THURSDAY, OCT. 10, 2024 • VOLUME N0. 124 • ISSUE NO. 4 • 1 SECTION • 10 PAGES
Serving Colfax • Mingo • Baxter • Western Jasper County
HUEY HAS LANDED IN BAXTER Symbol of the Vietnam War era gets turned into a monument to honor veterans, spearheaded by passionated 90-year-old Army man
COUNTY CONSERVATION DONATION CHALLENGE Newton couple to match up to $100K for every dollar donated to Jasper County Conservation project until the end of the year
Christopher Braunschweig/Jasper County Tribune Lynn Harnden, center, shares a moment with Joe Giannini of Midwest Aerospace after a Huey helicopter was installed Sept. 30 in Baxter. The helicopter serves as a memorial for Vietnam veterans and was a project spearheaded by Harnden, a 90-year-old retired lieutenant colonel.
By Christopher Braunschweig Jasper County Tribune Lynn Harnden spent 1,200 combat hours in the cockpit of a Bell UH-1 Iroquois helicopter, known by its nickname “Huey” during the Vietnam War, and for many soldiers on the battlefield it was a welcomed sight to see one of them up in the sky providing air support or landing near a smoke signal for a swift rescue. It has been 50 years since the Vietnam War ended, and the
Huey was still a welcomed sight to behold in the small town of Baxter, Iowa. The helicopter was unarmed and unmanned, and although it didn’t look it from the outside it was sorely out of commission. Harnden made sure the chopper got one last fight. Instead of piloting the Huey manually — which was impossible in its current state — he and the Baxter American Legion Post 493 spearheaded the fundraising to get the helicopter to be put on display on a raised platform, per-
Jamie Malloy of Studio Melee Updated designs by Studio Melee show what Jasper County Conservation’s environmental education center may look like.
By Christopher Braunschweig Jasper County Tribune
manently in flight and overlooking other veterans memorials on the north end of Main Street. Veterans set a goal for $75,000. In just 16 months, they exceeded their goal and were staring at a tried and true Huey being assembled on the streets of Baxter. It took a few hours for Midwest Aerospace to install the tailplanes, the main rotor and the tail rotor onto the body of the Huey, but it proved to be an entertaining show.
From now until the end of the year, Jeff and Jodi King will match all donations made to Jasper County Conservation dollar for dollar, up to $100,000, for the environmental education center project, which is nearing construction after almost $2.6 million was raised through grants and generous community donors. In order to particiHUEY | 3 pate, donors are asked to make donations directly to the Jasper Community Foundation earmarked for the environmental education center. So if the challenge is met by the end of the year, Jasper County Conservation could raise $200,000 towards the project, doubling the community’s impact. Jeff and Jodi, who owned Keystone Laboratories, Inc, for 32 years, announced the challenge in a letter to community members sent last week. They told Newton News their motivation behind the donation stems back to their history with Keystone Labs, whose services of environmental testing somewhat intertwine with the philosophy of conservation. Jeff is a believer in conservation’s pursuits to educate the public Jamee A. Pierson/Jasper County Tribune and promote preservaThanks to work donated by former Colfax resident Vernon Stodden, tion of natural resources. the pillars at the Colfax Cemetery are repaired and stand tall at the “As we become more entrance of the property. and more dependent on all these electronic A graduate of the class of 1974, helping out his former teacher, things in our lives, we Stodden served in the Air Force now mayor — Mast. The deteriobecome less and less following graduation, returning to rated pillars no longer are an eyeknowledgable about the Iowa to start his masonry compa- sore and, with the work of a “really world around us and ny. While he wasn’t in Colfax, the good crew,” are a focal point at the how we can conserve town always kept a special place cemetery. it so our kids and our with him. “The City of Colfax is proud to grandkids and their kids “I remember being in the band report that improvements have can enjoy the same kinds with Colfax High School and been made to our cemetery largeShaw of Media things that we did marching there for Memorial Day ly though the generosity and hard when we were younger,” services. I stood out there on that work of a good samaritan,” Colfax Jeff said ground every year,” Stodden said. City Clerk Nancy Earles said. “The To him, there is no “I am just fond of Colfax. It will al- old, dilapidated pillars that have better way to encourage ways be a warm place in my heart.” guarded the cemetery for decades, and facilitate that mesFifty years later, Stodden is have received a much-needed sage than with county giving back to his hometown and facelift.”
Giving back to the community Colfax native Vernon Stodden gives back to his hometown to beautify the dilapidated pillars at the Colfax Cemetery By Jamee A. Pierson Jasper County Tribune Thanks to a generous donation from a former Colfax resident, the pillars at the Colfax Cemetery have been brought back to their original glory. Vernon Stodden, who has been in masonry his entire working life, put in the work to fix the broken pillars, making the cemetery shine once again. “I have such fond affection for Colfax. I always said it was a great place to be from,” Stodden said. “I love my hometown. When Mayor Mast called and asked if I would do the work, I’m always interested to go out there.” The pillars, which line the cemetery on South Walnut Street, had fallen into disrepair. Thanks to the work from Stodden’s crew, the 18 posts, 13 small brick pillars and five larger brick pillars will now stand tall for decades to come. “When we (Mast and I) talked about it, he told me the budget and it wouldn’t have done the project to the level of finish that it needed to be done,” Stodden said. “It is set up for the next 100 years. The old caps were cast concrete caps. We upgraded them to limestone and it will last a bit longer. It is well built.”
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conservation’s nature center project. In the Kings’ letter, he said the center will also be a significant tourism attraction and welcome center for Jasper County, and a hub to promote all county conservation areas. Jeff and Jodi also have a personal connection to the project. The center will be named after their daughter, Dana King Ceretti, who died of cystic fibrosis on Dec. 30, 2009, at age 30. Dana was a graduate of Newton High School and the University of Northern Iowa, and she taught at Thomas Jefferson Elementary. “She would be thrilled about a project like this and really understand the value of it,” Jodi said. “We look at it as a really important and cool way to remember her.” Both Jeff and Jodi envision the Dana King Ceretti Environmental Education Center will make a wonderful addition to Jasper County and beyond. Jeff said the programs, services, attractions and events the center can facilitate will greatly benefit the surrounding areas and educate both older and younger generations. “It’s a legacy,” he added. “It’s something we can do to give back to the community for all the things. We’ve been here for 45 years. Our kids grew up here. We think it’s important to give back to the community that we have lived in for so long. We’re blessed that we’re able to do that.” Keri Van Zante, director of Jasper County Conservation, said other areas of the center have received sizable donations for naming rights. For instance, the Geisler-Penquite Foundation fully funded a $700,000 Geisler-Penquite Land CONSERVATION | 3
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