The kids of GJ are rockin' and rollin' at the new playground on the north lawn of the EG Elementary/GC Middle School! What a great addition to our community. Thanks EG school officials! http://www.facebook.com/pages/East-Greene-Hawks/138674889516952
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Monday, July 23, 2012
Saturday is Lincoln Highway Day in GJ
PLENTY OF FOOD AND FUN
ALL DAY LONG
Plenty of food and fun will be available on Saturday, July 28, in Grand Junction at Lincoln Highway Day, formerly known as the annual Fun Day.
Grand Junction Horizons will serve a noon meal at the Presbyterian Church corner (East Hager and 12th Street). The meal will be prepared by the Larsen family. The menu is pulled pork sandwich, baked beans, chips, bar and drink. Cost is $5. Picnic tables will be set up under the shade trees on Hager Street at the Sports Court. The Town and Country band will perform during the noon meal.
The meal venue switches to the other side of the Sports Court area in the evening as the Methodist church is the location for the annual Lions Club dinner and Methodist Church ice cream social at 5 p.m.
Pie and ice cream will be served in the Fellowship Hall and kitchen in the church’s lower level with seating available in the hall and in the church parking area.
The fun gets underway early with the annual Fun Walk at Karber Field at 8 a.m. The Naked Ladies Garden Club is back again this year but in a new venue. Due to the remodeling and construction project at the school building in Grand Junction, the Naked Ladies have moved their event from the Rain Garden on the east side of the school to the Sports Court.
The Naked Ladies will offer food and fun at “Bedknobs, Broomsticks and Breakfast” from 9 to 10:30 a.m. The event will feature a display of quilted items, aprons and linens. Club members will be serving big muffins, fruit and beverage for a free will offering. They will also be selling their muffin cookbooks.
Plans call for the annual auction to begin as a silent auction prior to Lincoln Highway Day with bidders getting their final chance at the 2 p.m. auction in the Sports Court area. Special auctions items this year are East Greene memorabilia.
The Grand Junction Library trustees and staff are planning fun games for kids at 3 p.m. on the “Town Green,” the green space on the north side of Main Street between the bank and 13th Street. Games will feature fun noodles. They will be used to make hurdles to jump over and through and taped together into circles for throwing and jumping.
Fun for older kids includes a 3-on-3 basketball tournament at the Sports Court at 3 p.m. Grand Junction Municipal Swimming Pool will be all day with free admission.
The Off the Track Players will present two performances of the one-act play, “Fine Dining,” in the First Presbyterian Church fellowship hall. Curtain times are 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. A cribbage tournament will get underway at 6 p.m. in the St. Brigid Parish Center at Hager and 15th Streets.
Grand Junction Fire and Rescue will be hosting other fire departments in a water fight competition on Main Street at 1 p.m.
Other Lincoln Highway Day events in Grand Junction include an 11 a.m. parade on Main Street, vendors on Hager Street, petting zoo for kids, a classic car show, open admission to the Kennedy Museum, an open house at the newly opened Lincoln Highway Building in the former Watts Building, East Greene alumni golf event at Lakeside, and the All-East Greene Reunion at Fergs/My Tighes.
Plenty of food and fun will be available on Saturday, July 28, in Grand Junction at Lincoln Highway Day, formerly known as the annual Fun Day.
Grand Junction Horizons will serve a noon meal at the Presbyterian Church corner (East Hager and 12th Street). The meal will be prepared by the Larsen family. The menu is pulled pork sandwich, baked beans, chips, bar and drink. Cost is $5. Picnic tables will be set up under the shade trees on Hager Street at the Sports Court. The Town and Country band will perform during the noon meal.
The meal venue switches to the other side of the Sports Court area in the evening as the Methodist church is the location for the annual Lions Club dinner and Methodist Church ice cream social at 5 p.m.
The
Lions Club will be serving the supper in the parking area on the west side of
the church. The ice cream social will feature the Methodist’s signature
homemade ice cream and pies from the Lincoln Highway Day pie contest. Pies are
to be delivered to the Methodist Church in the morning between 9 and 11 a.m.
Winners will be announced at the LHD Auction in the afternoon. The pies will be
judged in adult and junior divisions with cash prizes awarded.
Pie and ice cream will be served in the Fellowship Hall and kitchen in the church’s lower level with seating available in the hall and in the church parking area.
The fun gets underway early with the annual Fun Walk at Karber Field at 8 a.m. The Naked Ladies Garden Club is back again this year but in a new venue. Due to the remodeling and construction project at the school building in Grand Junction, the Naked Ladies have moved their event from the Rain Garden on the east side of the school to the Sports Court.
The Naked Ladies will offer food and fun at “Bedknobs, Broomsticks and Breakfast” from 9 to 10:30 a.m. The event will feature a display of quilted items, aprons and linens. Club members will be serving big muffins, fruit and beverage for a free will offering. They will also be selling their muffin cookbooks.
Plans call for the annual auction to begin as a silent auction prior to Lincoln Highway Day with bidders getting their final chance at the 2 p.m. auction in the Sports Court area. Special auctions items this year are East Greene memorabilia.
The Grand Junction Library trustees and staff are planning fun games for kids at 3 p.m. on the “Town Green,” the green space on the north side of Main Street between the bank and 13th Street. Games will feature fun noodles. They will be used to make hurdles to jump over and through and taped together into circles for throwing and jumping.
Fun for older kids includes a 3-on-3 basketball tournament at the Sports Court at 3 p.m. Grand Junction Municipal Swimming Pool will be all day with free admission.
The Off the Track Players will present two performances of the one-act play, “Fine Dining,” in the First Presbyterian Church fellowship hall. Curtain times are 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. A cribbage tournament will get underway at 6 p.m. in the St. Brigid Parish Center at Hager and 15th Streets.
Grand Junction Fire and Rescue will be hosting other fire departments in a water fight competition on Main Street at 1 p.m.
Other Lincoln Highway Day events in Grand Junction include an 11 a.m. parade on Main Street, vendors on Hager Street, petting zoo for kids, a classic car show, open admission to the Kennedy Museum, an open house at the newly opened Lincoln Highway Building in the former Watts Building, East Greene alumni golf event at Lakeside, and the All-East Greene Reunion at Fergs/My Tighes.
Thursday, July 19, 2012
EG Sports: Summer of Transition
GREENE
COUNY WINS CONFERENCE IN SOFTBALL
The softball team comprised of girls from East Greene, Paton-Churdan and Jefferson-Scranton rolled to a 13-3 mark in the Heart of Iowa Conference to share the league crown with Prairie City-Monroe. The team was locked into a tight run to the crown. The Rams took the lead early in the season ahead of Gilbert and Prairie City-Monroe. During the last week of the season, Greene County fell into a tie and then briefly into second place, but the Rams beat Gilbert in a doubleheader and followed the next day with a win over Prairie City-Monroe that moved them one game ahead of PCM. GC lost to Roland-Story the following night in the regular and conference season finale to end the season tied at 13-3 with PCM for the HOIC crown.
Post-season play opened in a very tough region with three ranked teams among the eight-team field—No. 9 Ballard (Huxley), No. 11 MOC-Floyd Valley and No. 14 OA-BCIG—along with the HOIC co-champions and Twin Lakes Conference runner-up (East Sac). Greene County (25-7) traveled to Wall Lake to face East Sac (15-8) in a first-round game. The Rams won 10-4 to move on to the semifinal round against Ballard on the Bombers’ home field in Huxley. Ballard ended the Rams’ season in a 3-0 win. Ballard (33-9) went on to win the region and qualify for state. The Bombers beat Mid-Prairie (Wellman) 5-4 in the first round and Bondurant-Farrar 1-0 to move on to tomorrow’s championship game.
East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton/Paton-Churdan completed their last seasons as independent baseball and sports teams. Just as the girls teams of East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton combined girls sports this summer, the two schools will combine all sports beginning at the start of 2012-13 school year. Paton-Churdan will compete individually in volleyball, girls and boys basketball, and girls and boys track. The current sharing agreement between Paton-Churdan and Jefferson-Scranton in football, wrestling, baseball and softball will continue with the new Greene County teams formed by the sport sharing between JS and EG. But PC will no longer get a separate “slash designation” as in JS/PC. The teams will go by Greene County in all sports just as they did this summer in softball.
The Hawks struggled early in the year, but played some of their best ball in the latter stages of the season. EG had graduated a number of all-district and all-conference players from a 2011 team that won the district crown and advanced to the substate. It had been the Hawk’s third straight district title with the 2009 team winning the substate and moving on the state tournament. This year’s team was very young with no seniors on the roster and several eighth graders in the starting lineup. The Hawks broke a 15-game losing streak with a 4-0 win over Iowa Christian, and from then on played .500 ball.
EG split with longtime league rival Glidden-Ralston during the season, losing the first game in Glidden in mid-June 3-0 but winning in Rippey on July 2, 11-8. The teams faced each other again in the first round of the district tournament at Coon Rapids with EG winning 7-4 to take the best-of-three series from the Wildcats. EG then went on to face Coon Rapids-Bayard, a team that qualified for state last season, in the quarterfinal round. The Crusaders dominated the Hawks, 10-0, in a game shortened to 5 innings by the 10-run rule.
EG ended the season at 6-23. The regular season win over GR moved them up to 4-10 in the league to tie for sixth place with Adair-Casey. The loss dropped GR to 3-11 and left them in the league cellar.
Jefferson-Scranton/Paton-Churdan also dwelled in the lower echelon of its conference. The Rams ended Heart of Iowa play at 4-12—tied with South Hamilton for seventh place in the nine-team league, just ahead of last-place CMB (Maxwell). Overall, the Rams finished the season at 11-20, an improvement over the 9 wins of 2011.
North Polk won the league with a perfect 15-0 record and went on to win district and substate titles in Class 2A. North Polk (29-4) has been highly ranked all season, finishing the regular season as the No. 3 team in the state. The Comets are seeded third in the state tournament which opens tomorrow night with the Class 2A teams taking the field first among the four classes. North Polk meets sixth-seeded Forest City (21-8) at 8 p.m. in Principal Park in Des Moines. The other three classes begin play next week.
Ogden has also advanced to the state 2A tournament, beating Prairie City-Monroe 6-5 in the substate Tuesday night in West Des Moines. The Bulldogs had opened district play in Ogden on Tuesday, July 10, with a 10-0 win in 5 innings over Woodward Academy in the semifinal round. Woodward Academy and JSPC faced off in the first round at Ogden on Saturday, July 7. Woodward Academy had finished 3-17 in the 11-team West Central Conference comprised of 1A and 2A teams while JSPC had competed in the mostly larger 2A (and one 3A) Heart of Iowa league. Woodward Academy got the win over the Rams, 5-3, and moved on to face Ogden.
West Central Valley (Stuart) squeezed by Panorama 4-3 in 10 innings in the first round at Ogden with the winner advancing to face Gilbert in the semifinals. Gilbert and Ogden had drawn byes in the six-team field. Gilbert pummeled WCV 17-0 in a game shortened to just 4 innings by the 15-run rule.
Ogden and Gilbert faced off on Saturday, July 14, in the district final at Ogden. The Bulldogs won 4-2 and advanced to the substate. Prairie City-Monroe advanced from the district at Pella Christian and looked to be the favorite after battling North Polk for the HOI league lead all season and spending a number weeks in the Class 2A state rankings. Ogden, however, was a formidable force in the very competitive West Central Conference, tying with Coon Rapids-Bayard at 15-5 for third place, just behind league champion Van Meter (17-3) and runner-up Des Moines Christian (16-4). The Bulldogs had been ranked in the Class 2A Top Ten in the first few weeks of the season.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: The Greene County softball program is taking shape to be among the better teams in central Iowa. Last year as Jefferson-Scranton, the team was just one win away from the state tournament, losing in the district finals to Estherville-Lincoln Central. This year’s combined JS/PC and EG squad—the first ever high school team to play as Greene County—started strong and kept up the intensity throughout the season. Along with the conference co-championship, the Rams were also champions of the South Hamilton tournament.
