business-coon's corner

AREA SPRING SPORTS PREVIEW SPECIAL SECTIONPAGE C1

REDUCING DRINKINGPAGE A4PRAYER BREAKFASTPAGE A5

BEST

OF THE

BEST

$1.25 | 159TH YEAR, NUMBER 14 | JONES COUNTY, IOWA | THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2014 Jones County’s Newspaper

Monticello Family Dentistry, P.C.

We will do it ALL! New Patients &

Emergencies Welcome!

• Surgical Extractions• Gum Disease Treatment• White Fillings

All ages - kids through senior citizens

• Molar Root Canals• Life-Like Crowns• Dentures

(319) 465-3533 | 630 S. Main St. • Monticello, IA | www.monticellofamilydentistry.com

Aide firedAn Anamosa teacher’s aide was fired by the school board March 31 for con-tacting a parent about con-cerns with a teacher.

Page A3

Reduced hoursThe U.S. Postal Service is reducing hours for the workers at the Wyoming post office starting some-time in April.

Page A2

June ballots setThe Jones County auditor has announced the Re-publican and Democratic candidates on the primary ballots in the June election.

Page A3

Fair acts setA top Christian singer will take the main stage at the Great Jones County Fair on Sunday night to close the fair.

Page A5

ANAMOSA

WYOMING

JONES COUNTY

JONES COUNTY

BUSINESS DIRECTORY ...............A8-9CLASSIFIEDS ............................ B4-6HELP WANTED ........................... B4-5LIFESTYLES ................................A5-6NEWS ............................ A1-3, A7-10OBITUARIES ..................................A6OPINION .......................................A4PUBLIC NOTICES ...........................A7REAL ESTATE ............................. B4-6SPORTS .................................... B1-4THE BACK PAGE.............................B6

INDEX

Hometown newspaper of Kristin Osterkamp of Anamosa

Street theaterThe cast of “The Devil’s Dis-ciple” took to the streets last weekend to preview its play for passerbys. The play opens April 4 at the new Starlighters Theatre in Anamosa.

Page A5

BY ROBERT CROzIERStaff Writer

ANAMOSA The Anamosa school board accepted 20 bids totaling $10.26 million to redo the high school’s heating and cooling system, build an auditorium, build a science ad-

dition and improve the parking lot at their March 31 meeting. The board did not accept any bids to build a practice gymna-sium, but board members vowed to find funds for the project. “I’m just so happy to get to to-day,” Beames said, adding that the project will begin in late May or

early June. The current music room will be opened up to become part of the commons, Beames said. Moving the library was re-moved from the scope of the cur-rent project, but school officials have a plan to use internal funds for the library, she said. “It has to wait in the order of how things are completed,” she said. Beames told the school board that they couldn’t afford to accept

the bid for the gym at this time, which would have cost an addi-tional $1.17 million. School board member Ni-cole Clausson said she and other board members still want to build a gym. “I’m just afraid that, when it doesn’t happen right away, that there might be some confusion,” she said. School board member Shaun

Gym cut from school plans


Anamosa eighth grader Zach Thomas is one of 100 Iowa stu-dents who will compete at the state geography bee in Cedar Falls Friday, April 4. “Zach really gets into things like the geography bee,” teacher Eric Schultz said. “This is a real big success for him.” Thomas defeated more than 350 of his peers in the school dis-trict’s geography bee to qualify for an exam. His high score on the exam qualified him for the statewide competition. Winners at the state level will proceed to a national competition, where they stand to win a $50,000 college

Studentcompetesin statecontest

ROBERT CROzIER/JOURNAL-EUREKA

Bobby, left, and Larry Coon run Coon’s Corner grocery in Oxford Junction, carrying on a family tradition that started in 1899.


The enrollment period for the Affordable Healthcare Act’s health insurance marketplace ended Monday night, and local clinics that helped people sign up say that saw a rush toward the end. Outreach and enrollment spe-cialist Jeff Tourdot oversaw out-reach operations signing people up for the health insurance mar-ketplace at six Linn County lo-cations. They were UnityPoint, Mercy, the Community Health Free Clinic, the Eastern Iowa

Health Center, HACAP and Linn County Public Health. Tourdot said he would be busy enrolling people in the healthcare marketplace until 9 p.m. Monday. “We actually have been inun-dated this last week,” he said. “It’s been a very rewarding experi-ence.” The Linn County outreach program serves Jones, Iowa, Ben-ton and Cedar counties, he said. “We’re happy to serve the sur-rounding counties,” he said. Tourdot’s outreach programs had more than 250 appointments in the last week, he said. The ma-

jority of those people are showing up and signing up, he said. “Given that we’re down to the last few hours, people are serious about it,” he said. People working at the sign-up operations Tourdot oversaw agreed with his assessment. Director of quality improve-ment and outreach service at East-ern Iowa Healthcare Neal Currell said the last two weeks have been crazy. People make an appointment, come in, and sit down with some-one certified to help sign them up for the marketplace, he said.

