Page 2 - Clear Lake Mirror Reporter E-Edition 3-23-2016

Local NewsPage 2 • March 23, 2016
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Clear Lake
Mirror-Reporter
CALENDAR
from page 1
Saturday con’t
children age two-years to third grade.
Age groups will be divided to hunt
separate areas of the park. Each age
group will have the opportunity to
find a Golden Egg and win an Easter
basket. All are invited to bring a cam-
era and have a picture taken with the
Easter Bunny. The event is sponsored
by the Clear Lake Jaycees.
Sunday
Sonrise service
The Clear Lake Christian Church
will host a Community Easter “Son”
Rise Service at the Clear Lake City
Park Lakeview Room at 6:45 a.m.
Sunday, March 27. The entire com-
munity is invited. The celebration
will include Easter Scripture, music,
and communion. The service will be
held in the Lakeview Room because of
the predicted very cool weather. A fel-
lowship coffee and refreshments will
occur after the service.
Monday
Movie Mondays
The Clear Lake Public Library
will kick off a new Movie Mondays
program with “Suffragette” (PG-13)
(2015) in honor of Women’s History
Month, March 28, at 1 p.m. Movie
Mondays will take place the fourth
Monday each month at 1 p.m.
Slippery
conditions may
have led to
single vehicle
rollover
Two persons received injuries
in a single vehicle rollover Saturday,
March 19.
Just after 4 p.m. Saturday the
Cerro Gordo County Sherrif ’s Office
received a report of a vehicle rollover
near the intersection of Balsam Av-
enue and 280th Street. The driver of
the vehicle was Jarod Knutson, 24,
from Forest City, and the passenger
was Kaitlyn Anderson, 25, of Owa-
tonna, Minn.
Knutson was driving his red
1997 Pontiac Grand Am northbound
when he lost control due to slippery
road conditions and entered the west
ditch. His vehicle landed on its top
and the jaws of life were used to extri-
cate both individuals.
Knutson was transported to
Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa by
family members on the scene; Ander-
son was transported to Mercy by Gar-
ner Ambulance. The extent of their
injuries was not available.
In addition to the Sheriff’s De-
partment, the Iowa State Patrol, Gar-
ner EMTs and Ventura Fire Depart-
ment responded to the scene.
vv THEATRE
London Has Fallen
Wednesday & Thursday “R”
Zootopia
Friday & Saturday 7 p.m“P. G”
Saturday & Sunday Matinee • 1:30 p.m.
Sun., Mon., Tues., Wed. & Thurs., • 7 p.m.
Starring: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman,
Shakira, Idris Elba, J.K. Simmons, Nate Torrence,
Jenny Slate, Tommy Chong (1 hr. 48 min.)
Adults ~ $5 • 12 & Under ~ $4
357-2414
CITY COUNCIL
from page 1
was formed as a means to carry on the
work of the CLEAR Project follow-
ing the abrupt resignation of Mary Jo
Burkgren in June 2015. The WMA
will continue the efforts started by
the Association for the Preservation of
Clear Lake and the CLEAR Project,
which was formed in 1995.
Representatives from the Han-
cock and Cerro Gordo County
Soil Water Conservation Districts
(SWCD), Cities of Clear Lake and
Ventura, Iowa DNR, Iowa Depart-
ment of Ag and Land Stewardship and
the APCL met to consider formation
of a WMA after Burkgren’s departure.
The CLEAR Project coordinator will
report directly to the WMA.
Flory said there have been a num-
ber of qualified applicants for the
CLEAR Project Director position and
he is hopeful an offer will be made to
a candidate in the near future.
The City Council approved a
Professional Services Agreement with
Veenstra & Kimm Monday for its
2016 Street Resurfacing Project. The
firm will develop the plan for im-
provements this spring on 11 street
segments comprising 23 blocks. The
engineer’s estimate for the street resur- imaging services. Nineteen members
facing work is $361,000. V&K will
be paid $22,948 for their professional
work. Bids for the project are expect-
ed to be let May 12 and awarded at
the Council’s May 16 meeting. Con-
struction would begin soon after, with
completion by June 30. Councilman
Gary Hugi suggested V&K revise the
project to accommodate earlier com-
petition, noting the June 30 date is
too close to Clear Laker’s busy July 4
holiday.