East Greene had great representation on the Greene County team with 5 players among the 17-members of the varsity who saw action this season. Freshman Hannah Onken was the starting first baseman and freshman Bailey Godwin saw considerable action. Sophomores Shelby Cooklin and Emily Jacobsen and 8th grader Hannah Cooklin also played key roles for the Ram varsity and got considerable experience playing on the junior varsity team. The varsity was comprised of five girls from EG, one from PC and 11 from Jefferson-Scranton. A number of EG girls played key roles on the Greene County middle school team, among them 8th grader Emily Most and 7th grader Taylor Wessling.
Greene County graduates just one player—right fielder Elizabeth Carman—from this year’s varsity squad.
In baseball action, the Hawks fielded a very young team with no seniors while Jefferson-Scranton/Paton-Churdan had eight seniors among its 16 varsity team members. Rounding out the JS/PC roster were four juniors, one sophomore and three freshmen. EG juniors Tory Beger, Reed Ostrander and Alex Gordon will form a solid nucleus with the four returning JS/PC juniors for next year’s Greene County squad. Look for key roles form EG’s returning sophomores Wes Tipton, T.J. Lint, Zach Fouch and Jacob Vreugdenhil. Five eighth graders—Max Neese, Tyler Beger, Ben Lint, Lance Ross and Matthew Gordon also saw considerable action for the Hawks. They, along with junior Dakota Hoffman, sophomore Joe Pena and 8th grader Brandon Dudley, will be making big contributions to the Greene County Rams team next season.
AREA TEAMS MAKE STATE: Along with Ogden making the Class 2A state baseball tourney field, Earlham made the field in Class 1A. The Cardinals (21-10) finished fifth in the tough West Central Conference with a 12-8 record. They got by conference champion and No. 9 Van Meter, 3-2, in the district finals and then beat Coon Rapids-Bayard in a 2-0 thriller in 11 innings Tuesday night in the substate at Adel. CRB had advanced to the substate with a 7-2 win over EHK/Exira, champions of the Rolling Hills Conference, in the district final at Coon Rapids. CRB was looking to make a return trip to the state tourney.
Earlham, seeded seventh, takes on No. 2 seed Newman Catholic of Mason City (33-4) in the opening round of the Class 1A state tournament on Monday. Bishop Garrigan of Algona (36-8) is seeded first with two-time defending champion Martensdale-St. Mary’s (37-5) seeded fourth.
The West Central Conference is having a great showing at state this summer with two teams in the baseball tournament (Ogden in 2A, Earlham in 1A) and three teams in the softball tournament at Fort Dodge. The Earlham girls, league champions and ranked second in the state, qualified in Class 1A. Des Moines Christian and Van Meter made the field in Class 2A. Earlham (35-4) beat Marquette Catholic 8-0 in the first round and this afternoon sidelined Don Bosco (Gilbertville) 3-0 to advance to the state championship game tomorrow at 10 a.m. against Martensdale-St. Mary’s (40-2). That gives these two schools representation in both the baseball and softball state tournaments this summer.
Des Moines Christian thumped Emmetsburg 11-0 in the first round while Van Meter lost to Sumner-Fredericksburg 4-2. Van Meter came back yesterday to beat Wayne (Corydon) and Denver to win the consolation bracket (5th place). DMC (29-6) beat Durant 4-0 in the semifinal round this afternoon and will take on Treynor (27-5) in the 2A state championship game tomorrow at 12:15 p.m.
Ballard, the team that sidelined Greene County in the regional semifinals, has advanced to 3A championship game after wins over Mid-Prairie (Wellman) and Bondurant-Farrar. Ballard (34-9) takes on Solon (38-6) tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
Ballard and Bondurant-Farrar are members of the Raccoon River Conference which is having a banner year at the state tournament with 5 of 10 teams qualifying—half of the league. Along with Ballard and Bondurant-Farrar in 2A, Winterset, Carlisle and Dallas Center-Grimes all qualified in Class 4A. DCG has advanced to the championship tomorrow against Indianola.
Two Raccoon River Conference teams have qualified in the baseball tournament, as DCG and ADM (Adel) made the field in Class 3A. North Polk in 2A baseball is the lone representative in either tournament from the Heart of Iowa Conference, while the Rolling Hills had no qualifiers this season.
The
Greene County softball team ended its first-ever season with a conference
championship while the two area boys baseball teams laid the groundwork for a combined
team next season.
The softball team comprised of girls from East Greene, Paton-Churdan and Jefferson-Scranton rolled to a 13-3 mark in the Heart of Iowa Conference to share the league crown with Prairie City-Monroe. The team was locked into a tight run to the crown. The Rams took the lead early in the season ahead of Gilbert and Prairie City-Monroe. During the last week of the season, Greene County fell into a tie and then briefly into second place, but the Rams beat Gilbert in a doubleheader and followed the next day with a win over Prairie City-Monroe that moved them one game ahead of PCM. GC lost to Roland-Story the following night in the regular and conference season finale to end the season tied at 13-3 with PCM for the HOIC crown.
Post-season play opened in a very tough region with three ranked teams among the eight-team field—No. 9 Ballard (Huxley), No. 11 MOC-Floyd Valley and No. 14 OA-BCIG—along with the HOIC co-champions and Twin Lakes Conference runner-up (East Sac). Greene County (25-7) traveled to Wall Lake to face East Sac (15-8) in a first-round game. The Rams won 10-4 to move on to the semifinal round against Ballard on the Bombers’ home field in Huxley. Ballard ended the Rams’ season in a 3-0 win. Ballard (33-9) went on to win the region and qualify for state. The Bombers beat Mid-Prairie (Wellman) 5-4 in the first round and Bondurant-Farrar 1-0 to move on to tomorrow’s championship game.
East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton/Paton-Churdan completed their last seasons as independent baseball and sports teams. Just as the girls teams of East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton combined girls sports this summer, the two schools will combine all sports beginning at the start of 2012-13 school year. Paton-Churdan will compete individually in volleyball, girls and boys basketball, and girls and boys track. The current sharing agreement between Paton-Churdan and Jefferson-Scranton in football, wrestling, baseball and softball will continue with the new Greene County teams formed by the sport sharing between JS and EG. But PC will no longer get a separate “slash designation” as in JS/PC. The teams will go by Greene County in all sports just as they did this summer in softball.
The Hawks struggled early in the year, but played some of their best ball in the latter stages of the season. EG had graduated a number of all-district and all-conference players from a 2011 team that won the district crown and advanced to the substate. It had been the Hawk’s third straight district title with the 2009 team winning the substate and moving on the state tournament. This year’s team was very young with no seniors on the roster and several eighth graders in the starting lineup. The Hawks broke a 15-game losing streak with a 4-0 win over Iowa Christian, and from then on played .500 ball.
EG split with longtime league rival Glidden-Ralston during the season, losing the first game in Glidden in mid-June 3-0 but winning in Rippey on July 2, 11-8. The teams faced each other again in the first round of the district tournament at Coon Rapids with EG winning 7-4 to take the best-of-three series from the Wildcats. EG then went on to face Coon Rapids-Bayard, a team that qualified for state last season, in the quarterfinal round. The Crusaders dominated the Hawks, 10-0, in a game shortened to 5 innings by the 10-run rule.
EG ended the season at 6-23. The regular season win over GR moved them up to 4-10 in the league to tie for sixth place with Adair-Casey. The loss dropped GR to 3-11 and left them in the league cellar.
Jefferson-Scranton/Paton-Churdan also dwelled in the lower echelon of its conference. The Rams ended Heart of Iowa play at 4-12—tied with South Hamilton for seventh place in the nine-team league, just ahead of last-place CMB (Maxwell). Overall, the Rams finished the season at 11-20, an improvement over the 9 wins of 2011.
North Polk won the league with a perfect 15-0 record and went on to win district and substate titles in Class 2A. North Polk (29-4) has been highly ranked all season, finishing the regular season as the No. 3 team in the state. The Comets are seeded third in the state tournament which opens tomorrow night with the Class 2A teams taking the field first among the four classes. North Polk meets sixth-seeded Forest City (21-8) at 8 p.m. in Principal Park in Des Moines. The other three classes begin play next week.
Ogden has also advanced to the state 2A tournament, beating Prairie City-Monroe 6-5 in the substate Tuesday night in West Des Moines. The Bulldogs had opened district play in Ogden on Tuesday, July 10, with a 10-0 win in 5 innings over Woodward Academy in the semifinal round. Woodward Academy and JSPC faced off in the first round at Ogden on Saturday, July 7. Woodward Academy had finished 3-17 in the 11-team West Central Conference comprised of 1A and 2A teams while JSPC had competed in the mostly larger 2A (and one 3A) Heart of Iowa league. Woodward Academy got the win over the Rams, 5-3, and moved on to face Ogden.
West Central Valley (Stuart) squeezed by Panorama 4-3 in 10 innings in the first round at Ogden with the winner advancing to face Gilbert in the semifinals. Gilbert and Ogden had drawn byes in the six-team field. Gilbert pummeled WCV 17-0 in a game shortened to just 4 innings by the 15-run rule.
Ogden and Gilbert faced off on Saturday, July 14, in the district final at Ogden. The Bulldogs won 4-2 and advanced to the substate. Prairie City-Monroe advanced from the district at Pella Christian and looked to be the favorite after battling North Polk for the HOI league lead all season and spending a number weeks in the Class 2A state rankings. Ogden, however, was a formidable force in the very competitive West Central Conference, tying with Coon Rapids-Bayard at 15-5 for third place, just behind league champion Van Meter (17-3) and runner-up Des Moines Christian (16-4). The Bulldogs had been ranked in the Class 2A Top Ten in the first few weeks of the season.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: The Greene County softball program is taking shape to be among the better teams in central Iowa. Last year as Jefferson-Scranton, the team was just one win away from the state tournament, losing in the district finals to Estherville-Lincoln Central. This year’s combined JS/PC and EG squad—the first ever high school team to play as Greene County—started strong and kept up the intensity throughout the season. Along with the conference co-championship, the Rams were also champions of the South Hamilton tournament.
East Greene had great representation on the Greene County team with 5 players among the 17-members of the varsity who saw action this season. Freshman Hannah Onken was the starting first baseman and freshman Bailey Godwin saw considerable action. Sophomores Shelby Cooklin and Emily Jacobsen and 8th grader Hannah Cooklin also played key roles for the Ram varsity and got considerable experience playing on the junior varsity team. The varsity was comprised of five girls from EG, one from PC and 11 from Jefferson-Scranton. A number of EG girls played key roles on the Greene County middle school team, among them 8th grader Emily Most and 7th grader Taylor Wessling.
Greene County graduates just one player—right fielder Elizabeth Carman—from this year’s varsity squad.
In baseball action, the Hawks fielded a very young team with no seniors while Jefferson-Scranton/Paton-Churdan had eight seniors among its 16 varsity team members. Rounding out the JS/PC roster were four juniors, one sophomore and three freshmen. EG juniors Tory Beger, Reed Ostrander and Alex Gordon will form a solid nucleus with the four returning JS/PC juniors for next year’s Greene County squad. Look for key roles form EG’s returning sophomores Wes Tipton, T.J. Lint, Zach Fouch and Jacob Vreugdenhil. Five eighth graders—Max Neese, Tyler Beger, Ben Lint, Lance Ross and Matthew Gordon also saw considerable action for the Hawks. They, along with junior Dakota Hoffman, sophomore Joe Pena and 8th grader Brandon Dudley, will be making big contributions to the Greene County Rams team next season.