“It’s just been so busy the last two weeks with the mad rush at the end here,” he said. The Community Health Free Clinic had seven people waiting Monday afternoon, a reception-ist at the clinic said. They had two employees assisting the clients at that time, she said. Linn County Public Health registered nurse Cindy Fiester said the volume of people seek-ing assistance in signing up for healthcare increased the last two weeks. Their schedule was com-pletely booked on the last day, she said.

Centers swamped with healthcare insurance signups

ROBERT CROzIER/JOURNAL-EUREKA

Zach Thomas will compete in the state-wide geography bee.

But school board members vowto build a practice gym in future


OXFORD JUNCTION The same family has run Ox-ford Junction’s grocery store, Coon’s Corner, for 115 years, and some of the store’s features still betray its general store roots. The store sells groceries – in-cluding produce and meat – am-munition, tools and animal feed

for farmers. And it still allows some of its loyal customers to put their groceries on a charge ac-count to pay later. “You can come in here and get everything you want in about five minutes without spending an hour, and you don’t have to drive an hour,” Larry Coon said. Marguerite Coon married Vic-tor Coon in 1948. She and her

husband bought the general store from Victor’s uncle, Buck Stra-tilek, who had opened it in 1899. They renamed the store Coon’s Corner. Coon’s Corner had dry goods, work clothes and shoes, Margue-rite said. Farmers would trade eggs for groceries and goods. Marguerite remembers candling the eggs to ensure their quality. Three schoolgirls – all friends – were known to wear the same red strap-laced shoes to class in

Family traditionCoon’s Corner in Oxford Junctionretains its roots as a general store

SEE SCHOOL | PAGE A10

SEE COON’S CORNER | PAGE A10

SEE STUDENT | PAGE A10

NEWSPAGE A10 | THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2014 JOURNAL-EUREKA

Come try our new $5.75 lunch menu!11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Chimichanga | Burrito Panzon | Enchiladas Arandas | Chile Relleno | And more ...Comes with a 99¢ 24 oz. Soft Drink

Friday, Saturday & Sunday • 50% Off Total Bill!

Business Hours: Monday - Saturday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. • Sunday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.

El Tequila’sAuthentic Mexican Restaurant 300 W. Main Street, Anamosa (319) 462-9070

FRED MEYER CO.

Inc.

1011 1st Ave. NE, Mt. Vernon

Avoid paying a $10 late fee to Jones County

Don’t Settle for Less! Call Today 1-888-897-9934Don’t Settle for Less! Call Today 1-888-897-9934Don’t Settle for Less! Call Today 1-888-897-9934Don’t Settle for Less! Call Today 1-888-897-9934

• Organic • Non-corrosive• Environmentally Safe

Contact us today about our two great products

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!Jones County Dust Control permits

must be filed by Friday, April 26, 2012





Lignin Sulfonate (Tree sap)& Soybean Oil

with the matter as I think it’s appropriate,” Beames said Beames said teachers can learn in any situa-tion, but “the teacher has to have the authority in the classroom … It’s not the paraeducator’s role or perception to teach the teacher.” Roemerman said firing Loy would set a bad exam-ple. “The precedent that’s being set here is that if you have a concern, and the

chain of command isn’t addressing it, then you, by God, better not tell the parents because we’re go-ing to get you,” Roemer-man said. “And, frankly, I think that’s the message that’s intended.” By board policy, aides may provide some infor-mation to parents, but they must direct parents to teachers for other infor-mation, Beames said. For example, paraeducators should not discuss student progress with parents, she

said. “This district will never be able to take back the pain and emotional dis-tress caused to these two sets of parents,” Beames said. “I’m very sad to see the district split hairs over protocol versus the safety of our Anamosa students,” Loy said. “Nobody wants to do what we just did,” Beames said.

TEACHER/CONTINUED FROM PAGE A3

SCHOOL/CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

Lambertson is on the board’s committee over-seeing the project. “It was tempting to find a cheap heating and cool-ing system for the class-rooms,” Lamberton said, adding that the committee decided not to compro-mise classrooms for the gym. Board member Anna Mary Riniker agreed. “Keep it academics, arts, athletics,” she said. School officials will try to save money on the proj-ect and raise more money from private donors to build it. “By managing the con-tingency and through fundraising, we believe we can reach all the goals in the project,” Beames said. She said that includes building a new gym.