The Council also approved its
lease agreement with the Clear Lake
Youth Athletic League for the prop-
erty it uses north of Lions Field. This
is the third time the lease has been ex-
tended. The lease now runs through
2019.
Open house
planned for
retiring school
principal
Mike Barkley, long-time Clear
Creek Elementary School principal,
will be retiring this year after 22
years in the Clear Lake Community
School District. The Clear Creek
staff will be hosting a Retirement
Party for Barkley on Wednesday,
April 6, at Clear Creek Elementary. trade publications, is working on her
The party is open to the public and
will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. with a
short program from 4:30 to 5 p.m.
CONGREGATE
MEALS
THURSDAY - Hearty vegetable
beef soup, half a peanut butter sand-
wich, celery sticks, peaches.
FRIDAY - Egg and potato cas-
serole, broccoli, banana half, fruit oat
muffin, orange juice.
MONDAY - Chicken and noodle
casserole, green beans, plums, oat-
meal-raisin bar, orange juice.
TUESDAY - Turkey and dump-
lings, asparagus, mixed fruit, orange
juice.
WEDNESDAY - Italian meatloaf,
roasted red potatoes, lima beans, cin-
namon apples with crunchy top, rasp-
berry lemonade.
Congregate meals are served at
the Senior Centers in Clear Lake, 105
S. 4th St., at 11:40 a.m. and in Ventura, Reporter, 12 N. 4th St, Clear Lake or
4 N. Weimer St. at 11:45 a.m. Call 357-
5443 in Clear Lake and 829-3517 in
Ventura for reservations.
Hop on Over
Easter Egg Hunt
Hip, Hop, Hooray the Easter Bunny is on
his way! Join us Friday, March 25 at 2:30
p.m. for our Easter Egg Hunt, snacks and
FUN! Get your photo taken with the
Easter Bunny from 2:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Enjoy visiting our live animals!
All ages welcome!
PHOTOGRAPHER
from page 1
of Poland Photography in Clear Lake.
In 1986, Speakar Photography
was opened in the home of Lee and
her husband, Bob. It wasn’t long be-
fore more space was needed and soon
an unused country church, known
as the Lakeside Church, was moved
to Oakwood Campground, which is
owned by the couple. The church was
restored and is used as a site for Sun-
day morning worship services. The
basement of the church is home to
Speakar Photography.
Lee says it’s the people that have
kept her in photography for decades.
“I enjoy the people I meet and
take photos of, and the people who
are in engaged in the profession. I feel
like I am part of a professional pho-
tography family who are all supportive
of each other,” she said.
Her immediate family is also a
member of the photography society.
Her brothers are also professional
photographers who, like Lee, have
volunteered in a number of capacities
to promote their profession. Lee’s sis-
ter has been involved in photography
in a less traditional way. She runs a
mobile medical unit which performs
of Speakar’s family were present to
see Lee receive the National Service
Award from the PPA.
Speakar chuckles as she recalls
one of her first real lessons in the pho-
tography business. One day she was
thrust into a job of showing photo
proofs to families. Her boss simply
put her in a room with a projector and
sent families in to view their photo-
graphs and hopefully place orders.
“I had no idea how they typically
did it, so I just set up the projector a
good distance from the wall and dis-
played their images in large sizes. I
thought they looked best that way—
faces could be seen. And people liked
them that way, too. They would ask
‘what size is that?’ and place their or-
ders. When I was done, the owner
wanted to know what I had done to
get orders like that. I guess it was an
early lesson.”
Similar challenges exist for pho-
tographers today.
“Professional photographers are
struggling to find products and ser-
vices nobody else can give to maintain
their livlihood,” she said.
And while she says she has begun
to cut back on her schedule, Speakar
continues to write monthly articles for
sixth book, and continues to research
and teach. She has always been an ac-
tive volunteer outside of photography,
as well. Leaderships roles have includ-
ed serving as president of the Clear
Lake Area Chamber of Commerce
and Iowa Campground Association.
“The definition of a volunteer
isn’t really complete— it doesn’t tell
what the volunteer gets in return,”
said Speakar. “You get more than you
give. That’s been my experience.”
