The Courier from Waterloo, Iowa • 17

Obituaries C2 Daily Record C2 Cottiiti TAT I I It Pay to wcfch Sport supplements drawing criticism from medical experts. Pagd C5 Bricks hit tho books Blocks are off to college -Waterloo sells a load to Loras for projects. Page C4 Section mm 11 livyJJJlli lU At 1 it Wednesday, September 16, 1998 Nancy Raffensperger Nowhoff, Managing Editor (291-1445) H. James Potter, Regional Editor (291-1451) State approves plans to widen Highway 63 north of Waterloo by 2001 One of the leading advocates for U.S. Highway 63 improvements was former Iowa Transportation Commission chairman Robert Rigler, a New Hampton banker.

In addition, Hassenstab said, truck traffic on the road is above average, and local law enforcement officials have cited the many hills and long "no passing" zones as hazards. The widening project is estimated to cost about $34 million. A major portion of the funding was included in previous federal highway legislation, Hassenstab said. In a separate matter, the Commission also approved design plans for the $16 million widening of U.S. Highway 30 to four lanes in Marshall and Tama counties, from Marshalltown to the Meskwaki Casino entrance.

Grading and paving for the project, which would include a rerouting of Highway 30 north of Le Grand in Marshall County, would be done in 2001 and 2002. A future project, which may come up for design approval next year, would widen U.S. 30 from the casino entrance east to Toledo. widening project is that the road is being rerouted to straighten out some right-angle curves in the existing roadway west of Frederika. The heavily traveled highway has been the scene of several "high profile" multiple fatality accidents over the past 10 to 12 years, Hassenstab said.

Fourteen people were killed on the 15-mile stretch of road in a series of accidents between 1986 and 1994, causing an outcry among residents for improvements, including four-laning the stretch from Highway 3 north and the New Hampton bypass. about two miles south of the intersection with U.S. Highway 18 south of New Hampton in Chickasaw County. That's the point where the relocated Highway 63 bypass of New Hampton is to begin. Grading and paving work is scheduled to be done in 2000 and 2001 said Phil Hasscnstab, and Iowa DOT project development engineer.

The New Hampton bypass will be built in 1999 and 2000. Both Highways 63 and 18 are expected to remain open to traffic during construction. One of the significant aspects of the By PAT KINNEY Courier Business Editor Ml One of the most dangerous stretches of two-lane highway in Northeast Iowa will be no more in three years. Plans for widening two-lane U.S. Highway 63 to four lanes in Bremer and Chickasaw counties were approved by the Iowa Transportation Commission Tuesday.

With little discussion, the commission approved the widening of Highway 63 from Highway 3 north to CALL THE cousin Questions concerning local Issues are taken on a special Courier phone line at 234-3566. Q. Last week in the Courier there was information on a depression clinic sometime in September. Can you print more details on this? A. The Courier recently printed Information on a free prostate cancer screening at local hospitals on Sept.

26, but nothing on depression clinics. However, the hospitals also sponsor a free depression screening each October. This year's date is Oct. 8, and information will be Committee shelves library lot suggestion 7 End of the trail Midwest pioneer reunited with his family-132 years after his death Q. Is the city of Waterloo going to have free leaf pickup this year? A.

Yes. A date has not yet been approved by the city's Public Works Committee. Q. At work we are saving pop can pull tabs for Ronald McDonald Homes. The Internet states that this is an urban myth.

Should we continue saving them? A. The pop top fund drive is for real, said Kelly Lamb, manager of Ronald McDonald House in Iowa City. 'McDonald's (the restaurant) has an arrangement to sell the pull tabs to a scrap metal refinery In Minneapolis," Lamb said. "We collect them, box them up and put them on a supply truck. They sell them, and we get all the money, not just a percentage." Last year's drive brought in $9,800 to the Iowa City house.

With a capacity for 22 families, the house provides temporary living quarters for children (and their families) being treated at Iowa City hospitals. Sioux City and Des Moines also have Ronald McDonald houses. i. James Benson's grave was found in a cemetery dating back to Territorial days, said Margaret Woodard, 83. "It was set off in a corner, on a hill in the farthest comer in the cemetery, with a cornfield on one side, beneath an oak tree.

A pretty place, but forgotten. The headstone had fallen over," she explained. The headstone itself, said Mick, was 42 inches tall, 20 inches wide and 4 inches thick. After scraping off more than a century's worth of dirt and lichen, they could read the simple inscription: James Benson, 1805-1866. Family members hefted the gravestone into the bed of a pick-up truck to transport back to Iowa.

