The Herald’s Year in Review: Part 3
By Donald Promnitz – The Oskaloosa Herald, Iowa (TNS)
Dec. 31—JULY
SCRAA PUTS REGIONAL AIRPORT IN HOLDING PATTERN
PELLA — Unable to purchase the land it needs, the South Central Regional Airport Agency has put the regional airport in a holding pattern.
SCRAA voted unanimously, and without discussion, to adopt a resolution to notify the cities of Oskaloosa and Pella that they can’t buy the land for the proposed airport, and will not pursue it further until told to do so by the cities.
“My perspective on this is basically pressing the pause button on the development of this replacement airport,” said board member Jim Hansen.
The resolution also stated SCRAA will continue to own the land it has already purchased for the airport, and lease it to farmers.
Hansen did not specify a time frame for how long the board would keep and lease the land. Ultimately, if nothing further happens, the board could put the land up for sale, he said.
SCRAA owns 379 acres of farmland it has purchased for the airport, or about 60% of what is needed. The land was purchased with a grant from the Federal Aviation Administration.
That grant was good for 20 years. Eltahir said there are still 12 years left on the grant.
SCRAA was formed in 2012 by a 28E Agreement between Oskaloosa, Pella and Mahaska County. The plan was that once the regional airport was constructed and operational, the Pella Municipal Airport and Oskaloosa Airport would cease operations.
Support for the regional airport has been dwindling over the years. It has long been opposed by a handful of landowners who refused to sell. Mahaska County left SCRAA in 2022, after the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the portion of the 28E Agreement that required the two cities to approve its withdrawal was unconstitutional.
In November, four citizens filed three complaints with the Iowa Public Information Board about those meetings, which discussed, among other things, farm leases of SCRAA land. IPIB accepted those complaints in January.
The complaints alleged, and IPIB agreed, that as a governmental body, SCRAA did not meet its obligations under Iowa open meetings laws when its executive committee held those meetings without notice to the public.
RAGBRAI PASSES THROUGH KNOXVILLE
KNOXVILLE — Riders trickled into town throughout the afternoon as the cyclists from RAGBRAI made a stop for the night in Marion County.
By evening, hundreds of tents were pitched at Young’s Park near the Knoxville Speedway, as riders set up camp before heading out to Ottumwa the following day. This marked their fourth day of riding, taking off early that morning from Winterset.
One of them was Joe Guttman from Kentucky. It’s his 29th RAGBRAI and according to him, what makes it worthwhile is the community he finds on the trail with other cyclists.
“RAGBRAI — what I like to tell people — is America at its best,” Guttman said. “People talk to each other, everybody is just having a good time and respectful, and just kind. The towns are so welcoming and I just love it.”
The Iowa countryside and the people are an added bonus.
“Oh, it’s gorgeous. Iowa’s gorgeous,” Guttman said. “And its physical beauty is only exceeded by the personalities of the people.”
Along with the veterans, there also plenty of first-timers. One of them was Rick Kuester, 70, of Illinois. Riding through the state, he’s been impressed with the local hospitality.
“It really impresses when you ride and all the people from Iowa are out there — whether they’re on a small farm or they’re in the city and they’re cheering you on and they’re welcoming you — it’s really nice,” Kuester said.
AUGUST
LAKE KEOMAH DRAINED
OSKALOOSA — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources drained Lake Keomah as part of a project to improve the lake’s water quality.
Workers started draining the 78-acre lake July 9.
“They were right on target with draining it,” Wiedmann said. “I had heard July 9. And next morning I woke up, I could see they had lowered it some.”
They drain the lake by opening the gates in the dam, and then the water empties through into a spillway. From there, the water returns to the watershed.
The project is expected to be completed in spring 2026.
Over the years, nutrients — largely from runoff from farmland — have built up in the lake, as has silt from shoreline erosion. The buildup of silt reduces the lake’s depth. The buildup of nutrients create algae blooms in the lake. The algae blooms can block sunlight from reaching beneath the water’s surface and choke off oxygen in the water. The algae can also release a toxin that is dangerous for fish.
The restoration project will involve removing silt by the truckload from the lakebed, especially in the area of the south boat ramp. Workers will also stabilize the shoreline to reduce erosion, add fish habitats (such as logs that fish can hide under) and stabilize the concrete around the spillway.
Once the restoration project is finished, they will close the dam gates and allow the lake to fill in naturally. How long that takes can vary from months to years.
