THURSDAY, FEB. 15, 2024 • VOLUME N0. 129 • ISSUE NO. 22 • 1 SECTION • 10 PAGES
Serving Colfax • Mingo • Baxter • Western Jasper County
It’s dance time
All-State Bound
The gym was full dancers getting groovy at the Baxter Dance Team’s annual show Feb. 11
Jamee A. Pierson/Jasper County Tribune Sophomore Max Handorf stands in the center of the peformance by the Baxter readers theatre team. The team was selected to perform at All-State Feb. 17 at Iowa State University.
Baxter’s readers theatre speech team is selected to perform at the Iowa High School Speech Association’s Large Group All-State Festival for the second year in a row By Jamee A. Pierson Jasper County Tribune The readers theatre group from Baxter is once again headed to All-State. Seniors Grant Anderegg and Bri Winfield, sophomore Callie Cross and freshmen Max Handorf and Avery Wonders are a part of the team who was one of only 10 teams selected to perform at the Iowa High School Speech Association’s Large Group All-State Festival Feb. 17 at Iowa State University’s Scheman Building. “It is really good to get nominated for AllState but it is even better to be selected to perform,” Baxter Speech Coach Chris Smith said. “It is the best of the best for the year.”
Ending on a high note was a welcome finale to the season after a rough start. Weather and busy schedules left the team short on time to prepare for its first competition. “This season was such a roller coaster ride. We weren’t able to start as soon as we normally would have. There were a lot of 6 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday wake-ups to come in. Literally right before districts they had only put it together twice,” Smith said. “There was a lot of ‘Should we continue, should we not?’ because of the snow storms hitting us and not being able to practice.” Winfield agreed, especially with having ALL-STATE | 3A
TROUBLE IN PARADISE By Christopher Braunschweig Jasper County Tribune Mary and Gary Adams have lived in their log cabin at the end of a dead-end road in rural Colfax for almost 40 years. Five acres of land contain their home, several fruit trees, a gazebo, a shed with chest-high stacks of firewood outside and a sloped pasture where
the horses and colts used to roam. They call it paradise. For as long as the Adams lived there the hilly road leading to their property has stopped dead in its tracks shortly past their driveway. Now they have been told by Jasper County officials that the road will need to be maintained and extended past their property to grant access to an adjacent,
Rural Colfax couple say Jasper County is wasting its money relocating their fence for a stretch of road they allege no longer exists – but it’s more complicated than that
landlocked 20-acre parcel. But Mary, 73, and Gary, 76, are adamant that there is no road left to maintain, only a small path along the edge of their eastern fence line. The rest of it, they said, has eroded away to a nearby creek, creating 75-foot ravines in some areas. The road base can’t even be seen with all the grass and trees grown over it.
To them, it is baffling how anyone can come to their property and say there is still a county road there. That is an argument the Adams brought with them to the board of supervisors meeting on Feb. 6 at the county courthouse in order to oppose a request to accept quotes for a fence relocation. Their fence. Jasper County Engineer Mi-
chael Frietsch told supervisors there is about 300 feet of fence down the middle of the county right-of-way at West 124th Street North. He said a county resident, later identified as Chris Cook, wants access to his landlocked parcel. Frietsch said the fence needs to be moved. FENCE | 2A
Newton News, Jasper County Tribune, PCM Explorer earn 11 first place awards All three newspapers received a total of 30 top-three finishes at annual INA ceremony Jasper County Tribune Staff Jasper County Tribune The Newton News, Jasper County Tribune and PCM Explorer received 30 top-three placements — including 11 first-place plaques — for its reporting, beat coverage and photography during the 2024 Iowa Newspaper Association Awards Ceremony on Feb. 8 at the Marriott hotel in downtown Des Moines. This years Iowa Better Newspaper Contests had more than 2,875 entries and were judged by the Illinois Press Association. Newton News received a total of 10 top-three placements in the Class IV, Multi-Day category, including first place for: Coverage of Business, Coverage of Courts and Crime and Best Sports Feature Photo for sports editor Troy Hyde’s image of the Lynnville-Sully football team’s reaction to the win over AHSTW in 2022.
Second place finishes were awarded to Newton News for Best Sports Section, Best News Feature Photo for Christopher Braunschweig and Best Sports Story for Hyde. Third place finishes were awarded for Best Photo Story, Best News Feature Photo and Best Series by Braunschweig and Best Sports Feature Story for Hyde. “I am extremely proud of our staff and the hard work we have put in which resulted in being honored with almost a dozen first place finishes at the INA awards,” editor Jamee A. Pierson said. “It always feels great to be recognized by fellow journalists for what is our passion – working to keep the local public informed.” Jasper County Tribune received a total of eight top-three placements in the Class I, Weekly category, including first place for: Best Sports Section,
CONTACT US
AWARDS | 3A
Shaw Media est. 1851
est. 1851
Jasper County Tribune Associate editor Christopher Braunschweig, editor Jamee A. Pierson and sports editor Troy Hyde show the first place awards the trio received Feb. 8 at the 2024 Iowa Newspaper Association Better Newspaper Contest awards ceremony.
Newsroom: 641-792-3121, ext. 7 • Advertising: 641-792-3121, ext. 2 Subscriptions/Delivery: 641-792-5320 • Billing: 641-792-3121, ext. 6
est. 1851