The Iowa Christmas Tree Growers Association loaded up 80 trees Monday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds to be sent to U-S service members in the “Trees for Troops” program. Iowa association executive director, Jan Pacovsky, says it’s an annual tradition the growers look forward to. Pacovsky says they have been taking part in the program since 2005 as a way to say thank you to all of the military members for the things that they do. 

The growers bring in the trees and FedEx donates the shipping. She says the shipping started in October, sending trees to Europe, Iran and Afghanistan, and then they use trucks here to hall the donated trees to bases where they can be shipped out. Pocvsky says it has been a popular program. “We get a lot of good response back, and we get a lot of response even from people who have (family members) in the military, that they really feel it’s a good cause,” Pacovsky says. She says people who don’t have family members in the military like the program and will sometimes donate trees or money to help with the costs. 

Pacovsky says the growers in the U-S have a goal of reaching 100-thousand trees since the start of the program in 2005. She believes they will get close to that goal this year. There are just over 100 choose and cut Christmas Tree farms in Iowa, with close to 15-hundred acres in tree production. Approximately 39-thousand trees are harvested annually across the state.

This year trees were donated by dozens of tree farms, including the Horse Creek Farm in Sidney.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)

The President of the Iowa Senate and an Iowa Congressman attended a Community College roundtable discussion held in Atlantic Monday evening. The event, at Iowa Western Community College, included Senator Jack Kibbie and Congressman Leonard Boswell, both of whom proclaim to be advocates for community colleges. The two democrats and a handful of visitors listened to a presentation by Iowa Western Design Technology Program Instructor Joseph Vanstrom, before asking some questions and making a few statements about how community colleges receive a disproportional amount of funding from the State as compared to state universities, private colleges and k-through 12 schools.

Boswell, said he would be traveling back to Washington, D.C. today (Tuesday), and hold conversations about what he’s learned during his visit to Iowa Western and other community colleges throughout the state. He said both he and Kiddie want to do what they can to help create jobs despite the budget cut axe which hangs over their heads. Vanstrom told them there can’t be jobs without an investment in education. Kibbie acknowledged community colleges are under-funded as compared to other institutions of higher learning. He says the average Iowa community college gets $1,948 in state funding per student in the current fiscal year, a figure backed-up by the non-partisan Fiscal Services Division. $267 of that state funding comes from local property taxes. By comparison, Kibbie says, private college receives $2,575 per pupil on average. He says funding for community colleges are not based on a per-pupil basis, like k-through 12 schools.

State Universities receive a total $10,233 per pupil. Neither private colleges nor state universities receive any of their funds from property taxes. K-thru 12 schools receive more than $2,580 per pupil from property taxes, for a total of $7,881. That includes State aid, and ARRA Education Stabilization funds.  Both Boswell and Kibbie said they were excited to learn about Iowa Western’s Design Technology Program, which received a $65.2-million dollar grant from Siemens PLM Software, a business unit of Siemens Industry Automotive Division, and, local investments of more than $600,000. The college held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in September to celebrate the new, two-year degree Design Technology program.

Police in Red Oak arrested three people Monday night on drug and other charges. The arrests took place after Police stopped 24-year-old Jessie Bruce Fitzwater, of Villisca, and learned he was driving on a suspended license. Upon further investigation, two passengers in his vehicle were also arrested.

18-year-old Susannah Rose McDaneld, of Council Bluffs, was charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia. 21-year-old Steven Lee Fitzwater, of Villisca, was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia.

All three were taken to the Montgomery County Jail, where Jessie and Steven Lee Fitzwater were being held on $300 cash-only bond each, and McDaneld was being held on a $1,000 cash only bond.