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Page 8 • The Advocate News (Wilton-Durant, Iowa) Thursday, February 9, 2012

OpiniOn

Chalk one up for David at this year's INA convention David wins—For a ew years now, I wouldwrite in this space about attending the annualIowa Newspaper Associa-tion (INA) convention andtrade show, noting thatcompeting or annualawards was like David vs.Goliath.

Daily papers are bro-ken into two categoriesand weekly papers areseparated into three. Theseparations are due tocirculation. Because o our strong readership, weare in Class III, the high-est class o the weeklypapers (based on circula-tion o 2,161 and higher).Thereore, we battle everyyear or awards with verystrong weekly papers such

as the Eldridge North Scott 

Press (our parent paper),the   Iowa Falls Times-Citizen, the  Altoona Herald-Index and thelargest Goliath o all, the Sheldon Northwest  Iowa Review.

I enter a wide variety o great articles,editorials and pictures rom our sta eachyear and i we get selected in the “top three”in any category, we are notied. Second andthird place nishers are awarded with certi-cates while rst place winners receive woodenplaques.

This year, I’m proud to announce that the  Advocate News only made thetop three in onecategory: Best

Front Page. Wemade it count bytaking home thepaper’s rst everplaque (pictured)with our rontpage (also pic-tured) depictingRAGBRAI rid-ers coming intoWilton in July, 2011. Not only was it great tobreak through, while third place in the categorywas the North Scott Press, runner-up went tothe Sheldon Northwest Iowa Review — thepaper that went on to win rst place in theGeneral Excellence category or Class IIIweeklies. The papers receive point totals or

each top three nish and the paper with themost points wins the Excellence category. The

  Northwest Iowa Reviewwins it constantly. It is stillGoliath, but it now knowswe exist.

On a side note, it alreadyknew we existed due inlarge part to Je Grant, aormer intern at the NorthScott Press, who currentlyworks there.

The INA also names a“Newspaper o the Year,”the most prestigious o awards that is given toone paper that stands atopall classes. To give someperspective, the NorthwestIowa Review has wonthat award 17 times since1970.

***Scholarship has ben-efted many, including

me—Last week, I wrote about the communi-ties o Durant and Wilton coming together tohelp raise awareness or wonderul causes.The “Green Out” game we chronicled is justone example o how one, or both o our com-munities make signicant impacts throughwonderul undraising and/or philanthropicexercises.

Another very interesting philanthropicventure, particularly involving Wilton, is theHarry J. and Nellie B. Grith scholarshipund. I wonder how many o our readersare amiliar with this. Many I assume. I alsowondered how many ormer WHS grads weregiven the chance to urther chase their dreams

o a college education thanks to this particularscholarship.I know I did. When I got to the University

o Iowa in 2004, the in-state tuition was $4,995and i I remember correctly, I received a Grithscholarship or around 50 percent o tuitionor the two years I was there working on mybachelor’s degree. My memory is already abit hazy but it’s sae to say that I receivedan amount between $1,500 and $2,500 peryear.

Thanks to Thelma Nopoulos and DebMarol, who tracked down some valuableinormation about the lie o the scholarshipund, I now know quite a bit about the Gri-ths’ git and how it keeps on giving.

Harry Johnston Grith (1894-1988) gradu-

ated rom Wilton High School in 1913. Hemarried Nellie Bryant (1890-1984) in 1920.In 1921, Harry graduated rom the CincinnatiCollege o Embalming and then joined hisather in the urnitureand uneral business inWilton.

In 1989, with thehelp o Nopoulos, whohas continuously servedas the scholarship undcoordinator, a git o roughly $937,445 wassplit between our Iowainstitutions in Harryand Nellie’s name. Since then, Scott Commu-nity College, Muscatine Community College,the University o Iowa andIowa State University havegrown the endowment andhave helped several Wiltonstudents along the way.

I recently received someinormation about GrithScholarship git totals rom1989 through the 2010-2011school year. Approximately$1,432,119 has been givento roughly 1,176 students at the our institu-tions over the past 22 years. That’s roughly$208,000 at Scott Com-munity College, $283,000at Muscatine CommunityCollege, $520,000 at theUniversity o Iowa and$420,000 at Iowa StateUniversity.

According to the cri-teria, students must beWilton High School gradu-

ates and the award can begiven or up to our years or undergraduatespursuing their rst bachelor’s degree. Studentsalso must maintain a minimum 2.0 GPA. Thistruly is a wonderul git that keeps on giving.I’m living proo o it!

***Strawn gone—It was reported last week that Republican Party o Iowa chairman MattStrawn is resigning, eective Feb. 10.

The decision came in the midst o theparty receiving a ton o lip service due to theIowa Caucuses, which were very close thisyear. In the moonlight hours o Caucus night,Strawn declared Mitt Romney the winner o the Caucuses by just eight votes over Rick Santorum. Turns out, when a review o the

results was done two weeks later, it was oundthat Santorum received more votes (34 more)than Romney and Strawn had to make anotherannouncement.

I’ve read and hearda lot o commentaryabout the blunder.Some are wondering i that was the last chanceor Iowa Caucuses.I say no way! I’d beshocked i Iowa lost itsrst in the nation statusover this. Yes it was ablack eye or the state

and the party, but it could have happened tothe Democrats too. I’d denitely be suspi-cious or more disappointed had the race notbeen close. But when we are talking dozenso votes, human error happens.

