THURSDAY, FEB. 8, 2024 • VOLUME N0. 129 • ISSUE NO. 21 • 1 SECTION • 8 PAGES
Serving Colfax • Mingo • Baxter • Western Jasper County
Get ready to play ‘The Dating Game’ Colfax Public Library offering fun way to try out a new book for Valentine’s Day By Jamee A. Pierson Jasper County Tribune The Colfax Library is hoping it can find patrons the perfect “date” for Valentine’s Day. The Dating Game: Book Edition is underway giving community members the chance to try out a new book that might not have otherwise caught their eye. “All of the books are less than three years old and have been checked out less than two times,” librarian Lisa Van Gorp said. “They are books that for some reason people have overlooked. Here we are with them still in the library and people are finding new things to read.” Van Gorp came up with the
Jamee A. Pierson/ Jasper County Tribune A fun way to try a new book, the Colfax Public Library is offering “The Dating Game” to narrow down the selection. Made up of books that haven’t been checked out more than twice in the past few years, the books are divided into categories that are selected by answering a weekly Dating Game question.
dating game idea after “Blind Date with a Book” was so successful last year. She want-
ed another way to get books through the door that for some reason weren’t popular
FEELING PATRIOTIC By Jamee A. Pierson Jasper County Tribune It may only be Feburary but planning is well underway for Baxter Fun Days 2024. A key part of planning is the yearly theme, and the organizing committee put it up to a vote to get the community’s favorite choice. “We put it to Facebook to vote and let the community decide. It’s their town celebration after all,” organizer Lindsay Black said. “We are just the party planners.” Options for this year included Pirates, Dancing through the Decades, Vegas and USA. After a great turnout, the voters were feeling patriotic with flags flying in the comment section. “USA! Red, White and Baxter,” Black said. Now that the theme is in the books,
selections. “I wanted to try something different. I was kicking around
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Baxter selects Fun Days theme for 2024
planning starts on how to make the event the best one yet. “We try to think of fun, unique ideas that would go with the theme,” Black said. “We are hoping one this year will be a silent disco and paint the flag in the street. We also try to give all the traditional events a theme-based name for the year.” A favorite from last year, band Brushville will be back with their country tunes for the Saturday night street dance. Additional live music is also being planned for the weekend. “We have lots of new ideas on how to make things bigger and better than ever,” Black said. “It’ll be a blast!” Baxter Fun Days will be July 11 to 14. Jamee A. Pierson/Jasper County Tribune To find out all of the fun activities making Themes in the past, including Margaritaville in 2022, can be seen in every part of their way to Baxter Fun Days, follow the the Baxter Fun Days celebration. Red, White and Baxter, a patriotic theme, was event on Facebook. selected for 2024.
Local school leaders not in favor of AEA changes Baxter and Colfax-Mingo schools would face a ‘significant impact’ should bill be passed by the Iowa Legislature By Jamee A. Pierson Jasper County Tribune
Supervisors revise policy for department head salaries Talsma said the change was needed to save money and retain employees
With a potential upheaval to Iowa’s Area Education Agencies working its way around the Iowa Legislature, area superintendents share the affects proposed changes would make at their schools. Baxter’s Mickolyn Clapper and Colfax-Mingo’s Tim Salmon both said their schools would face a significant impact should the AEA be reorganized as proposed. “Potential changes that are proposed would be detrimental to Colfax-Mingo,” Salmon said. “We would lose services, take on additional responsibilities and lower the educational programming in our district. We would have to hire staff, supervise, which would be difficult as they would all be part-time positions. The flow-through money would not support what we currently have. Our staff and students would suffer. Less services and more work for our district.” Clapper said with the changes in the bill Baxter would have to remove educational services, media/ AEA | 3
ideas with one of my co-workers, just some other ideas of dating things,” Van Gorp said. “I was able to identify a romance, a thriller and just identify them that way.” Questions like “If you’re stranded on a desert island, what kind of book would you take?” and “What’s the most important thing you look for in a date?” help readers identify what style of book they want, then a lucky draw of the bag decides what they are bringing home. There is also an area for kids that leave off the dating part but still lets them pick from various categories to give them a surprise to try out.
By Christopher Braunschweig Jasper County Tribune In an effort to save money and retain its department heads, the Jasper County Board of Supervisors have spent considerable time this past year tying to get a handle on salaries. For some that means increasing their pay to be more in line with their duties, but for most it means negotiating their raises. Jasper County Supervisor Brandon Talsma told Newton News at the conclusion of a recent budget session that most department heads have responded well to the board’s change in policy. Supervisors revised the policy on Jan. 23 and it no longer allows individuals in managerial positions to be on a pay scale. Since the updated policy will become effective July 1, the board of supervisors have been disShaw Media cussing department head salaries over the past few weeks during budget workshops. The Jan. 30 budget workshop gave a glimpse into how pay increases for department heads would proceed in the future. Jamee A. Pierson/Jasper County Tribune est. 1851
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Students and staff would be affected if the changes proposed in the AEA restructuring bill are approved by the Iowa Legislature.
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