AREA TEAMS MAKE STATE: Along with Ogden making the Class 2A state baseball tourney field, Earlham made the field in Class 1A. The Cardinals (21-10) finished fifth in the tough West Central Conference with a 12-8 record. They got by conference champion and No. 9 Van Meter, 3-2, in the district finals and then beat Coon Rapids-Bayard in a 2-0 thriller in 11 innings Tuesday night in the substate at Adel. CRB had advanced to the substate with a 7-2 win over EHK/Exira, champions of the Rolling Hills Conference, in the district final at Coon Rapids. CRB was looking to make a return trip to the state tourney.
Earlham, seeded seventh, takes on No. 2 seed Newman Catholic of Mason City (33-4) in the opening round of the Class 1A state tournament on Monday. Bishop Garrigan of Algona (36-8) is seeded first with two-time defending champion Martensdale-St. Mary’s (37-5) seeded fourth.
Kuemper
(Carroll), a longtime Class 2A rival of Jefferson-Scranton, also made it to the
2A state tourney, downing Clarinda 8-3. The Knights (26-11) are seeded fourth
and take on Ogden, seeded fifth, at 8 p.m. tomorrow at Principal Park. The
winner will become the unofficial “Class 2A champion of West Central Iowa” and
advance to the semifinal round next Thursday in Des Moines against the winner
of top-seeded Beckman (Dyersville) and eighth-seeded West Branch.
The West Central Conference is having a great showing at state this summer with two teams in the baseball tournament (Ogden in 2A, Earlham in 1A) and three teams in the softball tournament at Fort Dodge. The Earlham girls, league champions and ranked second in the state, qualified in Class 1A. Des Moines Christian and Van Meter made the field in Class 2A. Earlham (35-4) beat Marquette Catholic 8-0 in the first round and this afternoon sidelined Don Bosco (Gilbertville) 3-0 to advance to the state championship game tomorrow at 10 a.m. against Martensdale-St. Mary’s (40-2). That gives these two schools representation in both the baseball and softball state tournaments this summer.
Des Moines Christian thumped Emmetsburg 11-0 in the first round while Van Meter lost to Sumner-Fredericksburg 4-2. Van Meter came back yesterday to beat Wayne (Corydon) and Denver to win the consolation bracket (5th place). DMC (29-6) beat Durant 4-0 in the semifinal round this afternoon and will take on Treynor (27-5) in the 2A state championship game tomorrow at 12:15 p.m.
Ballard, the team that sidelined Greene County in the regional semifinals, has advanced to 3A championship game after wins over Mid-Prairie (Wellman) and Bondurant-Farrar. Ballard (34-9) takes on Solon (38-6) tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.
Ballard and Bondurant-Farrar are members of the Raccoon River Conference which is having a banner year at the state tournament with 5 of 10 teams qualifying—half of the league. Along with Ballard and Bondurant-Farrar in 2A, Winterset, Carlisle and Dallas Center-Grimes all qualified in Class 4A. DCG has advanced to the championship tomorrow against Indianola.
Central
Iowa teams have fared very well at this year’s tournament with a team in each
championship game tomorrow. Three of the games are “all Central Iowa.” Its Earlham
and Martensdale-St. Mary’s in 1A; Indianola and DCG in 4A; and Ankeny vs. Des
Moines East in 5A; along with Des Moines Christian in Class 2A and Ballard in
Class 3A.
Two Raccoon River Conference teams have qualified in the baseball tournament, as DCG and ADM (Adel) made the field in Class 3A. North Polk in 2A baseball is the lone representative in either tournament from the Heart of Iowa Conference, while the Rolling Hills had no qualifiers this season.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Hawks Play On After District Tourney Win
FACE
COON RAPIDS-BAYARD IN SECOND ROUND
The season marches on for East Greene baseball. The scheduled season-ending game against Glidden-Ralston last week was extended by two additional games. EG won that game 11-8 in Rippey on Tuesday, July 3, to move up to 4-10 in the Rolling Hills Conference and tie with Adair-Casey for sixth place. GR finished at 3-11 in last place.
The Hawks took to the field one last time on their home diamond on July 5 in Rippey against Southern Cal, but took a 19-2 thumping in five innings. The following night EG ventured to Guthrie Center to face the Tigers and lost 10-0 in five innings.
The additional games allowed coach Dana Fink to use some younger members of the pitching staff which resulted in the lopsided scores. Tyler Beger handled the bulk of the mound duties with some relief from Max Neese against Guthrie Center. Both are incoming freshman this fall.
The Hawks got back on the winning track Saturday night with a 7-4 win over Glidden-Ralston in the opening round of the Class 1A District 14 tournament at Coon Rapids. EG (6-22) moves on to the quarterfinal round to face Coon Rapids-Bayard (23-8), a team that finished third in the tough 11-team West Central Conference, comprised of both 1A and 2A teams.
District 14 includes three teams that advanced to the state tournament in the last three years—EG, CRB and Ar-We-Va. The Hawks made the state field in 2009. The following year they beat CRB and then Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton to win the district but lost to Ar-We-Va in the substate. CRB won its substate last year while the Hawks lost to North English (English Valleys). EG is seeking an unprecedented fourth straight district title.
Ar-We-Va takes on Audubon at 5 p.m. tonight in Coon Rapids followed by EG-CRB at 7 p.m. The winners advance to the semifinals on Thursday night in Coon Rapids. The opposite bracket has Adair-Casey taking on CAM at 5 p.m. in Guthrie Center with EEHK facing Guthrie Center in the nightcap. EEHK (19-3) and CRB are the district tourney favorites. EEHK won the Rolling Hills Conference with a 13-1 mark.
The District 14 finals will be played next Saturday in Coon Rapids at 7 p.m. The district winner from Coon Rapids will advance to the play the District 13 winner in the substate on Tuesday, July 17, in Adel. Van Meter (32-8), which edged out Des Moines Christian and CRB to win the West Central Conference, is a heavy favorite in District 13. Orient-Macksburg (9-17) won the first-round opening game over Nodaway Valley 8-4 to advance to the quarterfinal round tonight to face Earlham. Other quarterfinal games in District 14 tonight are Corning vs. Lenox, Van Meter vs. Iowa Christian, and Madrid vs. Woodward-Granger.
The season marches on for East Greene baseball. The scheduled season-ending game against Glidden-Ralston last week was extended by two additional games. EG won that game 11-8 in Rippey on Tuesday, July 3, to move up to 4-10 in the Rolling Hills Conference and tie with Adair-Casey for sixth place. GR finished at 3-11 in last place.
The Hawks took to the field one last time on their home diamond on July 5 in Rippey against Southern Cal, but took a 19-2 thumping in five innings. The following night EG ventured to Guthrie Center to face the Tigers and lost 10-0 in five innings.
The additional games allowed coach Dana Fink to use some younger members of the pitching staff which resulted in the lopsided scores. Tyler Beger handled the bulk of the mound duties with some relief from Max Neese against Guthrie Center. Both are incoming freshman this fall.
The Hawks got back on the winning track Saturday night with a 7-4 win over Glidden-Ralston in the opening round of the Class 1A District 14 tournament at Coon Rapids. EG (6-22) moves on to the quarterfinal round to face Coon Rapids-Bayard (23-8), a team that finished third in the tough 11-team West Central Conference, comprised of both 1A and 2A teams.
District 14 includes three teams that advanced to the state tournament in the last three years—EG, CRB and Ar-We-Va. The Hawks made the state field in 2009. The following year they beat CRB and then Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton to win the district but lost to Ar-We-Va in the substate. CRB won its substate last year while the Hawks lost to North English (English Valleys). EG is seeking an unprecedented fourth straight district title.
Ar-We-Va takes on Audubon at 5 p.m. tonight in Coon Rapids followed by EG-CRB at 7 p.m. The winners advance to the semifinals on Thursday night in Coon Rapids. The opposite bracket has Adair-Casey taking on CAM at 5 p.m. in Guthrie Center with EEHK facing Guthrie Center in the nightcap. EEHK (19-3) and CRB are the district tourney favorites. EEHK won the Rolling Hills Conference with a 13-1 mark.
The District 14 finals will be played next Saturday in Coon Rapids at 7 p.m. The district winner from Coon Rapids will advance to the play the District 13 winner in the substate on Tuesday, July 17, in Adel. Van Meter (32-8), which edged out Des Moines Christian and CRB to win the West Central Conference, is a heavy favorite in District 13. Orient-Macksburg (9-17) won the first-round opening game over Nodaway Valley 8-4 to advance to the quarterfinal round tonight to face Earlham. Other quarterfinal games in District 14 tonight are Corning vs. Lenox, Van Meter vs. Iowa Christian, and Madrid vs. Woodward-Granger.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Hawks Win 9-3 at Orient-Macksburg
LAST
REGULAR SEASON GAME TONIGHT IN RIPPEY
East Greene hosts Glidden-Ralston tonight in the last regular season baseball game and most likely the last high school game to be played at the venerable Rippey ball park. EG and Jefferson-Scranton will become Greene County in all sports beginning in the fall.
The Hawks are looking to beat the Wildcats and move out of the cellar of the Rolling Hills Conference. Both teams are 3-10 in league play.
East Greene picked up a win over Orient-Macksburg, 9-6, last night in Macksburg. The EG win followed completion of a game with OM suspended after 4½ innings by rain earlier in the season. The Bulldogs were leading 8-2 when play was halted due to rain. The two teams finished that game out last night with OM prevailing 12-5.
Reed Ostrander and T.J. Lint shared mound duties for the Hawks with Lint getting the win. He pitched for 3 2/3 innings and Ostrander pitched for 2 1/3. Combined, they struck out nine, walked two and gave up 10 hits.
Ostrander and Lint were solid on offense. Ostrander went 3-4 with two doubles and 3 RBIs. Lint had a double good for 3 RBIs. The Hawks totaled nine hits for the game. Lance Ross had two stolen bases and Lint one.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: After struggling to a 1-17 mark with a number of close one- and two-run losses, the young EG squad is now starting to click. The Hawks have won three of their last five games. The wins have come over solid competition—Walnut, Iowa Christian and Orient-Macksburg. Those teams finished third, fourth and fifth in the league.
EG beat Walnut in Rippey on Friday, 4-2. The conference win was sandwiched between non-conference losses on the road to Madrid, 10-0, and Colo-Nesco, 8-3.
District play begins Saturday in Coon Rapids and the EG and GR will face each other again in a first-round game. The winner will face Coon Rapids-Bayard on Tuesday in Coon Rapids.
Coon Rapids-Bayard is a favorite to take the district title along with Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton, winners of the Rolling Hills crown with a 13-1 mark.
Rolling Hills Conference
Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 13-1
CAM (Anita) 11-3
Walnut 9-5
Iowa Christian/Ankeny Christian 7-7
Orient-Macksburg 5-9
Adair-Casey 4-10
Glidden-Ralston 3-10
East Greene (Grand Junction) 3-10
East Greene hosts Glidden-Ralston tonight in the last regular season baseball game and most likely the last high school game to be played at the venerable Rippey ball park. EG and Jefferson-Scranton will become Greene County in all sports beginning in the fall.
The Hawks are looking to beat the Wildcats and move out of the cellar of the Rolling Hills Conference. Both teams are 3-10 in league play.
East Greene picked up a win over Orient-Macksburg, 9-6, last night in Macksburg. The EG win followed completion of a game with OM suspended after 4½ innings by rain earlier in the season. The Bulldogs were leading 8-2 when play was halted due to rain. The two teams finished that game out last night with OM prevailing 12-5.
Reed Ostrander and T.J. Lint shared mound duties for the Hawks with Lint getting the win. He pitched for 3 2/3 innings and Ostrander pitched for 2 1/3. Combined, they struck out nine, walked two and gave up 10 hits.
