Officials with the Museum of Danish America in Elk Horn (formerly known as the Danish Immigrant Museum) report the Museum has received a $50,000 grant from the Iowa West Foundation, for the purpose of installing a green roof on the Curatorial Center addition, currently under construction.

Artist’s rendition of the Curatorial Center’s Green Roof.

The green roof is expected to maximize energy efficiency and the thermal barrier between the outdoor environment and artifact storage areas, as well as incorporate the addition into the visitor experience of the surrounding Jens Jensen Prairie Landscape Park. The addition is being built into the western hillside of the museum and connects in the basement level, bringing the top of the structure at nearly ground-level.

The green roof will serve as an elevated continuation of the Jens Jensen Prairie Landscape Park space. Museum visitors will be able to walk on a pathway atop the roof, view the native plantings, and read interpretive panels about green roofs and native plantings. The museum’s green roof will be unusual in that it will incorporate prairie grasses and forbs instead of sedums, which are most commonly used on green roofs.

The planting plan, developed by landscapers at Midwest Groundcovers of St. Charles, IL, is based on research done by the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Plant Conservation Science Center. The roof will comprised of 20 different, native plants. Under the roof, the Curatorial Center addition will add 8,000 square feet of artifact storage area and staff workspaces. Construction began on the project in September 2013 and is expected to reach completion in the summer of 2014.

The Iowa West Foundation grant was included in their 2013 fourth quarter grant awards to 32 non-profit organizations in the region. Museum officials say the foundation will be recognized for its grant upon completion of the addition and the green roof on an educational, outdoor panel specifically highlighting green roofs.

The Mills County Sheriff’s Office reports the arrest today (Wednesday), of an Emerson man. Officials say 51-year old Brent Douglas Vestal was taken into custody at around 1-a.m. on a charge of OWI/2nd offense. His bond was set at $2,000.

And, there were two accidents in Mills County Monday afternoon, neither of which resulted in any injuries. The first happened at around 2-p.m. on Hilman Road, when Draven Ray, of Glenwood,  lost control of the pickup he was driving. The accident happened at the vehicle was rounding a curve. The 1992 Chevy went off the road and hit a utility pole.

The second accident happened at around 3:10-p.m., Monday, on Main Street, near Malvern. Sheriff’s officials say a 2002 Ford driven by John David Prokop, of Malvern, was traveling south on 315th Street and entering a speed zone in Malvern, when he became distracted while reaching for his sunglasses. Prokop’s vehicle crossed the center line of the road and northbound lane of traffic before hitting a culvert sign. The vehicle continued south on the northbound shoulder and hit another driveway culvert before coming to rest.

The Cass County Board of Supervisors, Wednesday, approved the Assignment of a County held tax sale certificate of purchase for a Lot in Cumberland. Cass County Treasurer Tracey J. Marshall told the Supervisors the lot is next to property owned by Brent Paulsen, who wants to clean-up the lot and get the property back on the tax roll. Auditor Dale Sunderman said it’s not a “High Value” property at $38 per year.

Board Chair Frank Waters said Paulsen wants to improve the community by cleaning-up the site and possibly making it a small park or, at least get rid of the eye sore of junk material currently located on the lot. Sunderman said the property description is the “South half of the east half of Lot 9 block 9, Second Addition,” in Cumberland.

In other business, Cass County Engineer Charles Marker updated the Board on the gravel and roads the Secondary Roads department will be working on this year, “Specifically, one-mile at a time.” He says some of the “Contract rock” will be “Spot Rock,” which is used for roads that have portions that which have soft or muddy.  Marker said Contract Rock currently runs $10 per ton, which takes up a good chunk of his budget.

He said also that they have been stockpiling some of the material in parts of the County. There are about 30-miles of rock roads in each district within Cass County, with each district receiving a share of the rock necessary to handle road improvements. He says the rock costs his department $790,000. That figure does not include the cost of hauling and handling the material. Marker says his department receives $1.7-million dollars from property taxes, with nearly half of that going for the purchase of rock alone.

He says the decision on which roads need to be bladed and/or re-rocked, is made with each district foreman. And in her report to the Board, Cass County Mental Health/General Relief Coordinator Deb Schuler said the 28-E Agreement for Regionalized Mental Health Services has been accepted, and another regional meeting will be held on March 31^st to approve the Management Plan, which must be submitted to the State by April 1^st. Schuler reports also, Dr. John Bigelow with the Southwest Iowa Mental Health Center, has been appointed to the Regional Mental Health Advisory Council, which means Cass County will be represented on that particular Board. Some of the persons on the Council will be appointed to the Board in charge of running the Regional services.

With the arrival of spring on Thursday, many Iowans will leap into a house cleaning frenzy. Tammy Noble, a registered nurse and the education coordinator for the Iowa Poison Control Center, says you’ll need to use caution with all of those powerful cleansers, especially if there are kids in the house. “What we see as a lot of exposures is the household cleaning chemicals, the things that are under the kitchen sink,” Noble says. “Usually, it’s when the product is in use, when we find exposures happening to both the kids and the adults.”

While the kitchen can be a danger zone for poisonings, she says bathrooms can be just as problematic with all of those personal hygiene products.  “The toothpaste, the shampoo, the lotion, the deodorant,” Noble says. “We always get lots of calls about that and those are things that we use every day so it’s hard to lock them up or put them up high so they’re out of reach.” She says about half of the 50-thousand calls a year that come into the Sioux City-based hotline involve children and accidental poisonings.

