A public hearing with regard to making Sunnyside Park in Atlantic entirely smoke free, will take place Monday evening, at City Hall. The meeting of the Parks and Recreation Board and public hearing follows on the heels of a proposal June 17th by Karla Akers and a group of young people who are associated with the Kiwanis’-sponsored, Middle School Builders Club.Akers said originally, the tobacco-free zone request focused on the skate park area at Sunnyside Park, but the hope is to eventually make all parks in Cass County being tobacco free, to make them “A family friendly, safe, positive environment for healthy activity.”

To that end, Akers presented the Parks and Rec Board with a signed petition requesting Sunnyside Park be designated as Tobacco Free. If approved by the Parks and Rec Board and, by the City Council at a future meeting, violators will be asked to stop using tobacco products on Park property, or leave the property. If they fail to do so, a trespassing complaint may be filed with law enforcement.

In other business, the Parks and Rec Board will receive a monthly update from Director Roger Herring, with regard to the Schildberg Recreation Area, Sunny Park Tennis Court reconstruction, the boat ramp, Summer Rec programs, the Buck Creek Dog Park, and Park Maintenance building. The meeting in the Council’s Chambers at City Hall, begins at 5:15-p.m., Monday.

The public is invited to attend a free, “Movie in the Park,” later this month, here in Cass County. The movie “John Brown’s Holy War” will be shown at the Hitchcock Recreation Area, beginning at 9-p.m., Saturday, July 20th. It’s sponsored by the Cass County Conservation Board, and gives viewers a chance to learn about the historical figure’s involvement in the Civil War movement.

Persons planning on attending the movie should bring their lawn chairs or a blanket, to enjoy the movie under the stars. If it’s raining that night, the movie will be shown inside the barn. For more information, call Cass County Naturalist Lora Kanning, at 712-769-2372.

It was a night of honor and royalty at the 2013 Shelby County Fair on Thursday evening. During the 2013 Queen Ceremony, Chandler Mores was awarded the 2013 Shelby County Fair Queen. Mores is a member of the Center Comers 4-H group. Mores will move on to the Iowa State Fair Queen competition in August and represent Shelby County. First Runner-Up Princess was awarded to Courtney Buman, while Chantel Schmidt and Shiloh Carroll tied for 2nd place.

In other news from the Shelby County Fair, Al Wilwerding, Leona Graves and Mark and Phyllis Lytle were inducted by the Shelby County Fair Board into the Hall of Fame. Graves was on the state committee for Farm Bureau and had six children pass through the Shelby County Fair. Mark and Phyllis Lytle both work closely with the Shelby County Fair Board. Al Wilwerding called it a big surprise being inducted into the Hall of Fame. He said he continues to work hard at the fair as in year’s past he works the PA systems and gets all the security lights working in the other buildings.

The Shelby County Fair began Sunday and concludes Monday evening, with the 4-H & FFA Livestock Auction. For more information, go to www.shelbycountyfair.org.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The U.S. Department of Agriculture has slightly lowered its estimate of the corn crop, reflecting late planting in the Corn Belt caused by a wet spring.    Farmers are now expected to harvest 13.95 billion bushels, 55 million fewer bushels than predicted in June. That still beats the 2009 record by about 858 million bushels.

The supply of corn is likely to shrink this summer because of last year’s small, drought-affected harvest of 11 billion bushels and this year’s delayed planting, so prices will likely remain high.  That’s good for farmers selling grain, but will increase the cost of corn-based feed for livestock producers raising cattle, chickens and pigs. Food prices aren’t likely to be affected much by the change.

Chris Parks provides the latest info from the Atlantic Animal Shelter.

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w/ Dr. Keith Leonard

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w/ Max Dirks

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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — U.S. Senator Charles Grassley says farmers would be better served by a farm bill that separates agriculture programs from food stamps but he doubts separate measures will pass. House Republican leaders are considering separate farm and food stamp bills to get the support of conservatives who voted against the farm bill last month. Grassley says Iowans tell him they want farm measures separated from food stamps.

For decades rural lawmakers have added money for food stamps to the farm bill to gather urban votes for the measure. Grassley says a combined bill costing $900 billion over 10 years makes it look like farmers are dipping into taxpayer’s pockets. In reality 20 percent of the farm bill pays for agriculture programs while 80 percent supports food stamps and related programs.

w/ Kate Olson

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