Page 1 - Clear Lake Mirror Reporter E-Edition 2-17-2016

Heading to State pgs. 12-13
Weather More weather on page 5.
Mostly sunny for the weekend and warmer with a
high of 43 degrees on Saturday.
USPS 117-120 VOL. 146 Issue 7
Clear Lake
Mirror-Reporter
CALENDAR
Fri. - Sat.
High flying art
The Clear Lake Arts Cen-
ter’s Color the Wind Art Fes-
tival, held in conjunction with
the Color the Wind Kite Fes-
tival, will be Feb. 19-20. This
Indoor Art Show and Sale will
host a gathering of North Iowa’s
favorite artists, Friday, Feb. 19,
from 4 p.m. – 9 p.m. and Sat-
urday, Feb. 20, from 10 a.m. – 4
p.m. in the Sukup Performing
Arts Wing and Hanson Gallery
at the Clear Lake Arts Center,
17 S. 4th St. Friday night will
feature a mix of art and enter-
tainment with live music, appe-
tizers and a cash bar (beer and
wine) starting at 5 p.m. Admis-
sion is free. On Saturday, from
10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., there
will be a free Creative Kid’s Art
Activity at the Arts Center. Vo-
calist Denise Shipler will present
“Soar!” – a free concert in the
Sukup Performing Arts Wing
Saturday. Free will donations
will be accepted. Doors open at
7 p.m.; seating is limited.
Saturday
Color The Wind
The Color the Wind Kite
Festival will be held Saturday,
Feb. 20. The sky over the frozen
lake will be filled with brilliant
continued
More CALENDAR
on page 2
Inside
Opinion..................4-5
Weather.................... 5
Sports..................9-14
Legals................14-15
Classifieds.........16-17
Road Reports
Iowa 1-800-288-1047
Illinois 1-800-865-5394
Kansas 1-800-585-7623
Minnesota1-800-542-0220
Missouri 1-800-222-6400
Nebraska 1-800-906-9069
S. Dakato 1-866-697-3511
Wisconsin 1-800-762-3947
Forecasts
Des Moines 1-515-270-2614
Sioux Falls 1-605-330-4444
Waterloo 1-319-234-6600
Call 511 for Iowa, Minnesota
and South Dakota
non-emergency weather
and road conditions.
Mail: 12 N. 4th St.,
Clear Lake, IA 50428
Telephone: 641-357-2131
Fax: 641-357-2133
Email: office@clreporter.com
Website: www.clreporter.com
@CLReporter concluding May 26.
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Feb. 17, 2016 Serving Clear Lake and Ventura since 1869 • Hometown newspaper of Tom & Karen Stephany $1.50
City tax rate will drop by 50-cents in 2017 budget
‘Once again, Clear Lake will feature maintained for five consecutive years one-third. Other entities, such as the The taxable valuation for the 2017
one of the lowest tax rates in Iowa’ prior to the 50-cent increase made in school district, sanitary district, NI- fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2016
2012 as a result of the voter-approved ACC and others, represent two-thirds and ends June 30, 2017, continues the
Property owners in Clear Lake will the budget. It must be certified to the $2.3 million general obligation bond of a property owners’ total tax asking. positive trend of growth in the commu-
see the city’s portion of their tax bill County Auditor by March 15. issued for the new fire station building. “Once again, Clear Lake will fea- nity.
drop by 50-cents per $1,000 of taxable Under the proposed budget, the tax Under the proposed city budget, ture one of the lowest tax rates in Iowa The taxable valuation for fiscal
valuation in the budget proposed to the rate will drop from $10.54 to $10.05 owners of a home assessed at $150,000 for cities with a population greater year 2017 is $547,715,843, which is a
City Council for fiscal year 2017. per $1,000 of taxable valuation. The will see a reduction of $41 in their tax than 4,000,” Flory told the Council. $27,368,508 increase (5 percent) from
City Administrator Scott Flory City’s share of the overall tax rate has asking from the city; owners of a com- In 2016, Clear Lake’s tax rate will rank fiscal year 2016. Flory noted the in-
presented the budget to the Council been at $10.54 for the previous five fis- mercial property will see a $66 drop as the ninth lowest city tax rate in cities crease occurred despite a commercial
Monday night. The Council set March cal years. The proposed rate of $10.04 in their city taxes. However, Flory re- of 4,000 or more people. “I anticipate and industrial property tax rollback
7 as the date for a public hearing for is the same rate which the City had minded property owners that the City’s bettering that in fiscal year 2017—
portion of the total tax bill is roughly probably top five,” said Flory. See CITY COUNCIL on page 2
Winter Remember when snowmobiles looked like this? A vintage snowmobile show was part of “The Jack” School Board will
at its Helgren Memorial. - Reporter photos by Chris Barragy. narrow field of
best 30 mph on Friday challenged riders, superintendent
as well as organizers. Officials weren’t candidates for
Thousands turn out able to test timing equipment because March interviews
for snowmobiling and of conditions Friday and problems
ice fishing fun arose Saturday. Radar runs were post- The Clear Lake School Board will meet in closed session
poned until early Saturday afternoon. Monday, Feb. 29, to select three to five finalists for the posi-
Last weekend thousands of people found Still, 197 rigs with competitors from tion of district superintendent. According to School Board
some great ways to forget about blizzards, President Chyrl Bergvig, the district received 40 inquiries
shoveling, closed roads and more. “The Jack,” Those as young as four and five-years-old took part in Kitty and 20 fully completed applications for the position.