Ostrander and Lint were solid on offense. Ostrander went 3-4 with two doubles and 3 RBIs. Lint had a double good for 3 RBIs. The Hawks totaled nine hits for the game. Lance Ross had two stolen bases and Lint one.
EYE ON GJ SAYS: After struggling to a 1-17 mark with a number of close one- and two-run losses, the young EG squad is now starting to click. The Hawks have won three of their last five games. The wins have come over solid competition—Walnut, Iowa Christian and Orient-Macksburg. Those teams finished third, fourth and fifth in the league.
EG beat Walnut in Rippey on Friday, 4-2. The conference win was sandwiched between non-conference losses on the road to Madrid, 10-0, and Colo-Nesco, 8-3.
District play begins Saturday in Coon Rapids and the EG and GR will face each other again in a first-round game. The winner will face Coon Rapids-Bayard on Tuesday in Coon Rapids.
Coon Rapids-Bayard is a favorite to take the district title along with Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton, winners of the Rolling Hills crown with a 13-1 mark.
Rolling Hills Conference
Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 13-1
CAM (Anita) 11-3
Walnut 9-5
Iowa Christian/Ankeny Christian 7-7
Orient-Macksburg 5-9
Adair-Casey 4-10
Glidden-Ralston 3-10
East Greene (Grand Junction) 3-10
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Greene County Retakes Lead in HOI Softball
WIN
OVER PCM TODAY CAN CLINCH TIE FOR CROWN
Greene County swept a doubleheader from Gilbert, 4-0 and 6-0, last night in Jefferson to move back into first place in the Heart of Iowa Conference. The Rams meet Prairie City-Monroe today at 2 p.m. to finish out a game interrupted on June 21 in Jefferson. GC was ahead 4-2 with no outs and the bases loaded when the game was stopped in the fourth inning due to rain.
A PCM loss to North Polk last night or a loss tonight to Gilbert would also boost the Ram’s chances of winning the conference championship.
HEART OF IOWA CONFERENCE SOFTBALL STANDINGS
Greene County 12-2
PCM (Monroe) 11-2
North Polk 9-4
Roland-Story 9-5
Gilbert 8-6
Colfax-Mingo 4-9
CMB (Maxwell) 5-10
South Hamilton 2-11
Nevada 1-13
Games not included: North Polk at PCM and CMB at South Hamilton (Wed.), Nevada at Gilbert (Tues.)
Games remaining: PCM and Greene County, completion (today); PCM at Gilbert, South Hamilton at Roland-Story, North Polk at Colfax-Mingo (tonight); Greene County at Roland-Story, Nevada at South Hamilton (Friday); Colfax-Mingo at North Polk
Greene County swept a doubleheader from Gilbert, 4-0 and 6-0, last night in Jefferson to move back into first place in the Heart of Iowa Conference. The Rams meet Prairie City-Monroe today at 2 p.m. to finish out a game interrupted on June 21 in Jefferson. GC was ahead 4-2 with no outs and the bases loaded when the game was stopped in the fourth inning due to rain.
GC
can clinch at least tie for the league crown if they can finish off PCM. The wins
over Gilbert moved the Rams to 12-2 in the league with only the PCM game today
and a tilt at Roland-Story on Friday left on the regular and conference season
schedule. PCM (11-2) played North Polk last night in Alleman, but a score from
that game has not yet been reported.
If
the Rams win today and again tomorrow night in Roland, they would win the crown
outright with a 14-2 mark. A win today and loss tomorrow would leave them at
13-3, and PCM would need to have won last night over North Polk and then take
care of Gilbert tonight in its conference finale to forge a tie the league title.
Losses today and tomorrow would drop the Rams at 12-4 and open the door for PCM
to secure the crown with a win tonight over Gilbert.
Gilbert
played Nevada on Tuesday, but no score has been reported. The GC wins over
Gilbert dropped Gilbert to 8-6 in the league with the Tuesday game and the PCM
tilt tonight still to be added.
A PCM loss to North Polk last night or a loss tonight to Gilbert would also boost the Ram’s chances of winning the conference championship.
HEART OF IOWA CONFERENCE SOFTBALL STANDINGS
Greene County 12-2
PCM (Monroe) 11-2
North Polk 9-4
Roland-Story 9-5
Gilbert 8-6
Colfax-Mingo 4-9
CMB (Maxwell) 5-10
South Hamilton 2-11
Nevada 1-13
Games not included: North Polk at PCM and CMB at South Hamilton (Wed.), Nevada at Gilbert (Tues.)
Games remaining: PCM and Greene County, completion (today); PCM at Gilbert, South Hamilton at Roland-Story, North Polk at Colfax-Mingo (tonight); Greene County at Roland-Story, Nevada at South Hamilton (Friday); Colfax-Mingo at North Polk
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Greene County Softball Vies for League Title
KEY
GAMES WITH GILBERT, PCM THIS WEEK
PCM is 11-2 with Greene County right behind at 10-2. North Polk (9-4) is in a three-way race for third place with Gilbert (8-4) and Roland-Story (8-5). Gilbert played at Nevada (1-12) on Tuesday but no score has yet been reported.
The Rams have four games left in conference play. They take on Gilbert tonight in Jefferson in a doubleheader and then host PCM in another key game tomorrow. The PCM battle is actually a resumption of a game stopped by rain on June 15. Greene County had the lead, 4-2, when play was stopped in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Rams had the bases loaded and no outs.
The outcome of the PCM game will have considerable impact on who wins the conference. Greene County closes out league play on Friday at Roland-Story. PCM has games remaining this week with Gilbert and North Polk.
It’s
“clutch time” for the Greene County softball team. After leading the Heart of
Iowa Conference all summer, the Rams dropped a 2-1 game to North Polk (Alleman)
last night to fall into second place behind Prairie City-Monroe.
PCM is 11-2 with Greene County right behind at 10-2. North Polk (9-4) is in a three-way race for third place with Gilbert (8-4) and Roland-Story (8-5). Gilbert played at Nevada (1-12) on Tuesday but no score has yet been reported.
The Rams have four games left in conference play. They take on Gilbert tonight in Jefferson in a doubleheader and then host PCM in another key game tomorrow. The PCM battle is actually a resumption of a game stopped by rain on June 15. Greene County had the lead, 4-2, when play was stopped in the bottom of the fourth inning. The Rams had the bases loaded and no outs.
The outcome of the PCM game will have considerable impact on who wins the conference. Greene County closes out league play on Friday at Roland-Story. PCM has games remaining this week with Gilbert and North Polk.
Hawks Snap 15-Game Losing Streak
BEAT ICA/ACA IN 4-0 SHUTOUT AT RIPPEY
East Greene snapped a 15-game losing streak in a 4-0 shutout of Iowa Christian Academy (West Des Moines)/Ankeny Christian Academy in Rippey on Tuesday night, June 26. It was the first win of the season in Rolling Hills Conference play for the Hawks. EG improved to 2-17 for the season.
EG takes on non-conference opponent Madrid tonight in Madrid. The Hawks will look to pick up another conference win when they host Walnut on Thursday. They are back in action on Friday at Colo-Nesco. The regular season ends next week with games on Monday at Orient-Macksburg and Tuesday in Rippey against Glidden-Ralston. The OM game will be a partial doubleheader as the teams will first complete a game suspended June 14 in Rippey. The game will resume with OM leading 8-2 after 4 ½ innings. The GR game is a makeup from May 31. It will be last East Greene baseball game ever at the Walt Anderson field in Rippey as next year East Greene begins sports sharing with Jefferson-Scranton as Greene County.
The Hawks and Glidden-Ralston will meet up again on Saturday, July 7, in an opening round district game at Coon Rapids. The winner moves on to face top-seeded Coon Rapids-Bayard on Tuesday, July 10, in Coon Rapids.
CAM (Anita) 8-3
Walnut 7-4
Iowa Christian/Ankeny Christian 6-6
Orient-Macksburg 4-6
Adair-Casey 3-5
Glidden-Ralston 3-7
East Greene (Grand Junction) 1-9
East Greene snapped a 15-game losing streak in a 4-0 shutout of Iowa Christian Academy (West Des Moines)/Ankeny Christian Academy in Rippey on Tuesday night, June 26. It was the first win of the season in Rolling Hills Conference play for the Hawks. EG improved to 2-17 for the season.
Reed
Ostrander got the win, striking out 11, walking two and giving up just one hit.
The Hawks rapped out six singles, two from Tyler Beger and one each from
Ostrander, T.J. Lint, Max Neese and Jacob Vreugdenhil.
EG takes on non-conference opponent Madrid tonight in Madrid. The Hawks will look to pick up another conference win when they host Walnut on Thursday. They are back in action on Friday at Colo-Nesco. The regular season ends next week with games on Monday at Orient-Macksburg and Tuesday in Rippey against Glidden-Ralston. The OM game will be a partial doubleheader as the teams will first complete a game suspended June 14 in Rippey. The game will resume with OM leading 8-2 after 4 ½ innings. The GR game is a makeup from May 31. It will be last East Greene baseball game ever at the Walt Anderson field in Rippey as next year East Greene begins sports sharing with Jefferson-Scranton as Greene County.
The Hawks and Glidden-Ralston will meet up again on Saturday, July 7, in an opening round district game at Coon Rapids. The winner moves on to face top-seeded Coon Rapids-Bayard on Tuesday, July 10, in Coon Rapids.
Rolling
Hills Conference
Exira/Elk
Horn-Kimballton 10-1CAM (Anita) 8-3
Walnut 7-4
Iowa Christian/Ankeny Christian 6-6
Orient-Macksburg 4-6
Adair-Casey 3-5
Glidden-Ralston 3-7
East Greene (Grand Junction) 1-9
Monday, June 25, 2012
Griffiths to Serve as LHD Parade Marshals
CARSON AND BETTY TO LEAD OFF ANNUAL GJ PARADE
“Join us as we celebrate our Lincoln Highway heritage in Grand Junction and Greene County at our annual parade,” said a committee spokesperson. The parade is part of the annual Fun Day in Grand Junction which has been renamed Lincoln Highway Day.
The
parade committee for the Lincoln Highway Day Parade in Grand Junction is urging
all area businesses, clubs, organizations and nonprofit groups to participate
in the parade on Saturday, July 28, on Main Street in Grand Junction. The
parade will begin at 11 a.m.
“Join us as we celebrate our Lincoln Highway heritage in Grand Junction and Greene County at our annual parade,” said a committee spokesperson. The parade is part of the annual Fun Day in Grand Junction which has been renamed Lincoln Highway Day.
Carson
and Betty Griffith, longtime Grand Junction residents, will be honored as Grand
Marshals of the Lincoln Highway Day parade.
The
Griffiths moved to Grand Junction in 1960 when Carson became the vocal music
teacher at East Greene. He retired several years ago after a long career teaching
music at East Greene. He continues to be involved in musical activities locally
and throughout the state. Betty was a beautician for several years, and later
worked at the East Greene school junior high-elementary school in Rippey and at
Royal Jewelers in Jefferson.
Carson
is beloved among his many former students at East Greene where he was known as
“Mr. G” and “Griff.” He was recently awarded the Impact Award given annually to
a Greene County resident honored for his or her volunteer work. The Griffiths
are active with the Elk’s Lodge in Jefferson and have been longtime members of
First Presbyterian Church in Grand Junction. Betty is a member of Presbyterian
Women, El Carim Club and serves as chairman of the Grand Junction Library Board
of Trustees.
The
Griffiths have two daughters, Kim Hartley and Kelley Bruns, and two
grandchildren, Emily and Alyssa Hartley.
The
Griffiths will lead off the parade which features the theme, “Locomoting Along
the Lincoln Highway.” The theme focuses on transportation and movement. “Along
with floats, we encourage all types of transportation such as motor homes, farm
machinery, horse-drawn buggies, and classic antique cars and trucks to join us
in the parade. Feel free to use your imagination!”
