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Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Fair Queen, King candidates School board updated on building project Non-smoking effective July 1

Fair Queen, King candidates by Ken Boesenberg

Being chosen as the Delaware County Fair King or Queen is a much different process today than it has been in the past. The contestants for Fair King and Queen now participate in the Delaware County Fair Royalty Pageant. The pageant was the brain child of past Delaware County Fair Queen, Chelsea Zumbach, a third year student at Wartburg College in Waverly. Chelsea was the 2005 Delaware County Fair Queen and also competed the 2005 Iowa State Fair Queen contest. Two years ago, for a project in an English class in college Chelsea was supposed to do a paper on a business or community type project. Having just experienced the State Fair Queen competition she decided to write about the county fair queen process. At the state level the process was much different than filling out an application, having that application reviewed and either being chosen or not chosen. In Des Moines there were personal interviews, a social gathering, group interviews, speeches and impromptu questions to answer. Her involvement with the process and her passion for the event is what led Delaware County Fair Manager, Jeannie Domeyer to turn the process over the Chelsea in 2006.

Zumbach - Helle Mitchell - Tauke Zumbach

“I wanted to have our county competition resemble the state competition. That way when our county queen took part in the state competition they would be more prepared,” stated Zumbach. Last Thursday evening three queen contestants gathered for this years Delaware County Fair Royalty Pageant. There was a strict schedule to adhere to. At 3:45p.m. they arrived and began the registration process. From 4:00 to 5:00 each contestant went through a personal interview with one of the interviewers being Lydia Beck, the 2006 Iowa State Fair Queen. There was a social gathering from 5:00 to 5:30 then a group interview from 5:30 to 6:00. From 6:00 to 7:00 the contestants were busy giving short speeches and answering impromptu questions asked by the panel of judges. The decision of the judges at Thursday nights pageant will remain a secret until the coronation ceremonies on opening night of the fair, Monday, July 9 at approximately 7:00 p.m. on the Track Sage. Queen Contestants Brittney Helle is the daughter of Terry and Lynne Helle of Manchester. This fall Brittney will be a senior at West Delaware High School. She is involved in many extra curricular activities including cheerleading, golf and FFA. Honors Brittney has earned include captain of the golf team, all-academic cheerleading, and honor roll. Brittney has also been recognized with the President’s Education Award for academic excellence and the FFA Agricultural Proficiency Award. She has also received her State FFA Iowa Degree and the Sportsmanship Award for the Delaware County Fair Horse Show. Upon graduation from West Delaware Brittney plans to go to school to be a veterinary assistant. Molly Tauke is the daughter of Tom and Joanie Tauke of Greeley. She is 17 years old and lives and works on a small dairy farm while also working at the Medicine Shoppe in Manchester. Currently, Molly is the 2007 Delaware County Dairy Princess. She is a member of the West Delaware FFA Chapter and the Greeley Go-Getters 4-H Club. Upon graduation, Molly hopes to attend Luther College in Decorah for her OB Nursing degree or to attend Iowa State University to major in Dairy Science. Molly is involved in various activities including marching band, concert band, jazz band, pit band, back-up band, concert choir, FFA, YADC, WDCBC, and FBLA. Brittney Zumbach is the daughter of Dan and Shelley Zumbach of Ryan. Brittney is involved in numerous activities including National Honor Society, color guard, show choir, cheerleading, yearbook, Dinner Show, and Swing into Spring. Through her church and community Brittney participates in Luther League and the CORE youth group. She is a member of the West Delaware FFA and the Buffalo Belles and Boys 4-H Club. Among Brittney’s honors are swine showmanship, color guard captain, outdoor education helper, best leader award for cheerleading, 110% cheerleading award, Midwest American Honor Choir, and a member of the 2005 Iowa All-State Chorus. Brittney’s future plans include attending Iowa State University to major in public service and administration in agriculture. King Contestant Mitchell Heims is the son of Gerry and Cheri Heims of rural Manchester. Mitchell attends West Delaware High School where he is the Sentinel of the FFA chapter and an honor roll member. Mitchell is employed by Heims Construction and by Pleasant Hill Farming. Upon graduation from West Delaware Mitchell plans to go to college to become a teacher.

School board updated on building project

Ron Swartz, the building, grounds and transportation director for West Delaware, gave the West Delaware School Board an update on the new building project at the last regular meeting, which was held on Monday, June 11. Larson Construction has started remodeling the old band room and when trying to remove a partition wall they found that it was a load bearing wall. Larson recommended replacing the wall with some kind of support system. The school board said that the architects should be partly responsible for the solution and costs. The board told Swartz to go forward with the project, look for the best action to the problem, negotiate a change order price and ask the architect if they could contribute to some of the payment. The school board also approved a 28E Agreemet with NICC for contracted classes for the 2008 fiscal year. High School Principal Jon Nordaas said that the classes are popular with the students and more were going to be added for the next school year. The charge for each course will be increased from $50 to $75. The board approved the Beginning Administrator Mentoring and Induction Program, which, according to Director of School Improvement Sue Daker, the school did have an optional mentoring and induction program last school year but the legislature has now made the program mandatory for first year administrators. The board approved the program if the district hires a new administrator. The school will hold a 10-year School Infrastructure Local Option Tax election on September 25. Junior Kindergarten to 12th grade registration will be held Aug. 9 from noon to 7 p.m. and Aug. 10 from 8 a.m. to noon at the West Delaware Middle School Cafeteria.

Non-smoking effective July 1 by Alison Nesteby

The Delaware County Board of Supervisors addressed their non-smoking areas at their June 18 meeting. Effective July 1, non-smoking areas will include the following: -Del. Co. Courthouse and 20 feet from any entrance -Del. Co. Sheriff’s Office, Jail and Garage -Del. Co. Secondary Roads Main Shop Building, South Truck Storage Building, Engineering Garage and 20 feet from Main Shop Building entrance -Del. Co. Conservation’s Main Building -Del. Co. Community Services Building at 601 Grand Street All unaddressed issues will be determined by the Department Heads and Board of Supervisors. The bid from Vogel Traffic Services Inc. was awarded for the 2007-08 Centerline Pavement Marking Contract. Board appointments made by Chairperson Koeneke were: -Mike Schmitz of Greeley to the Del. Co. Conservation Board for a term of five years -Denise Bishop and Shirley Helmrichs to the Northeast Service Area Advisory Board for one year -Elise Bergan to the Eastern Iowa Tourism Council for one year with Bev Rahe as alternate -Dennis Gudenkauf of Manchester as a Veterans Affairs Commissioner for a three year term

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