Home sales continue to climb in Iowa. Dale Gross of Atlantic is president of the Iowa Association of Realtors (IAR), which is reporting an increase in home sales from October to November. “This is the fourth month in a row that we’ve seen that happen,” Gross said. Home sales last month increased by 12-point-two percent (12.2%) compared to November of 2010 with 261 more sales. The IAR reported 2,395 homes sold last month. Prices in November held steady compared to the previous year.

“In November 2011, we were at $138,800 as the average sale price of a home in Iowa. That’s compared to a price that was only $900 above that last year. So, it’s not down a whole lot,” Gross said. He attributed the uptick in sales to the strong farm economy and low interest rates around four-percent (4%). Gross said home sales tend to decline during the winter months of December, January and February – making it a good time to buy.

“The sellers are anxious because they want to get the house sold. They don’t want to heat it anymore and want to make a deal,” Gross explained. “If someone is thinking of home ownership, with the low interest rates, this is the time to get off the couch and get out there and find something to buy.” The IAR report shows statewide home inventory at the end of November was 21,431, which includes 3,112 new active residential listings. The average days on the market in November was 109 days, up three days compared to November 2010.

(Pat Curtis/Radio Iowa)

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum spoke to a crowd of over four-dozen people Sunday night, in Atlantic as part of his “Faith, Family and Freedom” tour across the Country. The former Senator from Pennsylvania said he feels “very good” about his campaign in these last few weeks before the January 3rd Iowa caucuses, and urged the party faithful to attend the caucus and vote for candidate who will “Fight for America.” Santorum says “This is the most important election in your lifetime.” He says Iowans can’t be experiencing what’s going on in America and not know how critical the upcoming election is. Santorum says Iowans should get out the vote at the caucus, even if the vote isn’t for him.

Rick Santorum at the Farmer's Kitchen in Atlantic, Sunday

National polls currently show him lagging, but Santorum, who spent 12 years as U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania and four years in the House, isn’t letting that stop him from crisscrossing the state. Sunday’s appearance in Atlantic marked the second time he’s been to the community. To date, he’s attended 350 similar town hall meetings in Iowa.
During his most recent visit, Santorum said “Iowa needs to elevate a conservative to be out there on the national stage, to be a clear contrast to Barack Obama, and make him the issue in this campaign.” Santorum promised to balance the budget within five-years by cutting 5-trillion dollars in spending over in that length of time, and tax entitlements immediately. He says the only program he will not cut, is the Defense Department. He says that’s not the area that’s causing a problem in Washington. Defense spending, he says, has been cut 40-percent over the past 50-years, and he won’t cut it’s budget, because it’s “A dangerous world out there, made more dangerous” by President Obama.

Santorum suggested changes by the government in how businesses are taxed and regulated will spur spur economic growth in the country, but the economy will only be as strong as families are. He says families will not end up poor if couples marry and wait to have children until they’re married, and their children graduate from high school. He says “Marraige is important for the economic and social stability of our country,” yet politicians will only speak about it when they are trying to redefine it. Santorum wrote a book about a half-dozen years ago called “It takes a family,” in response to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s book “It Takes a Village.” He says he wrote it because he’s passionate about families, but he’s also passionate about limited government. The two, he says, go hand-in-hand.

He says “You can’t have limited government if you don’t have strong families, and you can’t have limited government, if you don’t have people living good, decent, moral, virtuous lives.” Santorum says the goverment creates new laws aimed at regulating our lives and constaining bad behavior, because people are living their lives immorally. Santorum also spoke at a town hall meeting Sunday morning in Council Bluffs, with a similar-sized crowd in attendance.

The City of Atlantic’s Parks and Recreation Department Board of Directors will hold a regularly scheduled meeting Monday evening, at the City Hall in Atlantic. During the 5:15-p.m. session, the Board will discuss and possibly act on: the sale of a Sunnyside Park propane tank; The trade-in of a commercial walk-behind mower for other, needed equipment; and, a six-month review of Parks and Rec Director Roger Herring.

In other business, the Atlantic Parks and Rec Board Monday, will hear: an update on a proposal pertaining to an Eagle Scout bench; a report on the recent Rotary raffle; and, an update from the Schildberg Recreation Committee.

At least three area school district Boards of Education will hold their regularly scheduled meetings Monday evening. The Griswold School Board will gather at 5:30-p.m. in the Central Office Board Room for their session. On their agenda is discussion and action with regard to Negative Activity Accounts, and various Board Policies. Other action items include those pertaining to: An Early Graduates Roster; Glass project bids; the Estes Construction project and contract; the initiation of bargaining with Certified Staff, and an easement for the City of Elliott. In addition, the Board will receive revised projections from Piper Jaffrey.

The CAM School Board will meet at 6:30-p.m., Monday, in the Media Center at the CAM High School, in Anita. On their agenda is a public meeting regarding the Board’s decision to explore the opportunity to partner with Connections Education to form a free K-12 online learning center within the district.  The center would operate independently of the CAM District’s educational program and would serve students statewide in the open enrollment process.  Other discussion and/or action items include those pertaining to: Open enrollment applications; a Driver’s Education Contract and Driver’s Ed tuition; Mid-term graduates and a partnership agreement.

And, the Elk Horn-Kimballton Board of Education will meet in the Family and Consumer Science Room at the High School in Elk Horn, beginning at 7-p.m., Monday. Action items on their agenda include: A contract with Allan Hjelle for the Boys Golf Coach position; and, Approval of Open Enrollment requests. Other matters up for discussion and action: approval of the Early Start Calendar for 2011-2012; the Voluntary Early Retirement Program; Approval of Modified Allowable Growth request; and, approval of the purchase of a band instrument.