulations governing how produce can be sold, The instructor will be inspector Ken Trichota. Iowa Speaker of the House Brent Slegrlst spends he announced he would not seek another term time with children, Harriet, 3, and Evan, 7, in the after 18 years in the Iowa House to try for the backyard of their home In Council Bluffs; Last year, GOP nomination to the U.S. House. (AP photo) Sie grist looks to future out of politics Dakota-Thurston County Fairgrounds scene of new farmer's market Sunday SOUTH SIOUX CITY Sunday is opening day of the new Farmer Market at the Dakota- Thurston County Fairgrounds, Home-grown produce, home-j baked pastries, hand-made crafts and other items will be available for sale, i The market will open from 7 a.m. through early afternoon.

It is at the south end of the former Atokad Park, just off U.S. Highway 77 south of Interstate 129 in South Sioux City, In addition to Sundays, the 1 farmer's market will be open 4 to 8 p.m. each Thursday. The farmer's markets will continue to be open Sundays and Thursdays through Nov. 14.

The Dakota-Thurston County COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) Life after 18 years of politics. That's what Brent Siegrist of Council Bluffs is facing. The speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives is closing out his public career under the golden dome and seeking employment elsewhere. "I've had a few people talk to me about some opportunities, but there's been nothing specific, nothing solid," Siegrist said. "If a good opportunity presented itself, I might jump on it, but I'm not in a huge hurry.

My situation as speaker of the House doesn't change until January. I still have administrative duties to do as speaker, and I'll.