“We
are also encouraging all classic car owners and enthusiasts to enter their
vehicles in the parade and the classic car show in the afternoon along 12th
Street south of Hager Street,” said the spokesperson.
Lincoln
Highway Day will also mark the grand opening of Lincoln Highway Association
Building located in the former Watts Building at the corner of Main and 11th
Streets in Grand Junction. “Local members of LHA and members of Grand Junction
Horizons will be putting out the welcome mat to Lincoln Highway enthusiasts,
LHA members statewide, and classic are enthusiasts,” the spokesperson added.
The
parade will also feature representatives from the fire departments
participating in the Fire Department Water Fights, sponsored by Grand Junction
Fire and Rescue. The water fights will be held on Main Street at 1 p.m.
A
short reception in the foyer of First Presbyterian Church will held after right
the parade to honor the Griffiths. “Alumni returning for the All-East Greene
alumni on Lincoln Highway Day are encouraged to stop by and say hello to Carson
and Betty,” said the spokesperson. “We want to encourage the alumni reunion
classes to enter their own floats in the parade too.”
The
All-East Greene Alumni event will be held at Ferg’s/My Tighes on U.S. Highway
30 and North 18th Street with a dinner from 5 to 7 p.m. at cost of
$7.50 and a reunion party from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. with a cash bar. Menus is pulled
pork sandwich with two sides. An All-East Greene Alumni golf event is planned
for 12:30 p.m. at Lakeside Golf Course at Grand Junction. Regular Lakeside fees
apply.
Businesses
and organizations interested in participating in the parade can contact a
member of the parade committee by phone or email: Joyce Nelsen at 515-738-5430
or joyfullnana@iowatelecom.net, Pierre Kellogg
at 515-370-1123 or firemanpjk@yahoo.com, and Alan
Robinson at 515-738-2612 or eyeongj@gmail.com.
Gordon Honored for June Yard of the Month
HOME, YARD SITE
OF OLD ST. BRIGID’S CHURCH
The yard of Richard Gordon, 301 South 16th Street, has been named “Yard of the Month” in Grand Junction. Gordon operated a welding business on Main Street in Grand Junction for many years until he retired. He also served several terms as mayor of Grand Junction.
The
Gordon property at the corner of South 16th and East Hager streets
is familiar to longtime area residents as the former site of St. Brigid’s
Church. The Gordon yard is three-quarters of a city block and is well
landscaped with a variety of flowers, plants, shrubs and trees while
incorporating the stately trees that dotted the church property when the church
building was on the site.
The house is situated at an interesting angle facing the corner of 16th and Hager. Two outbuildings are located on the opposite corner at 17th and Kelley. Interesting plants and shrubbery have been planted along the Kelley Street side, which is blocked off to vehicular traffic but open to pedestrians.
The yard of Richard Gordon, 301 South 16th Street, has been named “Yard of the Month” in Grand Junction. Gordon operated a welding business on Main Street in Grand Junction for many years until he retired. He also served several terms as mayor of Grand Junction.
The
Gordon property at the corner of South 16th and East Hager streets
is familiar to longtime area residents as the former site of St. Brigid’s
Church. The Gordon yard is three-quarters of a city block and is well
landscaped with a variety of flowers, plants, shrubs and trees while
incorporating the stately trees that dotted the church property when the church
building was on the site.The house is situated at an interesting angle facing the corner of 16th and Hager. Two outbuildings are located on the opposite corner at 17th and Kelley. Interesting plants and shrubbery have been planted along the Kelley Street side, which is blocked off to vehicular traffic but open to pedestrians.
Yard
of the Month in Grand Junction is sponsored by Grand Junction Horizons.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Funeral Services Friday for Kenny Higgins
Funeral Services for Kenny Higgins, 68, of Grand Junction will be 10:30 a.m. Friday, May 11, at St. Brigid Catholic Church in Grand Junction. Interment will be in the Mount Calvary Cemetery, Grand Junction. Visitation will begin after 11 a.m. today (Thursday, May 10) at St. Brigid Catholic Church in Grand Junction with a Rosary Service at 4:30 p.m. The family will then greet friends from 5 to 8 p.m. at the church. Memorials are suggest to the American Heart Association or the American Breast Cancer Association and may be left at Slininger-Rossow Funeral Home in Jefferson.
Kenneth Leo Higgins, son of Thomas and Wava Higgins was born January 19, 1944 in Gary, Ind., and died May 7, 2012, in Blue Eye, Mo., at the age of 68.
Kenny attended school in Grand Junction, Iowa and graduated from East Greene High School in 1962. He married Karen Kay (Graves) Higgins on November 21, 1964, in Indianola, Iowa. They are the parents of three sons Kevin Scott, Kurt Alan and Kriss Eric. After graduating, Kenny worked for Quaker Oats in Beaver. From 1964 to 1978, he was the owner/operator of Woerner Oil. In 1977, Kenny started Higgins Imp. and worked there until present.
Kenny was a member of St. Brigid Catholic Church, 4H, FFA, and the Elks. He was on the Grand Junction City Council. He was also on the Grand Junction City Light and Water Board for 18 years. Kenny enjoyed working on his Mustang and going to his home in Branson, Mo. He also loved
spending time with his nine grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.
Kenny is survived by his wife Kay of Grand Junction; sons Kevin Higgins of Lytton, Kurt (Marsha) Higgins of Jefferson, and Kriss (Jessica) Higgins of Grand Junction; nine grandchildren; one great-granddaughter; brothers Wayne (Marla) Higgins of Ankeny, David (Joan) Higgins of Grand Junction, Gary (Jane) Higgins of Grand Junction, and Dale (Susan) Higgins of Grand Junction; sisters: Ellamae (Bob) Hegna of Avoca and Rosemary Washburn of Ankeny. He will be missed by many friends and family. He is preceded in death by his parents and one brother Lyle.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Raccoon River Artisan Colony Opens 2012 Season
TINSMITH JIM KIMPELL FEATURED OPENING DAY
The Raccoon River Artisan Colony in Jefferson will begin its 2012 season Saturday, April 28. Opening day will feature demonstrations by tinsmith and historical interpreter, Jim Kimpell. This year’s season will feature scheduled demonstrators each Saturday, including a stained glass artist, several repurposing artists, stone carver, toymaker, soap maker, basket weaver, and more. The Colony’s general store will be open once again to sell the goods made by our artisans as well as off-site artisans. Several antiques dealers are a welcome addition to The Colony this year as well.
Hours are Tuesday-Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Interested artisans or dealers may contact Angie Pedersen at 515-370-4306 or angiervp1875@gmail.com for more information. Be sure to “Like” the Raccoon River Artisan Colony on Facebook and watch the page for our demonstrator schedule and announcements. www.facebook.com/RaccoonRiverArtisanColony.
The Raccoon River Artisan Colony in Jefferson will begin its 2012 season Saturday, April 28. Opening day will feature demonstrations by tinsmith and historical interpreter, Jim Kimpell. This year’s season will feature scheduled demonstrators each Saturday, including a stained glass artist, several repurposing artists, stone carver, toymaker, soap maker, basket weaver, and more. The Colony’s general store will be open once again to sell the goods made by our artisans as well as off-site artisans. Several antiques dealers are a welcome addition to The Colony this year as well.
Hours are Tuesday-Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Interested artisans or dealers may contact Angie Pedersen at 515-370-4306 or angiervp1875@gmail.com for more information. Be sure to “Like” the Raccoon River Artisan Colony on Facebook and watch the page for our demonstrator schedule and announcements. www.facebook.com/RaccoonRiverArtisanColony.
Thursday, April 19, 2012
EG Boys to Share Sports Beginning in Fall
BOARD
MOVE ALIGNS WITH EG-JS ACADEMICS
The last piece of the puzzle of whole grade sharing was put into place at a special East Greene school board meeting late Wednesday afternoon.
The result was a 5-0 vote to begin sharing boys high school sports with Jefferson-Scranton beginning with football in the fall. This follows earlier decisions to begin sharing girls high school and middle school sports this summer for softball and boys middle school sports next fall. This series of decisions comes after the two districts signed an agreement last August that would have East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton initially offering their own separate sports programs for two years, 2012-13 and 2013-14, although the students would attend classes together in Jefferson as one high school as per a two-year whole grade sharing arrangement.
Since then, the separate sports plans was reduced to just one year, then to high school sports only, and then to high school boys only.
It was an emotional meeting with many of the members of the boys’ teams and several of their parents on hand. The last East Greene sports teams will be this summer’s high school and middle school baseball teams. EG girls will wrap it up with this year’s track seasons and share softball with Jefferson-Scranton starting next month as members of a shared JS/PC/EG team.
Principal Jon Hueser had outlined the challenges and frustrations of finding an approved class that would pass muster with state education officials at last week’s regular board meeting. He had been in communication with Carol Greta, legal counsel for the Iowa Department of Education, to review various class options.
He read down a list of proposed classes and related emails to and from with Greta that were either rejected or would not work in conjunction with the two districts’ daily academic schedule. The first roadblock was Greta not allowing East Greene an early start at 7:30 a.m. in advance of the first scheduled period. Secondly, she indicated the class must be part of the core curriculum so that eliminated a number of elective classes like life skills and health. Physical education was a possibility, but it would be difficult to get all 75-80 high school students showered and dressed and then onto the buses and over to the classrooms at Jefferson.
Throughout the process, Hueser and Superintendent Mike Harter spoke of needing to work within the established daily schedule in Jefferson at the high school and middle school buildings and the bus schedules set up to get students to the buildings at the start of each school day.
It was clear by the end of the April 11 meeting that the “EG only” class could not be offered, and thus it was most likely boys sports would be conjoined with Jefferson-Scranton sports at the start of next school year.
So it was no surprise when the board announced Monday that a special meeting would be held late Wednesday afternoon with “sports sharing” as one of three agenda items.
Hueser again went down the list of possible classes that had all been rejected, and several board members explained they had personally visited with officials at the Iowa High School Athletic Association in Boone and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union in West Des Moines. But it was to no avail, no compromise could be reached.
Discussion among the board members and district residents at the meeting revealed that state DOE officials were hearing from other districts who wanted to “whole grade share” with a neighboring district and keep their sports program separate too, as word of the East Greene’s plan spread to other small districts facing declining enrollments and diminished budgets.
One board member made reference to what was becoming the “East Greene rule,” and he expressed belief that the DOE then backed off from earlier indications that East Greene could offer sports separately as it proceeded into whole grade sharing with Jefferson-Scranton. Earlier, the districts agreed to share all non-athletic extracurricular activities which got underway this year in advance of whole grade sharing, as East Greene high school students presently spend a good part of their day in the Jefferson high school building.
The big shift next year comes with all students in middle and high school being there all day. In turn, Jefferson-Scranton will send its fifth and sixth grades to the Grand Junction building, which will also house the lower elementary grades now offered at Rippey—pre-kindergarten up through fourth grade. The Rippey building will close, but use of the gym for JS/EG winter sports in a possibility, most likely for junior varsity or middle school level.
Not yet determined by both boards is whether the sports teams will compete as Greene County or Jefferson-Scranton/East Greene and if any name change to the school would result in a related change to school colors, mascot, team nickname and fight song. No agreement has been reached on further use of Karber Field in Grand Junction for middle or high school sports use. (Jefferson-Scranton currently uses Linduska Field by the high school for middle school, 9th, JV and varsity football).
The ball park (Dutton Field) here will be used this summer for local little league baseball and softball and then becomes part of the East Greene Elementary (Pre K-4)/Greene County Intermediate (5-6) campus when classes begin in August for the 2012-13 school year.
The last piece of the puzzle of whole grade sharing was put into place at a special East Greene school board meeting late Wednesday afternoon.