Two gravediggcrs from Galena, were hired to excavate the site and a Wisconsin mortician was on hand to direct the exhumation. The gravediggers shoveled sticky clay soil for 1 12 hours before reaching the first remains. "The casket had disintegrated in 132 years. In fact, it was beginning to look like they wouldn't find anything and we thought maybe someone had robbed the grave, then they uncovered a long bone, maybe a leg or arm bone," said Margaret. Mortician Audrey Barrett told the family members they could sift through the soil by hand for bone fragments.

The only volunteer to don rubber gloves for the search was seventh-grader Katie Benson of Port Washington, daughter of Dan Benson. She wanted to tell her friends how she'd spent her summer "I dug up a body." By MELODY PARKER Courier Lifestyles Editor WATERLOO It was the most unusual burial Lawrence "Mick" and Margaret Woodard have ever attended. At a small cemetery in central Iowa, the Waterloo couple and other relatives watched on Sept. 1 1 as a PVC tube containing the remains of James Benson was solemnly lowered into a grave. The gravestone will soon be set into place at the Lamoille cemetery and James Benson, who died 132 years ago in Darlington, finally will rest alongside five generations of Bcnsons buried in the small community, located between Marshall-town and State Center.

The Woodards and other descendants, including Glen and Margaret Swanson of Waverly, were also present when the grave was exhumed in August. "It was quite an experience," said Mick Woodard, 79. "Never done anything like it before." James Benson is Woodard's great-great-grandfather. Benson's burial culminates a two-year search for the gravesite by descendants, exploring Wisconsin graveyards and fragile documents. At the 1997 Benson family reunion, descendants voted to exhume the body and move the remains back to Iowa.

More than 20 descendants attended both the exhumation and reburial. A memorial service will take place at next summer's reunion. Q. Who has taken over the records of Dr. Winninger that retired several years ago in Waterloo? A.

Try contacting the Northeast Iowa Family Practice Center at 272- 2112, with which Dr. Louis Winninger was formerly affiliated. Courtesy Photo The heavy, 4-lnch-thlck headstone was found fiat atop James Benson's 132-year-old grave. It was hefted into a pick-up truck and transported to Iowa for Installing at the new gravesite. Q.

What Is Mayor Rooffs position regarding the petition he recently received requesting the band shell be located next to the river and railroad tracks? Only a few remains were unearthed, such as both parts of the jawbone, toe bones and other small fragments. The bones were lifted to the surface in a plastic ice cream bucket, then transferred to a plastic box. What was left of the earthly remains of James Benson were carefully fitted into a $25, four-foot length of PVC pipe and capped at both ends for burial. Total expenses were $487. A metal plate was added to the pipe to describe the disinterment and reburial.

Benson was born in Middle Barton, Oxfordshire, England, and arrived in Wisconsin in 1860. He owned a farm in southwestern Wisconsin, was married and had several children. He died six years later, at age 61, while visiting his son, Thomas, a Civil War veteran, who farmed in Iowa. No one knows the cause of death but descendants know Thomas brought his father's body back to Wisconsin for burial. When Thomas prospered at farming, he moved his mother and siblings to Iowa, where they remained the rest of their lives and were buried.

Now James Benson has finally returned to Iowa and rejoined his wife and children, Margaret said. A. A committee recommended that location, and Rooff said the city will proceed with designing the band shell on that site unless conditions change. By JENNIFER JACOBS Courier Staff Writer I CEDAR FALLS I The Library Site Selection Committee has settled on three spots: State Street between the 100 and 400 blocks, Birdsall Park, and land next to the Hearst Center for the Arts. The existing site and the idea to tear down the adjacent seniorcommunity center to make more room is off the list.

But these are just recommendations to be presented to the Library Board of Trustees Oct. 7. The board members will make up their own minds. Library Board Chair Susan Staudt said a special meeting will be held soon to get public input, then the board will forward the favorite spot to the Cedar Falls City Council. During a Site Selection meeting Tuesday, Architect Tim Jones said the existing site, even without use of the Cedar Falls Community Center (formerly the Senior Activity Center), isn't big enough.

A city block doesn't offer enough space for the building, plus parking, a book drop-off lane, green space for grass and other plantings, setback from the street or room for future expansion, Jones said. The architect suggested building the library on the existing land, and putting the parking lot across the street on State Street, or vice versa. That would mean acquiring expensive land and buildings. And Johnson pointed out it would also require demolishing the community center next door, and there's too much tension over that prospect. Community leaders have thrown support behind converting the senior center into a community building for parties, receptions and other activities.