Class photos
needed for
All-Class Reunion
The Clear Lake High School All
Alumni Reunion is coming up the
second weekend of September. Make
plans now to attend.
Graduating classes whose gradu-
ation year ends with a one or six are
requested to submit a class photo for
the reunion magazine at the Mirror-
by email to kathleen@clreporter.com.
Deadline for submission is May 15.
Clear Lake Mirror-Reporter
Sign up now
to participate
in TrashBash
‘Green Jacket’
will go to winner
of friendly
competition
Thanks to Clear Lake’s annual
TrashBash, area residents don’t even
have to travel to the Masters Tourna-
ment in Augusta, Ga. to vie for the
coveted “Green Jacket” in April.
Selection of the winning team is
based on the following factors: clean-
ing up public areas, your neighbor-
hoods or areas surrounding your own
business/neighborhood, number of
years helping with the community
cleanup, and difficulty of cleanup site,
according to members of the Clear
Lake Earth Days Committee.
This year, Clear Lake and Ventura
The passing of the Green Jacket families, businesses, students and oth-
ers are being challenged to add more
As a kickoff to this year’s TrashBash, Mark Schumacher (right) of Team North teams to the cleanup roster this year.
35th Street Neighborhood, conducts the official Green Jacket ceremony handoff The goal is 40 teams, up from 33 last
to VFW Post Commander Mike Nelson, of Team VFW 4868, as the reigning year. Cleanup sites are along entranc-
Green Jacket title holder. Team 4868 has helped with the community cleanup es to the cities along the main trav-
for several years with a great team with an average of 10 members. “We look eled roads of Highway 122 and 4th
forward to it every year,” Nelson said. “It’s a lot of fun. “ -Reporter photo. Avenue South; public areas along the
lake including state parks, boat launch
sites and public accesses; bike trails
and public parks within each city. It’s
a visible way to help the lake that we
all share and need for our economic
and recreational vitality, to show pride
in our communities by cultivating
stewardship, according to committee
members.
It’s easy to register online at
earthdayclearlake.org/events/trash-
bash. The community cleanup is
from 8-10 a.m. Saturday, April 23.
The public is invited to join in the fun
at the OutdoorFest starting at 10 a.m.
in City Park.
Business owners encouraged to
attend meeting about sidewalks
Business owners along Main Av- no specific plan for the work has been of an all-brick sidewalk at $540,000;
enue and other interested persons are identified. A few options shared by an option using brick and concrete,
encouraged to mark their calendars consulting engineer Jason Petersburg, resulting in fewer bricks and brick
for discussion of proposed sidewalk of Veenstra & Kimm, differ on the paver base, would drop the cost to
improvements in the downtown at an ratio of brick pavers to concrete pro- roughly $465,000.
open house meeting Thursday, March posed for the walkways. For example, This will be the first of a handful
31, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at City Hall. one option would use strips of brick of meetings to be scheduled with busi-
Several concepts are being devel- pavers on the outside edges of a con- ness owners and the public to receive
oped for the project to facilitate get- crete sidewalk. input about the sidewalk reconstruc-
ting some cost estimates. However, Early cost estimates place the cost tion.
Clear Lake Library promotes new programs
The Clear Lake Public Library flies and other insects, in addition to Adult Coloring Club–
has announced a number of adult pro- stunning prairie scenes and wildflower Just Add Color
grams scheduled during the month of close-ups - and of course the wildlife Touted as therapeutic and relax-
March, with some becoming monthly babies. ing, coloring might make you feel like
offerings. Movie Mondays a kid again. The library will provide
A slide presentation and lecture The library will kick off Movie the pages and colors, or bring your
featuring nature photographs from all Mondays in March with “Suffragette” own. No special skills required. Just
across the state of Iowa will be shown (PG-13) (2015) in honor of Women’s Add Color will meet monthly on the
March 23 at 1 p.m. Enjoy images of History Month, March 28, at 1 p.m. first Thursday at 1 p.m. in the meeting
Iowa song birds, waterfowl, birds of Movie Mondays will take place the room. Upcoming meetings are April 7
prey, wading birds, mammals, butter- fourth Monday each month at 1 p.m. and May 5.