Page 1 - Clear Lake Mirror Reporter E-Edition 12-2-2015
P. 1
Cookies & Cocoa pg. 9
Weather More weather on page 5.
Mostly sunny for the weekend and warmer with a
high of 37 degrees on Saturday.
USPS 117-120 VOL. 145 Issue 48 Dec. 2, 2015 Serving Clear Lake and Ventura since 1869 • Hometown newspaper of Jim & Jackie Pieper $1.50
Clear Lake Central Gardens
Mirror-Reporter hires part-time
CALENDAR executive director
Thursday Central Gar-
5K fun dens of North Iowa,
Inc. has named a
Area runners and walkers part-time executive
are invited to “turn the lights director. Jody Ham-
on” for Opportunity Village’s ilton, Clear Lake,
Festival of Trees celebration at began her duties on
the third annual Lights On 5K Dec. 1.
Run/Walk Thursday, Dec. 3, at “We are excited
4:30 p.m. The run (not race) to have someone of
will start at The Other Place, Jody’s experience,
200 U.S. Highway 18, and fol- expertise, and dedi-
low streets throughout the Op- cation to help us
portunity Village neighborhood meet the demands Jody Hamilton
in northwest Clear Lake. Par-
ticipants are encouraged to dress of our growing Gardens,” said Robert “Chip” Kinsey,
in holiday lights and costumes. board president.
Hamilton, a native of New Hampton, served as
business manager at Comprehensive Systems in Charles
Fri. - Sun. City, Iowa for 12 years, and then as a city clerk/finance
Festival of Trees officer in Charles City and Knoxville, Iowa for a total of
24 years and at an Omaha hospital for three years.
The 20th Annual Festival of Besides volunteering at the Surf Ballroom and the
Trees, will be held Friday-Sun- Clear Lake Arts Center, Hamilton is also president-elect
day at Opportunity Village in of the Clear Lake Rotary Club.
Clear Lake. Proceeds from the “I just love Clear Lake, and having this opportunity
Festival of Trees support services David Nieman, owner of NTI, surveys his burning buiding Monday morning as firefighters from Clear Lake and Ventura work to extinguish flames. The Clear to be executive director of this beautiful, regional public
for people with disabilities at the Lake Fire Department used its aerial truck to attack the blaze.-Reporter photos by Chris Barragy. gardens is a dream come true,” said Hamilton.
non-profit Village. More than Hamilton is the first paid executive director for the
100 Christmas trees, wreaths Tire warehouse organization in a number of years. Her duties will focus
and swags of all sizes will be on goes up in smoke on fund-raising, membership expansion, and continued
display and for sale throughout beautification of the Gardens.
the weekend at the Village’s Kin-
ney Lindstrom Center gymnasi- Clear Lake and Ventura firefighters “We would have had a much more Former Opportunity
um. Events planned during the spent nearly nine hours on the scene of a difficult time ventilating the roof, as with Village employee charged
Festival include special activities commercial building fire Monday morn- the aerial we were able to get our guys up with criminal conduct
for children, an opening night ing. there safely,” said Krefft. “This operation
gala and cookie walk, as well as Just after 4:40 a.m. Clear Lake dis- required an immense volume of water A North Iowa woman is accused of stealing from
live musical entertainment. See patch was alerted to smoke showing in and the pump on this apparatus can do residents at Opportunity Village in Clear Lake.
activity times and details in a a building behind the Kum and Go on the job as well as position the stream di- Amy Lynn Palmer, 42, of Garner, is charged with
special Christmas By The Lake Highway 18, Clear Lake. The Clear rectly over the hot spots.” ongoing criminal conduct and 15 counts of dependent
section in this week’s paper. Lake Fire Department was dispatched to NTI Ltd. is owned by David Nie- elder abuse.
the 2000 block of 7th Avenue North to man, of Clear Lake. Authorities say that while working at Opportunity
Saturday NTI Ltd., a tire and wheel warehouse. A sad note was the loss of Nieman’s Village between November, 2014 and September, 2015,
Cookie walk Upon arrival officers noted consid- original 1969 Chevelle that was put in Palmer withdrew money from the accounts of 15 resi-
erable smoke showing and some flames storage just days ago in the back of the dents for her own personal use. Palmer was working as
The United Methodist on the south side of the building. Crews building. a caretaker and allegedly stole a total of $8,782.34 from
Church, 508 2nd Ave. N., will first on the scene breached a large over- There were no injuries reported. the checking accounts of 15 of her clients.
host its annual Cookie Walk, head door and made entry, only to have The CLFD had three engine compa- She is accused of hiding her crimes by altering
Crafts and Holiday Sales event a difficult time finding the seed of the nies at the fire with 18 firefighters. They banking statements, not updating banking ledgers and
on Saturday, Dec. 5, downstairs fire. were assisted by one engine company not keeping receipts.
