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Friday, May 9, 2014
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Newton, Iowa
Richardson 5K honors fallen lieutenant
OBITUARIES Robert Kopsa, 85 Ruth R. Pauls, 92
By Kate Malott Daily News Staff Writer
INSIDE TODAY
Education
TAG students work on special projects Page 8A
This weekend, many colleagues, friends and family members of the late Pat Richardson will participate in the first annual Richardson Run Memorial 5K to honor the beloved lieutenant. The run starts at 9 a.m. Saturday at the Newton Police Department. The 5K will take place throughout southwest Newton and runners will return to the police department
for the finish. More than 130 people have signed up for the memorial run, so far. “The Richardson Run is truly a testament to who Pat was and a great way to honor a local hero,” Newton Police Department RICHARDSON See Page 5A Submitted Photo Chris Hoff, Jordan (Richardson) Hoff, Lauren Hoff, Kim Richardson, Pat Richardson, Sean Richardson and David Richardson at Christmas in 2012.
Miller-Meeks visits Newton
School board to vote on public hearing date for 2013-14 budget Monday By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer
Sports
CMB boys take Card Relays title Page 1B
Sports
Newton girls win Cardinal Relays
Kate Malott/Daily News Margery and Marvin Porter speak with Dr. Mariannette Miller-Meeks on Wednesday at a small round-table at Midtown Café. Miller-Meeks is running for Congress as a Republican. “Washington is a dysfunctional mess, and it’s time to send someone there who has real world experience bringing people together to solve problems — like implementing better patientcentered healthcare reforms and restoring accountability in government,” Miller-Meeks said on her campaign website. Miller-Meeks will be running against fellow Republican candidates Mark Lofgren and Matthew Waldren in the primary election next month.
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Weather
Community clean-up encouraged Saturday In preparation for the Get to Know Newton 250 at the Iowa Speedway on May 17 and 18, the City of Newton is encouraging all citizens to take a few hours on Saturday to clean-up and freshen up properties throughout the town. The city is offering extended landfill hours, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Saturday, in support of the effort. However, the city is not able to offer curbside pickup
Saturday
High 77 Low 55
Sunday
of items. This community wide clean-up day offers local residents an opportunity to follow-up on the work done by hundreds of high school students on Red Pride Service Day on Thursday. Projects that still have some work to be completed include a flower bunker on the north side of the square and litter pick up in Maytag Park and around the Kiwanis shelter.
With the May 31 deadline for budget amendments approaching, a vote at Monday’s Newton Community School District Board of Education meeting will set the date of the district’s public hearing to amend its 2013-14 budget. If approved, a public hearing for the FY14 budget will be at 6:45 p.m. Tuesday, May 27, at Emerson Hough School. District Business Manager Gayle Isaac explained to the board, at the April 28 meeting, why the current budget needs to be changed. During the discussion, Isaac felt that the Iowa Department of Education would be looking at four areas of the current budget that need to be corrected so the district isn’t docked during an audit. With the FY 14 budget, Isaac felt concern under the instruction, total support services, non-instructional programs and total expenditures categories of the budget. Under instruction, it was estimated the district was going to spend $20,541,275 in 2013. Isaac’s re-estimate forecasts the district needing to spend $21,677,300 on instruction now. BOARD See Page 5A
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Local veteran inspired granddaughter’s award winning essay
Weather Almanac
Thurs., May 8 High 78 Low 63 .09 inch of rain Also: Astrograph Page 5B Classifieds Page 4B Comics & Puzzles Page 6A Dear Abby Page 6A Opinion Page 4A Obituaries Page 3A Police Page 3A Our 112th Year No. 249
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By Ty Rushing Daily News Senior Staff Writer Steve Hathaway is a proud veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, and he doesn’t even have to tell you this fact to prove it — he can show it in a number of different ways. Marine regalia decorates his home in Newton, as well as a lot of his clothing. He has five military tattoos on his arms, which he got more than three decades after he served, and his granddaughter, Ashley Cumpton, was so inspired by his dedication, she wrote an essay on Steve and other members of her family who have served. Her essay turned out to be very impressive. So impressive, in fact, the eighth grader at Knoxville Middle School was one of four winners of a schoolwide essay contest, receiving the opportunity to lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in
Washington, D.C., during the school’s annual trip there last month. Ashley said the wining essays were selected by judges at Arlington National Cemetery in D.C., where the Tomb is located. Once she learned she won, the first person she wanted to tell was her grandpa, Steve. “I brought him the letter — because he knew I had sent an (essay), and he thought it was great — and he started crying when he read it. He was really proud of me,” Ashley said. Steve later clarified that he didn’t cry but merely teared up a little
bit. On April 17, Ashley and her classmates traveled to D.C. for the class trip, and on Friday, April 18, she got to be a part of history by placing a wreath on the Tomb. “It was really scary at first, because the soldiers walk up to you, and you have to walk down the steps with them,” Ashley said. “When they walk up to you, they look like robots — they walk really stern — and then once they come up to you, they like flip a switch and start talking to you and ask you like, ‘Where are you from,’ and everything. And they immediately flip a switch back and walk back and have you follow them.” Unfortunately, Steve couldn’t attend the ceremony, but after seeing the ceremony firsthand — during the 2011 Jasper County Freedom Flight — he knew how solemn and monumental this occasion was. Although he didn’t
get to see her in D.C., Steve is thrilled that his granddaughter has taken a shine to the military, which is sort of the Hathaway’s family business. Steve’s father was a Marine in World War II, his older brother was also a Marine, his former father-in-law, Ashley’s maternal greatgrandfather, was in the Navy, and they have a host of other relatives who either currently serve or are veterans of the Armed Forces. “I got drafted. I tried to enlist, but I got my draft notice before I enlisted,” Steve said. “So when I went to report in Des Moines to be drafted, they asked for three volunteers for the Marine Corp draft … I volunteered, another guy volunteered and they chose the third guy, which he was not very happy about. “His mouth dropped. He didn’t want to go to the Marine Corp, but my dad was a Marine and my older brother was a
Marine … I knew once my brother went in that I was going to go in.” With his father being a former Marine, and his brother being an active Marine at the time, Steve felt more prepared for boot camp and the rest of the other challenges he would face in the service. “I kind of knew what to expect from talking to him, but the (butt) whippings and the cussing was a little more than I anticipated, I guess,” Steve said. While his brother was a reliable source for inside information on the Marines, he was still Steve’s big brother, and like most older siblings, he liked to play pranks on his little brother. “He knew that people were not supposed to send you cigarettes or chewing gum,” Steve said. “Well, in an envelope he sent me a cigarette and also, in another HATHAWAY See Page 5A