Today: Sunny, high near 42. Tonight: Partly cloudy, low

around 27. Sunday: Partly sunny, high near

45. West wind around 6 mph.Sunday Night: Partly cloudy, low

around 32. Monday: Partly sunny, high near

46. West wind 6-10 mph.Monday Night: Mostly cloudy,

low around 30. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm. 42|27

TODAY’S WEATHER

INSIDEOpinion, page 4

Class of 1969 reunion, page 5Today in History, page 6

Classifieds, pages 9 & 10 Sunset tonight: 4:38 p.m. | Sunrise Sunday: 7:11 a.m. | Today’s length: 9 hours, 28 minutes | Tonight’s moon: 15 percent

$1.25VOLUME — 138NUMBER — 275

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Jesup boys and girls basketball preview

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By CHRIS BALDUSeditor@oelweindailyregister.com

A former Little Husky Learning Center childcare administrator is facing a first-degree theft charge in Fayette County District Court.

Magistrate Larry F. Woods on Friday summoned Jessica Lynn Bratten, 39, of Oelwein, to a hear-ing to answer the charge at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26, at the Oelwein

Police Department.While employed as the Little

Husky Childcare director, Bratten wrote personal checks and used her Little Husky Childcare card to pay her Alliant Energy bill, property taxes, purchase items from Fareway Foods and make online purchases, according to the criminal complaint filed Thurs-day. Between the dates of Oct.

24, 2018, and Sept. 30, Bratten is accused of stealing $10,424.

First-degree theft is a class C felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine between $1,000 and $10,000.

An investigation that led to this charge was launched after Josh Ehn, who chairs the LHLC Childcare Board, found an irregu-larity during a review of financial

documents in October, according to a news release issued Thursday by LHLC. Ehn worked with the Fayette County Attorney’s Office to issue subpoenas for specific documents.

Bratten had been employed at the center as the childcare director from August 2018 until the LHLC Childcare Board of Directors dismissed her in October.

The LHLC Board has appointed Shelly Vawter as the new child-care director.

The Little Husky Childcare Center leases Oelwein School District space in the Little Husky Learning Center next to the high school. The school district is not financially or organizationally tied to the LHLC and its childcare center.

Former childcare director charged with felony

By CHRIS BALDUSeditor@oelweindailyregister.com

Ugly holiday season sweaters have been in fashion for at least seven years for people in Fairbank interested in help-ing others.

The seventh annual Ugly Sweater Party will be from 6:30 p.m. to 2 a.m., Satur-day, Nov. 30, at the Fairbank American Legion, 109 E. Main Street. Admission if $5.

“This year we will be donating 100 percent of all money to the Fairbank American Legion for necessary repairs and improvements,” said Joseph Little, one of the organizers.

The party will include an Ugliest

Sweater Contest later in the evening with the winner receiving a gift card and tro-phy along with bragging rights.

There will also be games and a DJ playing music.

The community fundraiser began with Wapsie Valley alumni Connor Wood and Joseph Little. Originally a garage party at which guests were invited to wear their ugly Christmas sweaters, it has since grown to become a way to support people in the Fairbank community.

“Last year we were able to raise over $2,000 for the Carson McGrane Schol-arship and we plan to keep growing this event to keep helping out within our community,” Little said.

Carson, 12, a Wapsie Valley sev-

enth-grader, died in 2018 in a lawn-mow-ing accident. His family set up the scholarship fund.

The party has also donated to the Veter-ans Memorial Park project in Fairbank in 2016, and for Brody Kleitch, in 2017.

Kleitch, when he was a Wapsie Valley sixth-grader in 2017, was diagnosed with the bone cancer Osteosarcoma.

This year’s party will also have a silent auction with donations from local businesses.

“Myself, Connor Woods and our wives are looking forward to bringing everyone together for the holidays along with rais-ing money for a good cause,” Little said.

And one more thing, the party will begin with free beer, he said.

Ugly Sweater Party will assist Fairbank American Legion

Garage gathering that grew into community fundraiser is in its 7th year

COURTESY PHOTO

Attendees of last year’s Ugly Sweater Party in Fairbank pose for a photo in the Fairbank American Legion.

By TRACI KULLMERIndependence Bulletin Journal

SILO, the first-ever feature film about a grain entrapment, will be shown free at The Grand Theatre in Oelwein one time only, at 5 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 1. The showing is a public awareness event spon-sored by Community Bank of Oelwein.

The idea for showing the movie came from Community Bank EVP Helen Heitz. This past August, she and her hus-band Alan attended the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, Illinois. “While he headed off

to look at tractors, I decided to see a viewing of SILO,” she said.

“The film touched home for me,” she said. In addition to her bank duties, Helen works on the farm with her husband.

The film is relevant for farming communities. In 2018, the state with the most documented grain entrap-ments, was Iowa with five.

After viewing the film at the Farm Progress Show, Helen met one of the film’s producers, Sam Goldberg, and talked about the impact it had on her.

When she returned to the bank in Oelwein, she told its president, Jim Kullmer, about the film. They met with the

bank’s marketing committee and decided to sponsor a showing in Oelwein.

“This is a community event to raise public awareness about the dangers of a grain entrapment. December 1 will be the first showing of the movie in Northeast Iowa,” Helen said.

Be aware that there is lim-ited seating for the showing – 300 seats are available. It is free and open to the public.

The bank has issued invi-tations to its ag customers as well as to area FFA groups, first responders, and fire/res-cue units.

About SILOInspired by true events,

SILO follows a harrowing day in an American farm town. Disaster strikes when teenager Cody Rose is en-trapped in a 50-foot-tall grain bin. When the corn turns to quicksand, family, neighbors and first responders must put aside their differences to rescue Cody from drowning in the crop that has sustained their community for genera-tions.

According to the film’s director, Marshall Burnette, “SILO began as a simple film idea, one that we hoped would entertain moviegoers nationwide. However, the more we dug into the subject

Grand Theatre to show film about grain entrapmentFree, one-time showing in Oelwein on Dec. 1

By CHRIS BALDUSeditor@oelweindailyregister

A magistrate judge will not reconsider his dismissal of four nuisance cases brought against properties on West Charles owned by Dr. Anthony Leo.

Magistrate John Sullivan issued his order Nov. 18 declining the city’s request for reconsideration. The properties are a boxcar and a defunct storefront at 800 W. Charles, and vacant one-story brick houses at 804 and 820 W. Charles.

Leo says in court documents that the prop-erties are co-owned by himself, E. Joellen Leo and John B. Leo.

Sullivan first dismissed the cases in October when he ruled that city code did not contain the specific section on which the violations were based — code section 25-60.

The city then filed its motion to reconsider arguing that the citations were filed on July 31, 2018, when the city code did include Section 25-60. That section was removed and replaced with “analogous provisions in 25-31” on Oct. 8, 2018, the motion says.

In his Nov. 18 order, Sullivan said, “The court has reviewed the record in this matter and determines that the city did not comply

Dismissals stand in Leo nuisance property cases

CHRIS BALDUS | OELWEIN DAILY REGISTER

Built in 1922, this empty building on West Charles co-owned by Dr. Anthony Leo was cited by the city for nuisance viola-tions.

See PROPERTY, page 2

See SILO, page 2