Daily Sentinel DS March 1, 2019 • weekend edition Page 3

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(Photo Contributed)

Remsen St. Mary’s students emerge through the new west exterior doors at Remsen St. Mary’s middle school/high school. The doors were replaced through a grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Plymouth County.A grant totaling $7,701 from CFGPC helped to fund two new exterior doors at RSM. The west entrance door at the RSM HS/MS was literally falling off its hinges. The door had been repaired, braced, and repainted a number of years earlier. The doors are thought to be original to the school in the 1950’s. With the hinges failing, the door would not close squarely enough to latch.“Door security is not effective when the door does not latch when it closes,” com-mented Development Director Norine Harvey. The door was replaced with a single wide door and sidelight panel. The kitchen door on the east side of the building was in need of replacement also. The door had been replaced many years earlier, but it too had closure issues in addition to no longer being up to code. The door offers added security in that it is self-propping, allowing the door to stay locked while supplies are brought in, and is locked when it closes. St. Mary’s Schools is grateful to the Community Foundation of Greater Plymouth County for the grant award.

CFGPC Funds RsM EntRanCE dooRs

An Inspector CallsA farce in three acts by Phillip King

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For reservations call 546-5788

The motion continued Bibler’s circumstances have not substantially changed and he is unable to afford counsel to represent him in the pursuit of his appeal.

It requested Oyadare be permitted to withdraw as counsel, and that the Appellate Defender’s Office in Des Moines be appointed to represent Bibler.

Oyadare also filed a motion for the preparation of the transcripts from the trial be provided to the appellate defender.

Neary has ordered the transcripts be prepared and the following be provided a copy: The State Appel-late Defender’s Office, Des Moines; The Iowa Attor-

ney General, Des Moines; Billy Oaydare, assistant state public defender; the Clerk of the Iowa Supreme Court; and court reporters.

Neary also sustained the motion for Oyadare to withdraw as counsel of record, and that the Appel-late Defender’s Office will now be the counsel of record for Bibler.

A hearing has also been set for 1 p.m., March 11, in Plymouth County District Court, on Bibler’s request for return of seized prop-erty.

At the time of sentenc-ing, Neary said the sen-tence on a second degree murder charge is regulated by state statute. It is man-

datory Bibler serve a min-imum of 70 percent of the sentence. Bibler will receive credit for time served. He had been held in the Plym-outh County Jail since his arrest on June 11, 2016.

In addition to the prison term, Bibler must pay $150,000 to the estate of Shannon Bogh or her heirs according to provi-sions of Iowa Code Section 910.3B. Court costs are also assigned to the defendant.

At the Feb. 22 sentenc-ing, Neary had denied a motion by the defense for a new trial.

Bibler had 30 days from the date of sentencing to file an appeal to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Bibler: Requests appellate defender

In a press release issued by Dean Foods, Chief Executive Officer Ralph Scozzafava said, “Our 2018 financial results reflect volume deleverage from certain custom-ers exiting our business coupled with significant inflation in fuel, freight and resin costs. While we made significant progress executing our enterprise-wide cost pro-ductivity plan, the cost savings were mitigated by incremental tran-sitory costs associated with a recent comprehen-sive plant consolidation. Despite these challenges, we continued to gener-ate positive free cash flow from operations in 2018.”

It was on Tuesday, Feb. 26, one day prior to the report’s release, the company announced it has commenced a review of strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value.

These alternatives could include, among others, the continued execution of the com-pany’s business plan including an increased focus on certain standal-one strategic initiatives, the disposition of certain assets, the formation of a joint venture, a strategic business combination, a transaction that results in private ownership or a sale of the company, or some combination of

these. Local impact

While nothing defi-nite has been determined at this time regarding a sale, Dean Foods Spokes-person Suzanne Rosen-berg stated, “As one of America’s largest dairy providers, Dean Foods is committed to deliv-ering significant value to all our stakeholders including our customers, consumers, communi-ties and shareholders and our valued employees. The company has initi-ated a review in which we will explore and eval-uate potential strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value and accelerate business trans-formation.

“At this point, no deci-sions have been made, and there is no assurance the review will result in any particular action or changes to our cur-rent strategy. At the same time, we are as focused as ever on our strategic plan, which we continue to believe is the roadmap to transforming Dean Foods to more effectively compete and win with a clear eye to the future,” she continued.

It is undetermined as to how or if the business’ current financial health may impact the Le Mars plant or its employees’ jobs.

As Dean Foods con-

tinues to focus on ways to accelerate its busi-ness transformation and simultaneously evaluate other strategic alterna-tives, the company is sus-pending financial guid-ance.

The company further stated it was working to enhance financial flexi-bility by implementing important measures to enhance the company’s balance sheet and provide further flexibility. These steps include: successfully refinancing the compa-ny’s debt capital struc-ture to include a multi-year revolving facility, secured by the compa-ny’s real estate and other assets, and an amended receivables securitization facility, each of which will allow for covenant flexibility and extended maturities; and the sus-pension of the company’s quarterly dividend.