“The large size of the building and from Ventura with five firefighters, along Palmer posted $50,000 bond and has been released
continued the amount of tires racked inside, made with the Clear Lake EMS and CLPD. from the Cerro Gordo County Jail.
this fire troublesome,” said Billy Krefft, At 11:45 p.m. Monday night fire- Ongoing criminal conduct is a class “B” felony,
More CALENDAR CLFD Public Information Officer. fighters were again dispatched to the punishable by up to 25 years behind bars. Dependent
on page 2 Efforts were made to protect the scene when hot spots reportedly ignited elder abuse is a class “D” felony, which carries a prison
immediate exposure of a second build- and flames re-appeared. They were on term of no more than five years.
Inside ing attached by a breezeway. Some ad- the scene for one hour.
ditional difficulty was encountered when Krefft said the amount of financial Clear Lake firefighter Greg Nicholas watches clouds of black smoke
Opinion..................... 4 a diesel tank ruptured and ignited. loss is extensive, however he did not rise from the NTI Ltd. building Monday morning. Crews battled
Weather.................... 5 Krefft noted use of the department’s make an estimate. the blaze at the tire and wheel warehouse in the 2000 block of
Sports................13-14 new aerial truck facilitated fighting the The incident is under investigation. 7th Avenue North for almost nine hours Monday morning, then
Legals..................... 15 fire aggressively. returned late Monday as hot spots created more flames.
Classifieds.........16-17
Neighbor helping neighbor This is a weekly feature highlighting some of Iowa’s unsolved
The Lake Level rose over homicides in the hopes that it will lead to new tips and potentially
an inch to its new reading Christmas wishes, needs remain on tree help solve cases. The project is a partnership between this newspaper
of +1.68” above the weir. Looking for a way to make is in charge of distributing, as well didn’t know than someone they and other members of the Iowa Newspaper Association.
Last year at this time the The your Christmas more meaningful? as processing the forms filled out did. They put time into thinking
Giving Please consider The Giving Tree at by parents specifying needs they about their gifts, had fun wrapping SCOTT M. TOMPKINS | AGE: 23 | DIED: NOVEMBER 29, 1995
lake was frozen over. Tree the Clear Lake Mirror-Reporter, have for their children. The school them and like to think about how Hometown: Muscatine
12 N. 4th St. district then provides the Mirror- excited a child might be to open
Mail: 12 N. 4th St., The 26th Annual Giving Tree Reporter with ornaments repre- their presents on Christmas Day. Scott M. Tompkins, 23, was shot Nov. 29, 1995,
Clear Lake, IA 50428 features ornaments representing senting the needs of each child. Questions regarding sign-up while stopped to fix his windshield wipers at the
Telephone: 641-357-2131 the needs of local families this Other ornaments will list the size for the Giving Tree should be di- intersection of Park Avenue and Harrison Street in
Fax: 641-357-2133 holiday season. Some ornaments of a family requesting a food gift rected to Sally Duesenberg at Clear Muscatine. Tompkins was found wounded at 9:43
Email: office@clreporter.com represent a child’s needs, while oth- card. Lake Schools, 641-357-5288. p.m. only blocks from the Hardee’s restaurant where
Website: www.clreporter.com ers request donations of food gift This year gifts must be brought Those with questions about pur- he worked as the assistant manager. His coworkers described him
cards. to the Mirror-Reporter office by chasing gifts or food for families, as a nice young man without an enemy in the world. Investigators
@CLReporter Sign-up forms for the Giving Wednesday, Dec. 16. or wishing to make a donation said the homicide was not related to Tompkins’ job.
Tree were distributed in the Clear In the 25 years that the Mir- which will be dedicated to the Giv-
Lake School District last month. ror-Reporter has housed the tree, ing Tree, should contact Marianne Tompkins’ mother stated her son wasn’t happy with the increased
They were also sent home with needs have never been left unmet. Morf at the Clear Lake Mirror-Re- gang presence in Muscatine and that he was stalked prior to his
those attending Head Start and In fact, those choosing ornaments porter, 357-2131. murder.
Lake Town Charlie Brown. often remark that they had more This year the tree features ap-
The Clear Lake School District fun shopping for someone they proximately 177 ornaments. In February 2010, Muscatine Police said they hoped new
technology would provide the key to charging someone with
Tompkins’ murder.
If you have any information about Scott Tompkins’ unsolved murder
please contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation at (515)
725-6010, e-mail dciinfo@dps.state.ia.us, or contact the Muscatine
Police Department at 563-263-9922.
Find out more about this and other unsolved homicides at
www.IowaColdCases.org.
Get your cookbook in time for holiday cooking and baking Available at
Readers’ Recipes
$1295 12 N. 4th Street, Clear Lake
A collection of recipes submitted by our readers 641.357.2131
Plus Tax This cookbook
is sure to be an instant favorite to add to your collection or give
Also available at j avenue Clear Lake
as a gift to the cook on your list.