The result was a 5-0 vote to begin sharing boys high school sports with Jefferson-Scranton beginning with football in the fall. This follows earlier decisions to begin sharing girls high school and middle school sports this summer for softball and boys middle school sports next fall. This series of decisions comes after the two districts signed an agreement last August that would have East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton initially offering their own separate sports programs for two years, 2012-13 and 2013-14, although the students would attend classes together in Jefferson as one high school as per a two-year whole grade sharing arrangement.
Since then, the separate sports plans was reduced to just one year, then to high school sports only, and then to high school boys only.
It was an emotional meeting with many of the members of the boys’ teams and several of their parents on hand. The last East Greene sports teams will be this summer’s high school and middle school baseball teams. EG girls will wrap it up with this year’s track seasons and share softball with Jefferson-Scranton starting next month as members of a shared JS/PC/EG team.
The
East Greene board and administration were unable to come to terms with a very
narrow framework for offering one class in the Grand Junction building each
school day. That had been the criteria laid out by the Iowa Department of
Education to allow East Greene to maintain status as a high school and maintain
a separate high school sports program.
Principal Jon Hueser had outlined the challenges and frustrations of finding an approved class that would pass muster with state education officials at last week’s regular board meeting. He had been in communication with Carol Greta, legal counsel for the Iowa Department of Education, to review various class options.
He read down a list of proposed classes and related emails to and from with Greta that were either rejected or would not work in conjunction with the two districts’ daily academic schedule. The first roadblock was Greta not allowing East Greene an early start at 7:30 a.m. in advance of the first scheduled period. Secondly, she indicated the class must be part of the core curriculum so that eliminated a number of elective classes like life skills and health. Physical education was a possibility, but it would be difficult to get all 75-80 high school students showered and dressed and then onto the buses and over to the classrooms at Jefferson.
Throughout the process, Hueser and Superintendent Mike Harter spoke of needing to work within the established daily schedule in Jefferson at the high school and middle school buildings and the bus schedules set up to get students to the buildings at the start of each school day.
It was clear by the end of the April 11 meeting that the “EG only” class could not be offered, and thus it was most likely boys sports would be conjoined with Jefferson-Scranton sports at the start of next school year.
So it was no surprise when the board announced Monday that a special meeting would be held late Wednesday afternoon with “sports sharing” as one of three agenda items.
Hueser again went down the list of possible classes that had all been rejected, and several board members explained they had personally visited with officials at the Iowa High School Athletic Association in Boone and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union in West Des Moines. But it was to no avail, no compromise could be reached.
Discussion among the board members and district residents at the meeting revealed that state DOE officials were hearing from other districts who wanted to “whole grade share” with a neighboring district and keep their sports program separate too, as word of the East Greene’s plan spread to other small districts facing declining enrollments and diminished budgets.
One board member made reference to what was becoming the “East Greene rule,” and he expressed belief that the DOE then backed off from earlier indications that East Greene could offer sports separately as it proceeded into whole grade sharing with Jefferson-Scranton. Earlier, the districts agreed to share all non-athletic extracurricular activities which got underway this year in advance of whole grade sharing, as East Greene high school students presently spend a good part of their day in the Jefferson high school building.
The big shift next year comes with all students in middle and high school being there all day. In turn, Jefferson-Scranton will send its fifth and sixth grades to the Grand Junction building, which will also house the lower elementary grades now offered at Rippey—pre-kindergarten up through fourth grade. The Rippey building will close, but use of the gym for JS/EG winter sports in a possibility, most likely for junior varsity or middle school level.
Not yet determined by both boards is whether the sports teams will compete as Greene County or Jefferson-Scranton/East Greene and if any name change to the school would result in a related change to school colors, mascot, team nickname and fight song. No agreement has been reached on further use of Karber Field in Grand Junction for middle or high school sports use. (Jefferson-Scranton currently uses Linduska Field by the high school for middle school, 9th, JV and varsity football).
The ball park (Dutton Field) here will be used this summer for local little league baseball and softball and then becomes part of the East Greene Elementary (Pre K-4)/Greene County Intermediate (5-6) campus when classes begin in August for the 2012-13 school year.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
A New Look for GJ School Building
CONVERSION
TO K-6 FACILITY BEGINS IN MAY
It’s a complete makeover for the interior of the Grand Junction school building.
The venerable building, which has been educating students since the oldest part of the building opened in late 1914, will be refurbished from top to bottom this summer.
As soon as the 2011-12 school year ends in May, workers from Estes Construction will go to work transforming what has primarily been East Greene High School since 1960 into the newly repurposed East Greene Elementary School, serving students from the East Greene district in grades pre-kindergarten through fourth grade, and the Greene County Intermediate School, serving all fifth and sixth grade students in the East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton districts.
The overhaul is part of the two-way, whole grade sharing agreement that goes into effect at the start of school next August. In turn for Jefferson-Scranton sending fifth and sixth graders to East Greene, all 7th through 12th grade students in East Greene will attend classes in Jefferson-Scranton’s facilities in Jefferson. Those buildings are being rechristened Greene County High School and Greene County Middle School.
Like the EG elementary school in Grand Junction, the Jefferson-Scranton district will maintain its own PK-4 elementary school building in Jefferson for Jefferson-Scranton students in those grade levels.
As part of the transition, the Rippey building will be phased out as an elementary school with the gym to remain in use for East Greene High School boys’ athletics for 2012-13. JS and EG officials have indicated the gym night host possible Greene County middle school sports next year too. EG and JS will begin sharing all girls high school and middle schools sports this summer. Boys middle school athletics start sharing in the fall with football. High school boys won’t begin sharing sports until the start of the following school year, 2013-14.
The remodeling plans were reviewed firsthand at the joint meeting of the East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton school boards on Wednesday, March 28, at the ICN Room in the Grand Junction building.
Mike Harter, East Greene superintendent, and Jon Hueser, East Greene middle and high school principal, took the board members through the school to show where each level of instruction will be conducted and how the various parts of the building will be transformed.
The top two floors of the original part of the 1914 building will become the new Greene County Intermediate School. The lower part, or “ground floor,” of that wing will be remodeled into new classrooms for first, second, third and fourth grades. Two of the three existing classrooms in the 1954 wing will become the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten rooms, which was their original purpose when that addition was designed and built nearly 60 years ago.
When the Grand Junction building became the high school for East Greene in 1959-60, the newer wing continued to be used for kindergarten and first grades for about 10 years. Eventually the entire building was dedicated to high school instruction, and the kindergarten and first grade classrooms were relocated to Rippey.
THE ‘NEW LOOK’ GJ BUILDING
Starting from the entrance of the single-level north wing (1954) to the top of the oldest three-level wing (1914), these are the changes to building:
The present vocal music room—the first of the three classrooms when entering the building—will become the new main administrative office area. The current door from the classroom to the hall will lead into an outer office area with three smaller offices behind that for school administrators.
A main entrance into the office area will be cut into the exterior wall in the area between the first set of outside triple doors and the second. This is roughly opposite the built-in glass trophy case, which was part of the original triple door entryway, which was designed with a contemporary glass and wood format in accord with the rest of the addition. However, school building codes later required the district to install bulky-looking fireproof metal doors to the outer three doors.
This new configuration from entryway to main office will direct all visitors directly into the office and add an extra measure of security to the facility. The second (inside) bank of doors will remain locked prohibiting outside access, but will have exit “push bars” allowing for students of all ages to open the doors to leave the building. (Currently, the main entrance to the school is on ground level of the older part of the building, which leads up a wide entry and stairway to the office area on the middle level of the building’s three levels.)
The band room which is on the far north side of the north wing—directly at the end of the wide lobby area when first entering the building—will remain a band room for the fifth and sixth grades. Part of that room—along its south connecting wall to the 1939 gymnasium addition—will be reapportioned as handicapped accessible ramp leading down and into the ground level hallway alongside the current ICN room, boys locker room and north side entry to the stage in the gymnasium-auditorium. The width of that ramp is roughly the size of the current double doors into the band room. A new double-door entry similar to the existing doorway will be made out of the third of three practice rooms along the west wall of the band room. The restrooms off the lobby of the north wing will also be remodeled.
On the south side of the gymnasium, the present family and consumer science (formerly home economics) classroom will become the new media center for both the intermediate and elementary areas. The cafeteria-lunchroom in the basement level of the north wing will be relocated to the current art room on the far east side of the 1939-1954 part of the building. Its main entry will be off the long hallway that leads from the southeast corner of the gym floor up to the stage (south side) and to the family and consumer science classroom, and continues east and then south to an outside entryway, and then turns east again directly to the art room.
A new handicap accessible ramp will be built at the south entryway, which is currently accessible by steps.
The wall between the art room and the ICN room—created in renovation a few years back—will come down and the reopened space will be feature the cafeteria seating area to the north and the kitchen to the south.
This part of the building is known to several generations of GJ-EG grads as the “industrial arts room,” as it was built as part of the 1954 expansion project by a local company, Neel Lumber Co. The classroom wing on the other side of the gym was designed by a Des Moines architectural firm and built by contractor that specialized in school construction projects.
RENOVATING ‘OLD MAIN’
(School officials are still balancing the cost versus need of an elevator linking all three floors. It would stop at the top, middle and bottom floors of Old Main but be accessible from the ground-level 1939 addition, which has a ground level double-door entrance facing the east, where the gymnasium wing connects to the north staircase down to the lower floor and up to the middle floor of Old Main.)
Just to the south of that science classroom is the largest space of the top floor. It is currently the media center. In the 1970s it was a library and student lounge and then later became an expanded library/media room, but since the building first opened and well into the 1960s it was the high school study hall and assembly room. Part of that space just off the hallway will be dedicated as a pass-through resource area while the rest of the space toward the east wall will be divided into two classrooms.
Across the hall from the former study hall area was the longtime principal’s office which was moved to the former superintendent’s office on the second floor several years ago. (The superintendent’s office was relocated to the south end classroom of the middle floor.) This space will be again used as offices.
On either side of the office are existing classrooms and the boys and girls restrooms. At the north end of the hallway are two smaller rooms that will be used as resource rooms.
The bottom level will see significant changes. The east side of this floor was at one time used for auto shop and vocational agricultural but in recent years has been subdivided into two separate spaces—custodian’s office/storage area on one side and the weight room for high school athletics on the other. Originally, when the building opened in 1914, this was the gymnasium-- the first in this part of the state. In fact, the restrooms on this level were actually the boys and girls locker rooms for the gym. These were used for visiting teams’ locker rooms from the time the gymnasium wing opened in 1939 until it was phased out for high school basketball 40 years later and the Rippey gym became the East Greene home court.
This “first” gym had a rather short life as basketball and other school events move to the Legion Hall when it opened in 1922. The Legion Hall had room for a basketball court and seating on the upper level and a kitchen and dining hall that could handle large crowds on the lower level. The first county high school basketball tournaments were held in the Legion Hall along with town team tournaments, including a state Legion tournament in 1925 won by the Grand Junction town team.
Presently, the middle portion of the old gym area has a garage door and connecting sloped driveway at the rear of the building, remnants from its automotive mechanics era. The door will be replaced with a wall and the entire space will get a new raised floor and be divided into three lower elementary classrooms. A fourth lower grade classroom will be opposite the hallway on the northwest side of the building. This is currently the guidance and career counseling office. Further north of that is the boiler room. At the opposite, or south end, of this lower floor will be boys and girls restrooms on the west side and the classroom on the south end becomes an art room. When completed this floor will have five full-size classrooms and two small resource rooms located between the middle classroom on the east side and the main hallway.
Next to the west side classroom will be a space for the school nurse. Just to the south of that is a storage area (the space under the front entryway staircase that leads up to the second floor) and adjacent to that to the south will be an office for visiting AEA staff. Across the hallway and next to the new classroom being crafted out of the weight room will be smaller resource room for Title I reading.