According to a story on Reuters News Service, recently, the owner of milk brands TruMoo and Barber’s has closed plants and severed contracts with independent dairy suppliers due to shifting consumer preference for non-dairy and private-la-bel alternatives.

The story further stated the company has missed earnings estimates in six of the last eight quarters, according to Refinitiv data.

Dean Foods: Local impact is unknown at this time

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FVH: Been a part of program for three years

LCS: Sees a ratio of 1.6 students to computers

all sizes, ranging from micro-preemie to larger sizes. The donated hats are collected, washed, packaged and distrib-uted to participating hospitals.

“It’s a homemade gift that somebody made — that’s very special,” Varenhorst commented.

The program — Lit-tle Hats, Big Hearts™ — began in Chicago in 2014 with 300 hats. Each one symbolized the American Heart Association’s mission to encourage heart-healthy lives. Now, five years later, the program has reached hundreds of thousands of families across 40 states.

“It’s awesome. You’re doing a service in help-ing people learn about that and giving them a

hat,” Varenhorst said. Each gift sparks the

conversation of heart health amongst not only the new mothers, but also their families. The conversation, Varen-horst explained, usually spans heart health tips from activity to healthy eating habits.

“For young people having babies and their families, it makes people more aware,” she said. “Hopefully it puts a seed in their mind early about doing things to help their hearts.”

The little hats also bring awareness to con-genital heart defects (CHD), a condition where “the heart, or blood vessels near the heart, don’t develop normally before birth,” as defined by the AHA.

At least 18 distinct vari-ations have been iden-tified, making public education about the issue difficult. But cam-paigns like Little Hats, Big Hearts™ are making an impact.

“It involved the com-munity. Everyone’s aware, even the peo-ple making the hats,” explained Varenhorst.

While the hats are delivered during Feb-ruary American Heart Month, there are still ways to help bring aware-ness to heart health and congenital heart defects. Whether through mak-ing a donation, partic-ipating in other AHA events, or knitting your own red cap in prepara-tion for 2020 donations, no amount of help is too ‘little.’

LE MARS — Floyd Valley Healthcare has named Maxine Paulsen the March Hot Shot.

"Paulsen is a fun lov-ing, smiley nine-year-old who attends third grade in Le Mars. During her four month well baby check with Dr. Steve Meis, he noticed Maxine had a cataract in her left eye. He consulted with pediatrician Dr. Jolene Meis for confirmation immediately," said Ann Cole-Nelson, community relations manager, Floyd Valley Healthcare.

"Maxine was referred to a pediatric ophthal-mologist in Omaha for treatment. That physi-cian assured the family that this early diagnoses by her family care phy-

sician helped save her vision."

Paulsen continues to see Meis’ team.

Her mom Karen shared, “Dr. Meis, Sue and Bonnie are very per-sonable during checkups. They make sure appoint-ments go well, even shots. Maxine has gotten very close to the staff over the years, even giving Bonnie hugs at the store.”

According to the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus, approxi-mately three out of 10,000 children have a cataract.

A cataract is a cloudy or opaque area in the lens located directly behind the iris inside the eye. Normally, the lens is clear and allows light

entering the eye to clearly focus an image on the retina. When cataracts develop, the light rays become scattered as they pass through the cloudy lens and the retinal image becomes blurred and dis-torted.

In order for a child to develop good vision, the child has to have clear light hit the retina and the brain receives a clear image. Prompt and sometimes immediate treatment is necessary to prevent permanent vision loss.

The Sioux City Muske-teers, in partnership with Floyd Valley Healthcare (FVH), announced a new program this summer called Hot Shots. This program was created with

the goal of honoring FVH pediatric patients with chronic health issues. We are excited to give chil-dren an opportunity to have a fun time with their family, cheer on the team and just enjoy being a kid again for a night.

Paulsen named Hot Shot

Maxine Paulsen

computer. To account for that much technol-ogy, LCS has also had to

expand their number of servers.

“When I came 23 years ago, we had one server in the district,” Ludwig said. “Right now, we have 30 servers serving the district.”

Ludwig shared with the board members his plans to move the district toward some virtual serv-ers in order to provide better climate control for the physical servers they retain. Their current bat-tery bank only allows for an hour of back-up power due to the needs of older servers containing infor-mation from years as far back as 2012.

“What we’re trying to

do is get rid of these old ones because they take up a lot of energy,” Ludwig stated. “Getting rid of three servers, we’ll hope-fully get some of that bat-tery bank back.”

Throughout his pre-sentation, Ludwig tackled issues such as software and application down-loads. He also walked the board members through student word processing preferences — opting for Google Docs instead of Windows Office — and what that means for the district, as well as their summer strategy to clean district machines to prepare for the 2019-20 school year.