“The timeline may be different,” she said. “Everybody in this community voted for this project for something that they liked,” Lambertson said. “And we have worked very hard to make sure that this project stays bal-anced.” Anamosa voters ap-proved a bond issue April 2012 giving the school district $18 million for a range of projects. The high school reno-vation project has $14.77 million of that $18 million earmarked. The funds the school board didn’t allo-cate Monday night are sit-ting in fees, general con-ditions, reimbursable and contingencies, Beames said. The board has also set aside part of the money to use toward the gymna-

sium, she said. Other bond issue proj-ects include the completed high school fitness cen-ter, costing $297,739 and the soon-to-be-underway mechanical upgrades in Strawberry Hill Elemen-tary, costing $1,374,811. Other money is set aside for future projects. The district is holding $25,500 earmarked for future high school secu-rity upgrades, $31,000 for future high school asbes-tos removal, $450,000 for a middle school athletic field, $150,000 for a Straw-berry Hill Elementary playground, $75,000 for Strawberry Hill Elemen-tary security upgrades, and $285,000 is reserved to purchase items such as classroom furniture, Beames said.

COON’S CORNER/CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

the mid 1950s, Marguerite said. “They know where they bought their shoes,” she said. “They bought them at Coon’s.” The general store used to be a social hub. It would stay open late on Wednesday and Satur-day nights when people came to town, Marguerite said. The men would go to the tavern to play cards, and the women would congregate in the store to visit. “Then the men would come after the women to go home, and the women hadn’t done their shop-ping yet,” she said. “It was always 11 or 12 before we got checked up.” “I liked the kids. That’s what I missed when I left the store. The people. The children. I guess the work I didn’t miss,” Marguerite said. Victor and Marguerite had six children: four boys and two girls. “They all helped,” she said. “They all knew how to take care of customers.” “Denny was almost raised in the store. I had a playpen for him,” Margue-rite said. Monty Coon took care of the feed through high school, she said. Vic-tor died in 2002. Now, Larry Coon works with the groceries,

and Bobby Coon manages the meat and the livestock, Bobby said. Marguerite is retired. Larry Coon has been working at the grocery store for 42 years, Larry said. He started when he was 14. Has he ever wanted to get out of working at Coon’s Corner? “I get out of here all the time to go fishing,” Larry said. “It’s a good life, you know? It’s just like when you run a restaurant or anything – you’re married to it.” Susie Coon is married to the store a little more literally than Larry or Bobby. She married Larry in 1980 and has worked at the store ever since. “It turned into part of the deal,” she said, adding that she also works as a cosmetologist. The store supported three families and put four kids through college, Susie said. It still supports two families. “We’re a little more family-oriented,” Susie said. “We’re not a big con-glomerate.” The next generation of Coons is unlikely to carry on the tradition. Larry said he didn’t want his children to work at the store. His son is 28, and he makes more money than Larry and Susie put together. Bobby’s children aren’t taking over the store ei-ther, Bobby said. They both have professional jobs in Cedar Rapids – one’s a

nurse, and the other works at Toyota Financial. “So why work 75 hours a week?” Larry asked. The town isn’t boom-ing like it was with the railroad. “There were a whole lot more people in town at that time,” Bobby said. There were more things to do in Oxford Junction. “It’s getting harder and harder,” Larry said. “A lot of the people that were around here have gone to heaven or left,” Larry said. “And there’s no-body to take their place.” The store will stay open – even as Oxford Junc-tion’s population dwindles – as long as this genera-tion of Coons is around to run it, Bobby said. “The feed business is still pretty decent,” Larry said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen 10 years down the road. How do you know? Things are changing so fast,” Larry said. “If someone wanted something, you know you’re going to give it to them,” Marguerite said. “But not anymore.” The red shoes were all charged, she said. Victor gave one young man a full set of work clothes to start out with on the railroad, she said. Susie said the store is not opening any new charge accounts. “Have we been burned on everything?” she asked. “Yes.”

scholarship. For one of the final questions, Thomas named Maine as the New Eng-land state that is home to the eastern terminus of a pipeline stretching from Montreal to Portland. Thomas said he’s been

studying United States and world geography in preparation for the exam. His teachers are instruct-ing him in some of the fin-er points of geography bee strategy – for example, competitors can ask for a question to be repeated

twice, and they can use the extra time to think about hard questions. Kolin Schulte last rep-resented Anamosa in the state geography bee in 2012.

STUDENT/CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

SHIVE-HATTERY

The performing arts center includes a full theater and classroom space, shown at the bottom of the architect’s drawing above.

Subscribe and Save $27 a year.

business-coon's corner

Documents