MEETING HANDICAP ACCESS MANDATE
The genesis for the remodeling project is a mandate from federal Office of Civil Rights Equity to make the building accessible to the handicapped. When the Iowa Department of Education made its accreditation visit to the two East Greene school buildings in 2011, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) conducted a tandem site inspection visit. OCR then indicated to East Greene officials that the two school buildings in Grand Junction and Rippey would need to come into compliance for handicapped access. Each building’s media center, office and lunchroom would all need to be either be on one level and an elevator system would be necessary to get students to any upper or lower floors.
As the whole grade sharing process was being worked out, it became apparent to East Greene school officials that the cost to upgrade two buildings for 275 total students was not feasible. Further, enrollment data indicates that a large majority of East Greene students live in Grand Junction, as the proportional number of students in Rippey, Dana and the surrounding rural areas has dropped considerably in the last 15 to 20 years. Presently, just 7 of the East Greene elementary students (90 total in K-5) live in Rippey.
A consultant hired by both districts to advise them on whole grade sharing recommended last summer that the Rippey building be phased out.
It’s a complete makeover for the interior of the Grand Junction school building.
The venerable building, which has been educating students since the oldest part of the building opened in late 1914, will be refurbished from top to bottom this summer.
As soon as the 2011-12 school year ends in May, workers from Estes Construction will go to work transforming what has primarily been East Greene High School since 1960 into the newly repurposed East Greene Elementary School, serving students from the East Greene district in grades pre-kindergarten through fourth grade, and the Greene County Intermediate School, serving all fifth and sixth grade students in the East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton districts.
The overhaul is part of the two-way, whole grade sharing agreement that goes into effect at the start of school next August. In turn for Jefferson-Scranton sending fifth and sixth graders to East Greene, all 7th through 12th grade students in East Greene will attend classes in Jefferson-Scranton’s facilities in Jefferson. Those buildings are being rechristened Greene County High School and Greene County Middle School.
Like the EG elementary school in Grand Junction, the Jefferson-Scranton district will maintain its own PK-4 elementary school building in Jefferson for Jefferson-Scranton students in those grade levels.
As part of the transition, the Rippey building will be phased out as an elementary school with the gym to remain in use for East Greene High School boys’ athletics for 2012-13. JS and EG officials have indicated the gym night host possible Greene County middle school sports next year too. EG and JS will begin sharing all girls high school and middle schools sports this summer. Boys middle school athletics start sharing in the fall with football. High school boys won’t begin sharing sports until the start of the following school year, 2013-14.
The remodeling plans were reviewed firsthand at the joint meeting of the East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton school boards on Wednesday, March 28, at the ICN Room in the Grand Junction building.
Mike Harter, East Greene superintendent, and Jon Hueser, East Greene middle and high school principal, took the board members through the school to show where each level of instruction will be conducted and how the various parts of the building will be transformed.
The top two floors of the original part of the 1914 building will become the new Greene County Intermediate School. The lower part, or “ground floor,” of that wing will be remodeled into new classrooms for first, second, third and fourth grades. Two of the three existing classrooms in the 1954 wing will become the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten rooms, which was their original purpose when that addition was designed and built nearly 60 years ago.
When the Grand Junction building became the high school for East Greene in 1959-60, the newer wing continued to be used for kindergarten and first grades for about 10 years. Eventually the entire building was dedicated to high school instruction, and the kindergarten and first grade classrooms were relocated to Rippey.
THE ‘NEW LOOK’ GJ BUILDING
Starting from the entrance of the single-level north wing (1954) to the top of the oldest three-level wing (1914), these are the changes to building:
The present vocal music room—the first of the three classrooms when entering the building—will become the new main administrative office area. The current door from the classroom to the hall will lead into an outer office area with three smaller offices behind that for school administrators.
A main entrance into the office area will be cut into the exterior wall in the area between the first set of outside triple doors and the second. This is roughly opposite the built-in glass trophy case, which was part of the original triple door entryway, which was designed with a contemporary glass and wood format in accord with the rest of the addition. However, school building codes later required the district to install bulky-looking fireproof metal doors to the outer three doors.
This new configuration from entryway to main office will direct all visitors directly into the office and add an extra measure of security to the facility. The second (inside) bank of doors will remain locked prohibiting outside access, but will have exit “push bars” allowing for students of all ages to open the doors to leave the building. (Currently, the main entrance to the school is on ground level of the older part of the building, which leads up a wide entry and stairway to the office area on the middle level of the building’s three levels.)
The band room which is on the far north side of the north wing—directly at the end of the wide lobby area when first entering the building—will remain a band room for the fifth and sixth grades. Part of that room—along its south connecting wall to the 1939 gymnasium addition—will be reapportioned as handicapped accessible ramp leading down and into the ground level hallway alongside the current ICN room, boys locker room and north side entry to the stage in the gymnasium-auditorium. The width of that ramp is roughly the size of the current double doors into the band room. A new double-door entry similar to the existing doorway will be made out of the third of three practice rooms along the west wall of the band room. The restrooms off the lobby of the north wing will also be remodeled.
On the south side of the gymnasium, the present family and consumer science (formerly home economics) classroom will become the new media center for both the intermediate and elementary areas. The cafeteria-lunchroom in the basement level of the north wing will be relocated to the current art room on the far east side of the 1939-1954 part of the building. Its main entry will be off the long hallway that leads from the southeast corner of the gym floor up to the stage (south side) and to the family and consumer science classroom, and continues east and then south to an outside entryway, and then turns east again directly to the art room.
A new handicap accessible ramp will be built at the south entryway, which is currently accessible by steps.
The wall between the art room and the ICN room—created in renovation a few years back—will come down and the reopened space will be feature the cafeteria seating area to the north and the kitchen to the south.
This part of the building is known to several generations of GJ-EG grads as the “industrial arts room,” as it was built as part of the 1954 expansion project by a local company, Neel Lumber Co. The classroom wing on the other side of the gym was designed by a Des Moines architectural firm and built by contractor that specialized in school construction projects.
RENOVATING ‘OLD MAIN’
Plans
for the top floor of the original 1914 building, or “Old Main,” call for two
science rooms. The former science room on the south side is currently a middle
school social studies room, but will revert back to science. A classroom on the
northeast corner of the top floor has traditionally been the high school
chemistry and physics room, and it will continue as a science room. Part of that
room may be blocked out for a proposed elevator that will connect to the lower
two floors.
(School officials are still balancing the cost versus need of an elevator linking all three floors. It would stop at the top, middle and bottom floors of Old Main but be accessible from the ground-level 1939 addition, which has a ground level double-door entrance facing the east, where the gymnasium wing connects to the north staircase down to the lower floor and up to the middle floor of Old Main.)
Just to the south of that science classroom is the largest space of the top floor. It is currently the media center. In the 1970s it was a library and student lounge and then later became an expanded library/media room, but since the building first opened and well into the 1960s it was the high school study hall and assembly room. Part of that space just off the hallway will be dedicated as a pass-through resource area while the rest of the space toward the east wall will be divided into two classrooms.
Across the hall from the former study hall area was the longtime principal’s office which was moved to the former superintendent’s office on the second floor several years ago. (The superintendent’s office was relocated to the south end classroom of the middle floor.) This space will be again used as offices.
On either side of the office are existing classrooms and the boys and girls restrooms. At the north end of the hallway are two smaller rooms that will be used as resource rooms.
The
middle floor will see the current superintendent’s office revert to classroom space
devoted to family and consumer science for intermediate students. Part of the current principal’s
office closest to the hallway will become a smaller resource area with computer
terminals while the rest of the space will become a classroom, flanked on either
side by existing classrooms. The clasroom to the south is currently a media lab with computer terminals. That room will be converted to a resource room with laptops.
There are two classrooms on the west side of the hallway divided by the large, open staircase that leads up to the middle floor from the ground level. Another classroom is at the north end of the hallway.
There are two classrooms on the west side of the hallway divided by the large, open staircase that leads up to the middle floor from the ground level. Another classroom is at the north end of the hallway.
The bottom level will see significant changes. The east side of this floor was at one time used for auto shop and vocational agricultural but in recent years has been subdivided into two separate spaces—custodian’s office/storage area on one side and the weight room for high school athletics on the other. Originally, when the building opened in 1914, this was the gymnasium-- the first in this part of the state. In fact, the restrooms on this level were actually the boys and girls locker rooms for the gym. These were used for visiting teams’ locker rooms from the time the gymnasium wing opened in 1939 until it was phased out for high school basketball 40 years later and the Rippey gym became the East Greene home court.
This “first” gym had a rather short life as basketball and other school events move to the Legion Hall when it opened in 1922. The Legion Hall had room for a basketball court and seating on the upper level and a kitchen and dining hall that could handle large crowds on the lower level. The first county high school basketball tournaments were held in the Legion Hall along with town team tournaments, including a state Legion tournament in 1925 won by the Grand Junction town team.
Presently, the middle portion of the old gym area has a garage door and connecting sloped driveway at the rear of the building, remnants from its automotive mechanics era. The door will be replaced with a wall and the entire space will get a new raised floor and be divided into three lower elementary classrooms. A fourth lower grade classroom will be opposite the hallway on the northwest side of the building. This is currently the guidance and career counseling office. Further north of that is the boiler room. At the opposite, or south end, of this lower floor will be boys and girls restrooms on the west side and the classroom on the south end becomes an art room. When completed this floor will have five full-size classrooms and two small resource rooms located between the middle classroom on the east side and the main hallway.
Next to the west side classroom will be a space for the school nurse. Just to the south of that is a storage area (the space under the front entryway staircase that leads up to the second floor) and adjacent to that to the south will be an office for visiting AEA staff. Across the hallway and next to the new classroom being crafted out of the weight room will be smaller resource room for Title I reading.
The
architects have marked off space for an elevator shaft from the lower to the
middle to the upper floor in the northwest corner area of the classrooms on the
northeast side of the building. A small elevator foyer would be created about
the same size of the Title I room, allowing access to and from the elevator and
out into the hallway.
MEETING HANDICAP ACCESS MANDATE
The genesis for the remodeling project is a mandate from federal Office of Civil Rights Equity to make the building accessible to the handicapped. When the Iowa Department of Education made its accreditation visit to the two East Greene school buildings in 2011, the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) conducted a tandem site inspection visit. OCR then indicated to East Greene officials that the two school buildings in Grand Junction and Rippey would need to come into compliance for handicapped access. Each building’s media center, office and lunchroom would all need to be either be on one level and an elevator system would be necessary to get students to any upper or lower floors.
As the whole grade sharing process was being worked out, it became apparent to East Greene school officials that the cost to upgrade two buildings for 275 total students was not feasible. Further, enrollment data indicates that a large majority of East Greene students live in Grand Junction, as the proportional number of students in Rippey, Dana and the surrounding rural areas has dropped considerably in the last 15 to 20 years. Presently, just 7 of the East Greene elementary students (90 total in K-5) live in Rippey.
A consultant hired by both districts to advise them on whole grade sharing recommended last summer that the Rippey building be phased out.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Grand Junction 'Lincoln Highway Day' July 28
THEME IS ‘LOCOMOTING ALONG THE LINCOLN’
The annual Grand Junction Fun Day has been renamed “Lincoln Highway Day” to celebrate the town’s Lincoln Highway heritage.
Theme for the Saturday, July 28, day-long event is “Locomoting Along the Lincoln Highway,” which embraces the significance of the railroad and automobile transportation in building and developing Grand Junction.
A number of events are planned for Lincoln Highway Day including an 11 a.m. parade down Main Street, which is the route of the original Lincoln Highway that went across the United States from coast-to-coast and was later renamed U.S. Highway 30.
A highlight of Lincoln Highway Day will be the new Lincoln Highway Visitor’s Center on Main Street, which will soon open in the former Watts Building at 201 East Main. The center will feature materials and information that promote the heritage of the Lincoln Highway in Grand Junction and Greene County.