The only man wondering “what i” isSantorum. What i he had actually been de-

clared the Iowa winner on that night? Couldhis path to this point in the nomination havebeen altered? Perhaps.

Strawn was elected party chair ater the2008 campaign. According to reports I’ve read,he was named one o the 50 “politicos” worthwatching by Politico in 2009. As I previouslywrote, he visited my oce in 2009. I elt hewas a young, breath o resh air or the partyand there is a part o me that is sad to see himgo.

***Strike a pose—I didn’t have much doubt thatthe Giants would win the Super Bowl. I’m justmad at mysel or not picking it in the paper.I made the Packers pick based on statisticsinstead o my gut — which said New York all the way.

I thought Madonna did a great job perorm-ing at haltime. She mixed in old with newhits and had a grand entrance that only shecould pull o. Sure she stumbled once andher movement was slow and very careul.She’s 53, wore high-heeled boots and the setswere so ull o steps and changing levels thatit was like a maze or her to move around andperorm. All things considered, I thought shewas great.

Rapper M.I.A should be ashamed o her-sel or the “nger gesture” she fashed thecamera. Instead o trying to gain attention, sheshould have spent her time on stage bowingto Madonna or the opportunity or millionsto get to know who she actually is.

Thursday,August4,2011Wilton,Iowa

Vol.117,No.3128 pages — $1.00

INSIDE...Family News 6-7Editorial Page 8,12Sports 12, 24Classifed Advertising 26-27Police Reports 24RAGBRAICoverage 13,28

SPECIALSECTIONS...Hy Vee®,Subway®,Fareway® 

2

2011

Muscatine County Fair results inside, pages 14-21

 RAGBRAI XXXIX Visits wilton, Durant July 30, 2011

A day to remember

Photoby Derek Sawvell

Case

in

Point   By Derek Sawvell

Harry Grifth

Nellie Grifth

'Path of nding common ground'  Work at the Capitol continues at a very rapidpace. We expect foor debate next week onproperty tax reorm, and TIF reorm hearingsbegin this week. I will be a part o both.

Education reorm discussion continues.I have been criticized or not supporting theentirety o the Governor’s plan and on the ex-treme let or not knowing the issues o educa-tion (despite over two decades as an educatorand a past president o a school board). I willcontinue to ollow a path o nding commonground and ignoring partisan extremism that

generally ends in no positive change.Next week, I will give you the resultso literally hundreds o messages on traccameras. Thank you so much or sharing youropinion. I never orget that in the end, you allare my boss.

One o the primary unctions o the Leg-islature is to prepare a budget or the ollow-ing scal year. Although this budget can beamended, supplemented, or revised, it stillorms the basic roadmap or revenues andexpenditures or that year.

The process actually begins in Decemberwhen the REC (Revenue Estimating Coner-ence) sets the amount o revenue expected orthe ollowing year. By law this is the numberthat the Legislature must use or budgeting.

The process is a negotiation. This year, or

example, House Republicans have announced

targets around $6 billion. Senate Democratsare at $6.2 billion and the Governor is slightlybelow that. Senate claims that it is below theGovernor are suspect since it deliberately didnot count over $100million in tobacco taxdollars and underund-ed, once again, theproperty tax credits.

I believe that our mostimportant achievementlast year in the House

was to end most o thepoor budgeting prac-tices o the past. Youhave heard me cautionagainst the use o one-time dollars or ongoingexpenses many times. That practice ends in theHouse budget. Another common gimmick toclaim a balanced budget was to deliberatelyunderund a high dollar item like Medicaidor the property tax credits, claim a balancedbudget, then come back the next session topass a supplemental bill that completes theunding. The House also stops this practice.This Senate budget continues this practice.

The political risk in a truly balanced budgetwithout gimmicks is partisan attacks o notenough spending. In reality the poor budgetpractices o the past end in unsustainable

promises. In the past, promises were made and

then when the dollars weren’t there, across-the-board cuts occurred. This is a problem thatends up being much bigger than a sustainablebudget with less money. I will not be a part

o budget gimmicks andshort-sided budgetingpromises, regardless o the attacks.

One nal area o bud-geting is the amount o money let in reservesand the ending balance.

It is irresponsible totalk about spendingour reserves and “rainyday” und on general

und expenditures. I will not be a part o anybudget that does not have a ull emergencyund. We do not know when the next disastermay happen.

In regard to the unspent balance, I haveno problem debating where ongoing revenueshould go. We can discuss areas needing moreresources (e.g. public saety, inrastructure,and education) and areas where tax relie canbe used strategically to enhance a job creationenvironment, like property tax reorm. A strongeconomy with vibrant job creation solvesmost o our budget issues so that should bethe overriding goal o any legislature.

Listening Post Schedule: Feb. 11, 9 a.m.,Tipton Farm Bureau Oce; 1 p.m., Dittos

Restaurant, Stanwood.  Capitol Visitors: Betty, Chelsea, and So-phie Blake, Clarence; Jon Bell, Tipton; DelFrick, Tim Reimers, Durant.  Contact Inormation:Write: State Capitol Des Moines IA 50319.Email: je.kaumann@legis.state.ia.us.Call: 515-281-3221.

By Rep. Je Kaumann

YourCapitolVoice

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