“It’s always surprising because you would think something might taste bad so they’re not going to eat it but kids don’t always have that same sense of taste that adults do,” Noble says. “Just because something tastes bad doesn’t mean they won’t eat it. Kids will still swallow it. You wouldn’t believe the calls that we get.” She suggests Iowans program the Iowa Poison Control Center hotline into their cell phones and have the number handy by landlines. The center is staffed 24-7 and the call is free to 800-222-1222.

(Radio Iowa)

Next week, March 24^th through the 28^th, is Severe Weather Awareness Week. Cass County Emergency Management Director Mike Kennon says a Statewide Tornado Drill will take place on or about 10:15-a.m., with the warning sirens being activated throughout the County, and weather radios sounding their alerts. Kennon says the tornado drill will be an excellent opportunity for Cass County residents, businesses and schools to practice their own procedures in the event of severe weather. 

In the event of severe weather or potential severe weather on the day of the test, these test watches may be postponed. More information about Severe Weather Awareness Week and the related Tornado Drill will be released in the coming days.

Another form of severe weather is extremely dry and windy conditions that can cause controlled burns to quickly spread and become out of control, placing lives and property in danger. As we’ve mentioned before, numerous Counties this week instituted a ban on open burning, including Fremont, Page, Pottawattamie, Mills and Montgomery Counties. Shelby County began their bi-weekly updates on the Fire Danger in that county, on Monday, with the risk currently being “High” for fires to spread.

Kennon says there is no ban on open, outdoor burning in Cass County, but that may change. He says the matter will be discussed during a County Fire Association meeting Thursday night. Local fire chiefs can elect to place a burn ban in effect for their specific district, if they wish, but in general, a consensus is obtained from all the chiefs to call for a County-wide Burn Ban, which is more formal and encompassing. Anyone thinking about conducting a controlled burn in the mean time, needs to do two things, according to Kennon…

He says you need to call your local fire chief and get their permission, and if that’s granted, call the Cass County Communications Center to inform them about when and where you plan to burn, so fire department personnel and equipment needlessly respond to what may be perceived by others to be an uncontrolled burn. For a current list of counties with a burn ban in-place or those that will be in effect, go to http://www.dps.state.ia.us/fm/main/burnbans/

w/ Ric Hanson

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Cass County Youth Coordinator Beth Irlbeck says the County 4-H Clubs invite the public to attend their annual 4-H Mardi Gras carnival on Sunday, March 23rd. Irlbeck say “Mardi Gras includes fun, food, & carnival-type games for kids of all ages. The event is scheduled from 2:00 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. at the Cass County Community Center in Atlantic. We are so excited to offer many activities for families.”

Booths at this year’s Mardi Gras will include: Bear Grove Blazers- 4-H bucket pong; Benton Franklin – color wheel of fortune; Brighton – Skeeball; Cowpokes – Boot Bag Toss; G & L Clovers – walking taco foodstand; Griswold Clubsters – Plinko; Grant Guys & Gals –Ring Toss; Grove H.O.T – TP Basketball; Pleasant Noble United – Cake/Dessert Walk; Pymosa – Dart Throw; Union Leaders – box tunnels; Washington GEM – Pop Floats and much more.

The Youth Action Committee and Youth Council are sponsoring this county-wide event and are inviting all Cass County families to come out and join the fun. Admission is just 50-cents per person and tickets cost 10-cents each. Each 4-H club determines how many tickets to charge to play their game. All proceeds from this event go to the 4-H clubs and the Youth Council. For more information, call 712-243-1132.

Four of the Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate pledged last night (Tuesday) during a forum in Des Moines that they would reduce government regulations and vote to repeal “ObamaCare” if they’re elected. But the candidates differed on whether there’s a need for a law giving small business owners the right to refuse to serve same-sex couples. Arizona’s Republican governor recently vetoed a bill that would have carved out a religious exemption for business owners who, for instance, don’t want to be involved in gay weddings.

Candidate Mark Jacobs of West Des Moines, a retired business executive, says religious organizations should “100 percent” have that right to refuse to participate in gay weddings. “But I think for people that choose to enter the field of commerce in businesses, I think we have to make sure that we have an environment that those businesses are open to law-abiding citizens and I’m very concerned about the discriminatory nature that could creep into that if we start to open that door,” Jacobs said.

Sam Clovis of Hinton, an economics professor, says Arizona’s governor should have signed that bill into law. “This, to me, is one of the most fundamental questions that we will have to wrestle with as a society,” Clovis said. “…At no other time in history — and I’m the oldest one sitting on this stage, I’ll tell you — I have never seen in my life the assault on religious liberty that we see today.”

Matt Whitaker of Ankeny, a former federal prosecutor, says the federal government is guilty of encroaching on religious freedoms in a number of cases, but he says there’s no need for a law granting businesses a “religious exemption.”  “As a Christian, I practice my Christian religion and I don’t want to get in the way of others whether you’re Muslim or whether you’re Jewish or some other denomination from you practicing your religion,” but I don’t think we need a federal law to enforce that right because it’s already evidenced in the First Amendment to our Constitution.”

Joni Ernst of Red Oak, a state senator, says it’s a complicated issue that has to be sorted through. “We want to ensure that we’re not discriminating, but then on the other hand we’re not forcing those (business owners) to do something that disagrees with what they believe as a religion,” Ernst said.

All four candidates expressed concerns about the so-called “common core” education standards that supporters say will lead to a better-educated workforce. The candidates said curriculum decisions should be made at the state and local level. The forum was sponsored by the National Federation of Independent Business.

(Radio Iowa)