Two Guthrie Center Teens Injured in Rollover Car Accident

Two Guthrie Center teens were transported to Guthrie County Hospital Friday night, April 25th, after being injured in a rollover car accident. 

According to the Guthrie County Sheriff’s Office, 15 year-old Hunter-Nashay Sowers was driving a 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer north in the 2600th block of Maple Ave around 7:45pm Friday night, when she lost control of the vehicle, entered the west ditch and rolled an “unknown number of times.”

Sowers and her passenger, 16 year-old Taylor Dalene Grubber, were both transported to Guthrie County Hospital by Panora EMS to be treated for “non-incapacitating injuries” sustained in the accident.

According to the accident report, Sowers was cited for Violation of Instruction Permit Limitation. Her Chevy Trailblazer incurred approximately $8,000 damage in the crash.

Guthrie County Historical Village Reopens

It’s been a long time coming, but the Guthrie County Historical Village in Panora is officially open.

Museum curator Kristine Jorgensen opened the doors to the various buildings in the Village Thursday, and they will remain open until mid-October.

Jorgensen expresses her excitement for the summer months ahead.

“Oh I always look forward to the museum opening up, it is a really great place and I enjoy all the people that come down to visit us.  When the museum’s open it always means it’s summer and everybody’s happy, so we’re looking forward to all the visitors this year.”

While the Village isn’t open during the month of April, Jorgensen says it’s actually one of her busier months, as she works to have the buildings ready for May 1.

“We’re out in all the buildings cleaning, dusting, vacuuming, sweeping… they’ve been sitting empty all winter long so we’ve got to get everything up and going.  We’ve also got lots of gardens here too, unfortunately the weather hasn’t cooperated for us to get out into the gardens but our buildings are all ready for people to come and visit.  It looks really nice down here.”

Jorgensen says hours for the Historical Village will be the same this season as they’ve been in years past.  Buildings are open Tuesday through Friday from 10am to 4:30pm, and on Saturdays and holidays from 1 to 4:30pm.

There is a small charge for admission–$2 for adults and $1 for children.

Anyone with questions about the Historical Village season can reach Jorgensen at 641-755-2989.

“Money Talk” Series Begins Again in June

The Guthrie County Extension & Outreach Office will begin its “Money Talk” series again next month. 

According to Extension Office Program Coordinator Mary Ebert, the comprehensive course is “designed to enhance long-term financial security by increasing financial knowledge” in area residents.

The five sessions, titled Financial Basics, Insurance Essentials, Investment Fundamentals, Retirement Realities and Legal Issues, will be held each Monday evening in June.  The cost to attend all five sessions is $25.  Area teenagers can attend the course for free.

Ebert says this will be the last “Money Talk” series offered through the Guthrie County Extension Office for at least two years, so she advises residents to not miss this opportunity to “sharpen up their financial skills.”

To register or if you have questions, call Ebert at 641-747-2276.

Agency Vehicle a Cost-Saving Measure for Guthrie County Public Health

Guthrie County Public Health Administrator Jotham Arber met with county supervisors earlier this week, and during the meeting he expressed his desire to better balance his department’s budget over the next few years.

Arber says that starts with finding better ways of using the funds allocated to Public Health by the county.  He explains his first money-saving idea.

“We’re looking at buying a vehicle for some of our nurses to send them to save us on reimbursement (of gas), and also because we want to put our name onto that vehicle so that people know who we are.  We’d also like to do some other things but we won’t be able to do if we can’t find a way to become more productive.”

If Public Health purchases an agency car before the end of this fiscal year, Arber estimates it could save his department $2,000 annually over the course of what he terms “a five-year pilot project.”

Arber discusses the savings breakdown of having a new vehicle.

“As a county agency vehicle, we can use some of the bulk buying that we do for gas, other maintenance and repairs, which would cost us less than reimbursement.  Right now we pay somewhere in the neighborhood of 48 cents a mile.  If we were to have a county agency vehicle, the actual cost to us would be right at the 32/33 cent (mark), so we’d be saving 10 cents every mile.  Then when you figure that our four or five nurses drive about 1,000 miles a month, that (reimbursement) starts to add up really, really quickly.”

During his meeting with the Supervisors, Arber estimated the cost of a new vehicle to be around $5,000.

Guthrie Center Sign Committee Excited to Move Along with Town Entrance Sign Project

With a couple sources of grant funding now in their pocket, the Guthrie Center Sign Committee is looking forward to continuing work on their town entrance sign project.

The committee recently secured $3,500 from the Keep Iowa Beautiful program and $4,000 from the Guthrie County Community Foundation, which committee member Dennis Flanery says helps to account for about half of the amount needed to complete the project.

But, Flanery says the project also required some donations from other community organizations. 

“Local donations from different community groups–the City of Guthrie Center and some other organizations… our development group, our Lions Club, our Chamber of Commerce… I know I’m missing a couple in there but those were all key players that stepped up to help with the signs.”

As we’ve previously reported, each of the remaining three town entrance signs yet to be installed will be identical to the new sign on the east side of Guthrie.

With the installation projects scheduled to be on-going all summer, Flanery describes what it’s been like to be part of the new sign process.

“To see everybody come together for this… they recognize the importance of the signs, and that they’ll be there for a long period of time.  (They’re) also the first impression that people have when they enter our community.  We think it is important that as people enter Guthrie Center, they can see what town they’re entering.”

Flanery says the next sign installation will be on the south side of town, and he anticipates that happening at the end of this month or early June.  He then hopes to see the west side sign installed in July, and the north side sign installed by September.