Visitors will also be directed to the new signage at the Lincoln Highway Historic Bridges Interpretive Center at the east edge of Grand Junction where the Lincoln Highway intersects with U.S. Highway 30. The signage outlines the building of the highway and makes note of the significant role played by Greene County in making the highway a reality.
A committee of East Greene graduates is planning an "All-EG Reunion" that evening at Ferg’s on Highway 30 in Grand Junction. Other activities include a performance by the Off the Track Players, a noon meal on Hager Street between the Methodist and Presbyterian churches with musical entertainment, free admission to Kennedy’s Museum, an evening ice cream social, games for kids, and other activities.
A spokesperson for the event said parade participants are urged to incorporate the theme for their entries by using any of the related topics, including trains, locomotives, cars, highways, movement, transportation and even the highway namesake himself—Abraham Lincoln.
The annual Grand Junction Fun Day has been renamed “Lincoln Highway Day” to celebrate the town’s Lincoln Highway heritage.
Theme for the Saturday, July 28, day-long event is “Locomoting Along the Lincoln Highway,” which embraces the significance of the railroad and automobile transportation in building and developing Grand Junction.
A number of events are planned for Lincoln Highway Day including an 11 a.m. parade down Main Street, which is the route of the original Lincoln Highway that went across the United States from coast-to-coast and was later renamed U.S. Highway 30.
A highlight of Lincoln Highway Day will be the new Lincoln Highway Visitor’s Center on Main Street, which will soon open in the former Watts Building at 201 East Main. The center will feature materials and information that promote the heritage of the Lincoln Highway in Grand Junction and Greene County.
Visitors will also be directed to the new signage at the Lincoln Highway Historic Bridges Interpretive Center at the east edge of Grand Junction where the Lincoln Highway intersects with U.S. Highway 30. The signage outlines the building of the highway and makes note of the significant role played by Greene County in making the highway a reality.
A committee of East Greene graduates is planning an "All-EG Reunion" that evening at Ferg’s on Highway 30 in Grand Junction. Other activities include a performance by the Off the Track Players, a noon meal on Hager Street between the Methodist and Presbyterian churches with musical entertainment, free admission to Kennedy’s Museum, an evening ice cream social, games for kids, and other activities.
A spokesperson for the event said parade participants are urged to incorporate the theme for their entries by using any of the related topics, including trains, locomotives, cars, highways, movement, transportation and even the highway namesake himself—Abraham Lincoln.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Joint School Boards to Meet March 28
AGENDA
INCLUDES GJ SCHOOL REMODELING
East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton school boards will hold a joint meeting on Wednesday, March 28, at 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Junction building.
Agenda items are sports sharing, remodeling the Grand Junction building, and a timeline for reorganizing the districts.
East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton school boards will hold a joint meeting on Wednesday, March 28, at 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Junction building.
Agenda items are sports sharing, remodeling the Grand Junction building, and a timeline for reorganizing the districts.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
EG Board Makes More Sharing Decisions
PHASE-OUT
OF RIPPEY BUILDING BEGINS IN FALL
The future of education in eastern Greene County looked a little clearer after adjournment of the East Greene school board meeting Wednesday night.
The board moved forward on the remodeling of the Grand Junction building, transforming it from an under-used 6-12 facility to a fully-functioning pre kindergarten-fourth grade elementary facility for the East Greene district and an intermediate school for fifth and sixth grade students from both East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton districts.
As part of the transition process, the board dealt with the difficult task of closing the Rippey building.
Rippey resident Ned Johnston asked that the board be respectful of the wishes of the Rippey community in not letting the building become an abandoned eyesore as the district moves forward with plans to phase out the facility. Johnston made note of the situation with the former school building in Bagley, which was sold to a private owner but it is now in a state of serious disrepair. Estimated costs now to raze the Bagley building are between$50,000 and $75,000.
Johnston also asked the board of the long-term viability of the Grand Junction building, considering the price tag for remodeling is $2 million. President Marc Hoffman had just explained that the decision-making process of the board is to lead the East Greene district into reorganization with Jefferson-Scranton, forming a new Greene County Community School District. Johnston noted that a consultant hired by the boards to advise them on whole grade sharing and then possible reorganization alluded to the possible future construction of a new middle school (grades 5-8) to be built in Jefferson.
Superintendent
Mike Harter said at this time a bond issue election to build such a school in
Jefferson is not likely in the foreseeable future. He also explained that the
bonds issued to pay for the remodeling project in the Grand Junction building are
for 20 years, but the funding is actually from the district’s share of the
local options sales tax (LOST), which is money that goes from a statewide pool
of collected sales taxes back to each public school district in the state.
Johnston urged the board to include money in the district budget to provide for the costs of razing the Rippey building. The board assured him that would be the case.
Board member David Tipton suggested the district keep its options open for this fall in case the remodeling project in Grand Junction is not complete and the Rippey space will be needed. Tipton also expressed doubt that all the students will fit in the Grand Junction building. The estimated number of students using the building for next school year is between 275 and 300.
The Rippey building’s gymnasium will be used for the final year of East Greene high school athletics and possibly for junior high games for what becomes Greene County Middle School in Jefferson this fall. A recent joint board meeting between East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton indicated interest from the Jefferson-Scranton board to schedule games away from the Greene County Community Center in Jefferson as it takes away from the community use of the facility, and gymnasiums will be available in Scranton and Rippey.
Jefferson-Scranton uses one gymnasium for its high school and middle school, the facility adjacent to the middle school building at South Vine and Monroe streets. The gym as the high school is a practice facility only. So many middle school and high school junior varsity games are played in the community center’s gym, as it is across the street from the middle school.
In another twist on the sport sharing, however, the board voted to cease offering a separate girls high school sports program for East Greene effective with the start of softball in May. The board also rescinded a vote on sharing all middle school sports beginning this softball-baseball season, and voted this time to keep East Greene junior high baseball for boys this summer in Rippey but proceed with the junior high softball sharing, effective at the start of the season in May.
Then the board officially voted to end offering a separate East Greene sports program for high school boys after completion of next year’s baseball season, 2012-13. The fall season that begins the 2013-14 school year will see combined East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton boys sports teams competing as Greene County.
However, decisions on a team nickname and school colors for a combined EG-JS for 2013-14 have not been decided. As for next year, 2012-13, with the high school girls sharing with JS, but boys being separate, it appears that all junior high teams and girls varsity will compete as Jefferson-Scranton, unless the two board make an official decision to call the teams Jefferson-Scranton/East Greene (or vice versa) or to go forward with the middle school sports teams reflecting the name of the school building, Greene County Middle School.
The wrestling program offered at J-S the last several seasons has included members form East Greene and Paton-Churdan and competed as JSPCEG. J-S and Paton-Churdan have shared football for many years as JSPC.
Business director Shawn Angell reviewed with the board some of the documentation needed for the board to proceed working with Piper Jaffray in issuing the bonds to finance the remodeling project.
The board also reviewed the 2012-13 budget before setting a date for the annual public hearing for April 11 as part of the regular meeting.
In other business, the board:
*Approved provisional school drivers’ licenses for Karlan Langfitt, Dylan Lansman and Max Neese.
*Reviewed the open enrollment follow-up survey process. Several years ago the district began offering survey to the parents of students who open enrolled out of the district.
*Set a joint board meeting with Jefferson-Scranton for Wednesday, March 28, at 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Junction building.
The future of education in eastern Greene County looked a little clearer after adjournment of the East Greene school board meeting Wednesday night.
The board moved forward on the remodeling of the Grand Junction building, transforming it from an under-used 6-12 facility to a fully-functioning pre kindergarten-fourth grade elementary facility for the East Greene district and an intermediate school for fifth and sixth grade students from both East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton districts.
As part of the transition process, the board dealt with the difficult task of closing the Rippey building.
Rippey resident Ned Johnston asked that the board be respectful of the wishes of the Rippey community in not letting the building become an abandoned eyesore as the district moves forward with plans to phase out the facility. Johnston made note of the situation with the former school building in Bagley, which was sold to a private owner but it is now in a state of serious disrepair. Estimated costs now to raze the Bagley building are between$50,000 and $75,000.
Johnston also asked the board of the long-term viability of the Grand Junction building, considering the price tag for remodeling is $2 million. President Marc Hoffman had just explained that the decision-making process of the board is to lead the East Greene district into reorganization with Jefferson-Scranton, forming a new Greene County Community School District. Johnston noted that a consultant hired by the boards to advise them on whole grade sharing and then possible reorganization alluded to the possible future construction of a new middle school (grades 5-8) to be built in Jefferson.
Superintendent
Mike Harter said at this time a bond issue election to build such a school in
Jefferson is not likely in the foreseeable future. He also explained that the
bonds issued to pay for the remodeling project in the Grand Junction building are
for 20 years, but the funding is actually from the district’s share of the
local options sales tax (LOST), which is money that goes from a statewide pool
of collected sales taxes back to each public school district in the state.Johnston urged the board to include money in the district budget to provide for the costs of razing the Rippey building. The board assured him that would be the case.
Board member David Tipton suggested the district keep its options open for this fall in case the remodeling project in Grand Junction is not complete and the Rippey space will be needed. Tipton also expressed doubt that all the students will fit in the Grand Junction building. The estimated number of students using the building for next school year is between 275 and 300.
The Rippey building’s gymnasium will be used for the final year of East Greene high school athletics and possibly for junior high games for what becomes Greene County Middle School in Jefferson this fall. A recent joint board meeting between East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton indicated interest from the Jefferson-Scranton board to schedule games away from the Greene County Community Center in Jefferson as it takes away from the community use of the facility, and gymnasiums will be available in Scranton and Rippey.
Jefferson-Scranton uses one gymnasium for its high school and middle school, the facility adjacent to the middle school building at South Vine and Monroe streets. The gym as the high school is a practice facility only. So many middle school and high school junior varsity games are played in the community center’s gym, as it is across the street from the middle school.
In another twist on the sport sharing, however, the board voted to cease offering a separate girls high school sports program for East Greene effective with the start of softball in May. The board also rescinded a vote on sharing all middle school sports beginning this softball-baseball season, and voted this time to keep East Greene junior high baseball for boys this summer in Rippey but proceed with the junior high softball sharing, effective at the start of the season in May.
Then the board officially voted to end offering a separate East Greene sports program for high school boys after completion of next year’s baseball season, 2012-13. The fall season that begins the 2013-14 school year will see combined East Greene and Jefferson-Scranton boys sports teams competing as Greene County.
However, decisions on a team nickname and school colors for a combined EG-JS for 2013-14 have not been decided. As for next year, 2012-13, with the high school girls sharing with JS, but boys being separate, it appears that all junior high teams and girls varsity will compete as Jefferson-Scranton, unless the two board make an official decision to call the teams Jefferson-Scranton/East Greene (or vice versa) or to go forward with the middle school sports teams reflecting the name of the school building, Greene County Middle School.
The wrestling program offered at J-S the last several seasons has included members form East Greene and Paton-Churdan and competed as JSPCEG. J-S and Paton-Churdan have shared football for many years as JSPC.
Business director Shawn Angell reviewed with the board some of the documentation needed for the board to proceed working with Piper Jaffray in issuing the bonds to finance the remodeling project.
The board also reviewed the 2012-13 budget before setting a date for the annual public hearing for April 11 as part of the regular meeting.
In other business, the board:
*Approved provisional school drivers’ licenses for Karlan Langfitt, Dylan Lansman and Max Neese.
*Reviewed the open enrollment follow-up survey process. Several years ago the district began offering survey to the parents of students who open enrolled out of the district.
*Set a joint board meeting with Jefferson-Scranton for Wednesday, March 28, at 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Junction building.
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