an annual snowmobile event held in memory Cat stock races. Tonight (Wednesday, Feb. 17) the School Board will
of Jack Helgren, and the Yellow Bass Bonanza meet in a planning session at 5:30 p.m. to review input re-
provided ways to celebrate winter. ceived from school personnel and the community through
The Jack Helgren Memorial Race, in its meetings facilitated by McPherson & Jacobson, L.L.C.,
seventh year, was based at Clear Lake State Executive Recruitment and Development on Feb. 4. The
Park. The event was delayed from its original Omaha, Neb. firm was retained by the district to lead the
Jan. 15-16 dates due to poor ice conditions. search for a new superintendent to replace Anita Micich,
Ice conditions were good over the weekend, who has been shared with the Mason City School District
but cold temperatures and winds gusting to since the 2010-11 school year. Earlier this year the Clear
Lake Board voted to end the sharing agreement. Micich will
be solely employed by Mason City in 2016-17.
At tonight’s planning meeting, the School Board will re-
view possible interview questions, as well as procedures for
interview days.
Interview groups comprised of a broad range of district
stakeholders are currently being assembled by the Board. In-
terviews with finalists will be held during the first and second
week of March. The naming of a new superintendent could
come as early as mid-March, said Bergvig.
Iowa, Minnesota, and North and South Dakota were This is a weekly feature highlighting some of Iowa’s unsolved ho-
entered in Lemans races. micides in the hopes that it will lead to new tips and potentially
In addition to races, a vintage snowmobile show help solve cases. The project is a partnership between this news-
entertained those who stayed on shore. The event was paper and other members of the Iowa Newspaper Association.
sponsored by the North Iowa Snow Seekers.
Twenty-four classes of Lemans style races were held on Clear Lake Saturday. Sunday, ice fishing dominated lake activities. Nicholas “Nick” David
Two hundred fifty-five teams weighed in more than 3,700 pounds of yellow bass Sunday. Two-hundred fifty-five teams competed in the White, a 20-year-old Drake
fourth annual Yellow Bass Bonanza, sponsored by Ma- University student, was
son City Power Sports. Organizer Kevan Paul said par- murdered on Monday, Nov.
ticipants from as many as 10 states headed out on the 26, 2012, in a Des Moines
ice Sunday afternoon to compete for over $30,000 in home he shared with two
other young men. Des
prizes, including a 2016 Polaris four- Moines police said White
wheeler. died of undisclosed trauma
The team of Chad Angell and in the basement of a house
Josh Sansgaald won the top prize, located at 1511 29th Street.
bringing in the tournament limit of The home is about one
50 fish weighing in at 19.91 pounds. block away from Drake’s
More than 3,700 fish were main campus. Nick White
brought in by anglers to be weighed.
“We are happy to have this event White shared the 29th street home with Ernest “Ernie”
on Clear Lake and it seems to get big- Carl Mueller III and Randall “Randy” Morgan Watson, who
ger and bigger each year— and the told police they found White’s body around 1:45 p.m.
quality of fish gets better,” said Kevan Des Moines Police Sgt. Jason Halifax said police deemed
Paul. the death suspicious based on factors like the position of
The Yellow Bass Bonanza draws White’s body and location of blood in the vicinity.
both novice and skilled anglers and
has grown to become one of the larg-
est Ice Fishing Tournaments in the
Midwest.
The medical examiner has officially ruled White’s death
a homicide, though police have not released the cause of
CL School Board sets 2016-17 calendar death other than that it was trauma to the body.
Detectives have interviewed White’s roommates, and
police continue to question people in connection with the
The Clear Lake School Board has ap- The district will continue to have weekly The Christmas break will begin with an early case.
proved the district’s 2016-17 school calendar. early dismissals (2 p.m. Wednesdays) to ac- dismissal Friday, Dec. 23. Classes will resume “He was always a person you’d want to be around, and
The school year will largely follow the commodate teacher professional development Jan. 3. a lot of people gravitated toward him because he was such a
same schedule as the current school year, with sessions. Spring break will be the week of March kind person,” White’s friend, Jason Ashby, told KCCI Chan-
classes beginning Wednesday, Aug. 24, and There will be no school Wednesday-Fri- 13-17. nel 8 in a report that aired Nov. 28, 2012. “I don’t under-
day, Nov. 23-25, for the Thanksgiving holiday. Graduation is set for May 21.
See GONE COLD on page 2
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