In fact, a celebration was held Tuesday to kick off raising $130,000 to remodel the center. Jones added that the old library couldn't be demolished until the new one was built so services could continue, but it would be tricky to build a new library around the existing building. The committee also tossed out spots it had hashed over at previous meetings, including the entire city block near the Recreation Center where the American Legion Post 237 now sits on East 14th Street; the half block where Anderson Body Shop was at 516 Washington and the city block across from Overman Park now occupied by houses and the Odd Fellows Temple at 402 W. Second St. Each site remaining on the committee's list has its pluses and minuses.

The State Street site is just three blocks from City Hall, with good visibility from the street, flat land, and future direct access to the recreational trail system. The assessed value of the land and buildings on it totals $154,000, far less than the most expensive site considered, the $830,000 Odd Fellows block. But part of the site was once home to a junkyard, so there is the See LIBRARY, page C2 NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT Board says improving housing a priority Q. I work for a medium-sized Waterloo company that is nationally affili-; ated and on Aug. 24, the day of the 1 tornado warning, we were forced to stay at our work stations.

Is It legal for them to make us stay working Instead of going to shelters? A. The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires employers to execute a written plan of action when events such as tornadoes or flood threaten their employees. During tornado warnings, that means making sure employees remain in the most secure area of the building. Employees can report violations by calling the Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration at (515) 281-8066. OSHA also assists employers with questions about how to comply with the law, at (515) 965-7162.

Q. What is the large building that was built In the 1100 block of Rainbow Drive in Cedar Falls? Is it going to be a business? Groups ask for easier access to city officials By SUZANNE BEHNKE Couner Staff Writer WATERLOO Neighborhood association members gave city officials a clear message Tuesday they want better communication with City Hall and faster responses to their requests. They met Tuesday night at the Waterloo Recreation and Arts Center for a first-ever summit between the city's 20 neighborhood groups, city council memberSiand administrative offices. Several residents said the meeting was a good start at fixing some larger issues facing Waterloo. "Different people have different ideas," said Mary Dickens, a Gates Park Neighborhood Association member.

"We should communicate more." In fact, most said there are many issues that should be discussed in the same manner. The groups even discussed how to set up a monthly dialogue. In the two-hour meeting, more See MEETING, page C2 to this decision." Sue Brase, president of the Walnut Historic Neighborhood Association, was the only speaker during a public hearing on the change. She criticized the process the board used in formulating the proposal. "A number of residents are concerned about the lack of neighborhood representation on the steering committee that came up with this recommendation," Brase said.

"Citizen participation has not been very great in this process." There will be a 30-day comment period for people to present written opinions to the Community Development Board on the consolidated plan change. The matter will then be sent to HUD for final approval. In other business, board members voted to put $10,000 originally slated for KBBG Radio back into the office's housing rehabilitation budget City Council members overruled the Community Development Board earlier this year, by voting to include the money to help the radio station buy new equipment. But HUD officials said it was not a proper expenditure of CDBG money. The money was returned to the rehabilitation budget, where Community Development Board members originally put it.

states, "While many public services and youth activities are still important to the city, program funding should come from other sources and will not receive priority when preparing the city's one-year action plans for Community Development Block Grant and HOME funds." Waterloo, as an entitlement city, receives CDBG and HOME allocation each year from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The money must be spent on infrastructure and programs serving low- to moderate-income residents or census tracts. While the bulk of the money has long been used to rehabilitate and demolish blighted houses, a good percentage traditionally went to agencies providing services to the needy population, including the Jesse Cosby Neighborhood Center, Consumer Credit Counseling Service, KBBG Radio and others. Board member Elsie Duncan said housing may be the city's most pressing need.

But priorities can change in the future. "I hope it's not a permanent change and that we can return to program funding after this housing issue is taken care of," she said. "I think funding the agencies is very important, too. It's difficult to come By TIM JAMISON Courier Staff Writer I WATERLOO, Agencies serving Waterloo's low-income population have all but been severed from future grants through the Community Development Board. Board members voted unanimously Tuesday to amend their five-year consolidated plan, making housing the "number one priority" for the city's annual $2.2 million appropriation of community development block grant and HOME funds from the federal government.

Agencies providing "people services," such as the Boys and Girls Club or MET Transit Authority, will be hard-pressed under the new plan to receive annual appropriations as they have in the past. "Based on the process we went through the last couple of years and not really having enough funds to cover all the requests, it became obvious that we needed to focus on housing," said board member John Rathjen. "Our focus for the next couple of years is clearly going to be housing and programming that (enhances) home ownership opportunities," he added. New consolidated plan language A. No, it's a garage.

Qa Are they considering putting up a bigger sign on Greenhill Road indicating Rownd Street, since it is somewhat of a major street? Aa The Cedar Falls Public Works Department has no plans for a larger sign, but will consider Installing a second sign on the south side of Greenhill Road, said Laverne Junker, traffic operations manager..