MCDG CELEBRATES 100 YEARS IN U.S. CHAMBER
OSKALOOSA — The Mahaska Chamber and Development Group celebrated 100 years as a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Dozens of MCDG members filled the organization’s second-floor offices at 222 First Ave. East to mark the occasion with refreshments and a ceremonial ribbon cutting.
The Chamber was first organized in 1882 as the Oskaloosa Board of Trade. The group changed its name to the Commercial Club in 1911, and the Chamber of Commerce in 1920.
In 1924, the Mahaska County Chamber of Commerce officially became a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The MCDG’s mission is varied, from economic development, to tourism, to rural and agricultural development. According to DeGroot, that could be finding grant money to redo downtown store facades or beautify the sidewalks, starting initiatives like Painting with Lights to bring people into the community, helping smaller communities get a community center or playground equipment or helping businesses find a space to move or expand.
For example, the organization worked for years to secure a certified site on the southeast edge of town, and cut the ribbon on it in 2023. But that doesn’t mean their work there is done.
SEPTEMBER
OSKY TEEN SMASHES STEER CHARITY AUCTION RECORD
OSKALOOSA — When 15-year-old Baylen Brink accepted an offer to take part in the Iowa Governor’s Charity Steer Show, he set a personal goal of breaking the record raised by a single exhibitor.
He didn’t just break it. He smashed it.
“The goal going in there was $50,000,” Baylen said. “If we got $50,000, we’d probably break the record and it would stand for a really long time.”
Between the auction price of the steer and donations, Brink raised $71,354, according to the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association.
That goal was personal for Brink. The charity steer show benefits the Ronald McDonald House Charities. Ronald McDonald Houses provides lodging to the families of people receiving long-term medical care in a hospital.
Last year, Brink’s was one of those families. His stepbrother, Nolan, then 6, spent more than 80 days in the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City after an ATV accident in 2023. Doctors amputated his left leg following an ATV accident.
For much of that time, Brink and the rest of his family — stepmother, Justine and and sister, Harbor — stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Iowa City.
A woman from the Norwalk area bought the steer for $20,000. That same woman then sold the steer to Iowa State University for market value — a little over $3,000 — then also donated that money to the Ronald McDonald House.
Balen’s path to the charity steer show wasn’t a direct one. His 1,478-pound crossbred steer, Rocco, had won third place in its category at the Southern Iowa Fair.
Normally, the winner is invited to the charity auction, but the person who won wasn’t eligible because they had a heifer, not a steer. The second place winner “politely declined” the invitation, he said.
That brought the Mahaska County Cattlemen’s Association to Baylen.
Exhibitors in the charity steer show raise money by what the steer brings at the auction and through local donations. Baylen said he started by making a big list of potential donors, then he went to work soliciting donations over the next three weeks.
Not only did many of those approached donate, they often referred other potential donors, Baylen said.
About 160 people and business donated.
“When the accident happened, everyone just rallied around our family,” Baylen said. “It was just awesome to see the support of Oskaloosa go to such a great cause, just to see it all unfold.”
AJINOMOTO OPENS WETLAND BANK TO PUBLIC
EDDYVILLE — The large, open field that is part of the Ajinomoto County Line Wetland Bank may not look like much more than green grass stubble now, but Steve Salevsky sees what the future holds.
“A lot of the other flower species and other prairie grasses are still a bit dormant right now, so it takes awhile for them to develop and acclimate to the soil,” Salevsky said. “So next spring, we’ll start to see some vivid color coming out here, and then two or three years from now, it’ll be absolutely magnificent.”
Salevsky is the senior operations director at the Eddyville manufacturing facility for Ajinomo Health and Nutrution North America.
AHN officially opened the County Line Wetland Bank to the public in a ceremony attended by company officials and local dignitaries.
The wetland includes more than 2,000 native trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses that have been planted by AHN on 130 acres of former farmand, and a half-mile gravel walking path to help the public enjoy it.
Although open to the public, the wetlands is still in the early stages of development. Phase two of the project will see another 500 trees planted in this area, and 1,000 trees planted on 40 acres that workers recently finished excavating.
AHN earns carbon credits from the Environmental Protection Agency — roughly one credit for each acre. AHN will sell the credits to other developers to allow them to meet EPA requirements for their projects, then funnel that money either into caring for County Line Wetland Bank or other sustainability projects.
The wetland will return carbon to the soil, improve water quality, provide better flood control along the Des Moines River and provide a home for myriad species of wildlife.
Donald Promnitz is the associate editor of the Ottumwa Courier and the Oskaloosa Herald. He can be reached at dpromnitz@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter @DonPromnitz.
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