THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2024 • VOLUME N0. 129 • ISSUE NO. 33 • 1 SECTION • 8 PAGES
Serving Colfax • Mingo • Baxter • Western Jasper County
On Cloud 9
Baxter High School celebrates Prom 2024 April 27
Submitted Photos
Growing the Weekend storm damage Severe weather rolled through the evening of April 26, causing sport significant damage to areas east of Monroe
PCM Youth Track and Field Club expanding to countywide opportunity
By Jamee A. Pierson PCM Explorer Destroyed barns and garages, holes in roofs and uprooted trees are just a few of the many damages reported from an evening storm when it hit during the late evening hours of April 26 in southeastern Jasper County. According to the National Weather Service, at 9:42 p.m. an EF-1 tornado hit the area east of Monroe. It traveled 2.23 miles with wind gusts peaking at 105 mph.
Submitted Photos
Jamee A. Pierson/PCM Explorer Kids get stretched during a PCM Youth Track and Field Club practice in 2023. The club is expanding to Jasper County for the 2024 season.
By Jamee A. Pierson Jasper County Tribune The PCM Youth Track and Field Club is expanding. The newly named Jasper County Youth Track and Field will give even more kids an opportunity to learn the sport of track and potentially find an activity that can be with them for the rest of their lives. Coaching the club is founder Bridget Martin along with Eric Osterhaus, Rachel Tomas and Zach Tomas. “I have always had a passion for track,” Martin said. “When I was younger I ran track but I did it all on my own. I feel like the way I got started with track on my own helped me develop my love for track and field. I feel like there were others who could have had that but they didn’t have the opportunity.” Martin took her love of track and field to placing in the top three at state competition in high school and earning national champion status while on the Wartburg Track and Field Team. She
now hopes any kids who have an interest can have the same chances she did growing up. “It is a sport that people just don’t know a ton about and then they show up in seventh grade and it is completely foreign to them,” Martin said. “I just really more than anything want to expose kids to the sport of track and field.” In her first year, Martin had more than 100 kids show up the first day of practice, about double what she anticipated. This year, practices are from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. every Wednesday and 5 to 6 p.m. every Sunday at the PCM High School Track and Colfax-Mingo High School Track. Any current first graders through 12th graders can join, with the older kids starting after the completion of their school track season. To start there is a registration fee of $60 which includes a team shirt, uniform and entry fee into three track meets. The coaches suggest running shoes for practice CLUB | 3 CONTACT US
Jasper County reverses decision on summer hours for secondary roads workers Despite concerns, supervisors agree to let crews have four-day work schedule following appeal By Christopher Braunschweig Jasper County Tribune Following the Jasper County Board of Supervisor’s decision to return summer hours of secondary roads maintenance employees to five, eight-hour work days from four, 10-hour work days, the Public Professional and Maintenance Local 2003 union on April 16 suc-
cessfully petitioned against the action. As a result, the board of supervisors voted 3-0 to change the Media summer Shaw hours back to what is colloquially referred to as “4/10s” despite some of the officials taking issue with the practice. Jason Knight, representing PPME, defended the use of 4/10s by secondary roads workers at the board est. 1851
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meeting. Knight said county engineer Michael Frietsch suggested in the past that going to 4/10s would save the county money; approximately $7,500 back in 2022, but he said with the costs of fuel going up it might be a little more than that now. He also disputed Frietsch’s SUMMER HOURS | 3
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