FOR BUCHANAN COUNTY AND THE CITY OF INDEPENDENCE
BULLETIN JOURNAL
INDEPENDENCEEnjoyed Enjoyed
by you and 4100
by you and 4100
other well informed
other well informed
readers!readers!
FOR BUCHANAN COUNTY AND THE CITY OF INDEPENDENCEVolume 153, No. 30 $1.25 Volume 153, No. 30 $1.25 Saturday, April 14, 2018
Mustangs begintennis campaign
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www.bulletinjournal.com
Essay ContestWinners
announced
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Fiber to the Home announcement
BY MELISSA HEARNIndependence Light
& Power, Telecommunications
Marketing and Community Relations
INDEPENDENCE – Good things are coming to Independence this summer and fall, by way of a new Fiber to the Home project, announced by Independence Light & Power, Te l e c o m m u n i c a t i o n s (INDYTEL).
“Our new fiber network will deliver broadband ser-vices to customers that sim-ply cannot be matched by any other provider,” said Stephany Harvey, INDYTEL Board of Trustees Chairperson.
This new network will simplify streaming from any streamer, including Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hulu, and Nintendo, as well as provid-ing speeds not matched by Mediacom, DishTV, or oth-ers, while adding the special hometown touch of techni-cians who work and live
locally.“We are investing back
into the community, and are doing it with our own equip-ment, our own employees, and our own resources. This way, we can ensure INDYTEL quality to our customers,” added Kevin Sidles, manager of INDYTEL.
Customers on the NE side of town will be the first to get the all new fiber network installed. The fiber network will ultimately be built city wide allowing the utility to provide second to none tele-communications services to customers. Customers locat-ed in the build area will receive notice prior to any work being done on private property. Customers can also go to www.indytel.com for more information on the project.
“Everything we need is in our own backyard and we as the community own it, man-age it, and benefit from it. It is one more reason to ‘Celebrate our Spirit’,” added Harvey.
COURTESY PHOTOS
The INDYTEL Fiber construction area being built this summer and fall in Independence.
INDYTEL employees Brad Cole and Mike Schmitz installing Fiber Optic network to Business custom-ers.
BY TUCKER CHORPENING
Intern& JOHN KLOTZBACH
INDEPENDENCE – Tucker Chorpening is the current Student Intern with the Independence Bulletin Journal. He will be working on several school and stu-dent stories this term.
TuckerI was born in Cedar
Rapids and moved to the Independence area when I was 3 years old when my parents, Curt and Carla Chorpening, built our house about 5 miles out of Brandon. My father is a self-employed constructor/renovator based in Cedar Rapids and my mother is a medical associate at UnityPoint Clinics in Waterloo. My sister, Kayla Beck, and I began attending school in Independence in 2005, with my first day of kindergarten landing on my fifth birthday. Kayla gradu-ated in 2010 and attended the University of Iowa to pursue a degree in Elementary Education. She is currently a kindergarten teacher for the Benton Community School District and is engaged to Jesse Hahn of Riverside. I have two dogs, Maggie and Roxy, that are always a joy to see when I get home each night and a great company to have during summer when I have no immediate plans for the day.
My time in high school has definitely kept me busy, but because of that, I have definitely learned a lot. Throughout my high school career, I have been involved with marching band, cross country, track, tennis, jazz band, pep band, speech, con-
cert band, pit for the spring musical, swim team, National Honor Society, stu-dent council, Silver Cord, and various jobs during the school year and even more during the summer.
My favorite thing on this earth is marching band, so it is no surprise that most of my favorite memories and lessons learned in high school have stemmed from marching band or the Independence band program in general. The Lang’s have taught me self-discipline, leadership, and musical tal-ents I would have found nowhere else, and I’m sure they are proud to know that I will be continuing my musi-cal endeavors at the University of Iowa when I graduate in May of this year. Not only do I plan to audi-tion for the Hawkeye Drumline and march in the Hawkeye Marching Band.
I also plan to continue my education by double major-ing in Journalism and Mass Communications and Cinema. My intent with my degrees is to become an edi-tor for a major media corpo-ration like Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Variety, or even The Walt Disney Company. I am still brainstorming just what
Meet Tucker ChorpeningNew Student Intern
Fairbank City Council turns attention to fireworks policyApproves street closures for Fairbank Days
BY MIKE [email protected]
Despite the recent cold weather, summer is quickly approaching, and the Fairbank City Council dis-cussed policies on several upcoming events during Monday night’s City Council meeting.
Among the items dis-cussed was fireworks policy within the city of Fairbank. The Iowa Legislature passed a law last year allowing the sale of commercial fireworks for the first time in over 80 years. The new law allows for fireworks to be sold from June 1 to July 8, and Dec. 10 to Jan. 3.
The city of Fairbank has an ordinance against the use of fireworks in city limits, but the council motioned to
change the law to allow fire-works during the Independence Day holiday. Council members Tammy Erickson, Ted Vorwald, Ronald Woods and Tyler Woods approved the motion, while Ron Miller opposed it. Mayor Mike Harter said the city attorney will write up a new fireworks policy.
The city council dis-cussed a request made by a resident to host a family event that would include an outside play feature in the city park. After discussion, the council decided to have the city attorney work with the insurance company for a resolution.
The council approved closing Main Street for Fairbank Days from June 20-24. The closure of First
See FAIRBANK page 3
Grim Reapers take high school studentsSchool raises awareness of impaired driving with mock accident
BY JOHN [email protected]
INDEPENDENCE – Thursday morning Independence High School students had the opportunity to find out what it would be like should the Grim Reaper show up unexpectedly and take a friend or themselves away.
While high school stu-dents were settling into the morning routine of their first class, a message was sent out to parents:
“Administration wanted to make you aware of what we are doing at the high school today, in case you get a text or phone message from your high school student. Every 15 Minutes in the United States, one person is killed as a result of drinking/driving, distract-ed driving or driving under the influence of marijuana or other drugs. This morning, administration will be pulling from class every 15 minutes and designating them as the
JOHN KLOTZBACH PHOTO
The Grim Reapers selected over a dozen students as mock victims.
Living Dead for the remain-der of the day. These stu-dents have been pre-selected and parents of these students have been notified, and given approval, for their children to participate. These students provide a visual representation of how many people die over the course of several hours due to these accidents. The school will
have counseling services available to support students. Please take some time to talk to your student about the events of the day.”
At about the same time Assistant Principal Dewey Hupke made a building–wide announcement about distracted driving statistics. He informed the students that a Grim Reaper may
appear in their classroom, but did not say where or how often.
“We want this to be ONLY an assembly, NEVER a reality,” he told the stu-dents.
At 9:45, Sherry Stevens, a Secretary in the main office, played a recording of a heartmonitor with a steady beep, beep, beep, beep, then
See SCHOOL page 13See INTERN page 3
Tukcer Chorpening