OTTUMWA —
If you’re disappointed because yesterday’s weather made you miss a fun event, don’t despair — at least until you make a phone call. You may find out the organizers didn’t make it in, either.
“We’ll be having our Christmas distribution [today] instead,” said Captain Oliver Knuth, a pastor at the Salvation Army.
Their event had been scheduled for Thursday, but predictions of blizzard-like conditions prompted the church to tell participants that their normal policy would be in effect. If Ottumwa schools announced they were closed, the Salvation Army would also be closed.
People who wanted more information about doing some good in Fairfield will have to wait to find out how to do some volunteering — though a phone call to the Fairfield Volunteer Center could get them started in a rewarding position.
As for the Lunch and Learn scheduled for Thursday, it was canceled due to, of course, weather.
A FVC email to the Courier, however, announced: “We’ll reschedule after after the holidays, so please stay tuned!”
Ottumwa schools were canceled Thursday, but that has meaning to the public-at-large, not just students.
“If conditions aren’t safe enough for students to get to classes, they aren’t safe enough to get to extra-curriculars,” said Superintendent Davis Eidahl, who was at school working in his office Thursday. “That’s our practice. On occasion, if we have a contest with another school which did not cancel, we will monitor conditions, but normally, we do cancel. ”
The district has had better luck letting parents know about cancellations as it embraces technology, including social networking sites, automated text messages and the district web page.
“That electronic media is getting more popular,” Eidahl said. “We had over a thousand visitors to our district website [Thursday] morning between 6 and 8 a.m., and Wednesday night before midnight we had more than 4,000 visitors. And we continue to use television and radio announcements.”
Besides class, Thursday’s school closing mostly had an impact on athletic meets.
“We had some events after school, like swimming, wrestling and bowling. They have all been canceled,” Eidahl said. “A middle school orchestra concert was also canceled. Kids really work hard for these [events] and we don’t want to cancel, but we have to postpone for safety.”
He spent part of Thursday on the phone with superintendents in other school districts.
“We’re working on a date to reschedule those. That’s one of the things we can get done on a day like today,” he said.
Wapello County
December 21, 2012
Miss an event due to snow? Call before you pout
- Wapello County
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- Tornado creates local questions OTTUMWA — If there's a tornado in Wapello County, where would I go afterwards? It isn't hard to understand why local callers are asking Wapello County Emergency Management that question. Josh Stevens, emergency coordinator for the county, said since
- County to learn about disaster declarations OTTUMWA — The county is a step closer to finding out if they'll be getting money from the federal government. "FEMA was here last week, doing a damage assessment," said Wapello County Engineer Brian Moore during a meeting of the Wapello County Board
- Roaring winds Southeast Iowa in clean-up mode after storm passes through OTTUMWA — Work crews in and around Wapello County put in a lot of hours. And they were ready to do it again. “We had the storms roll through there last night,” said Ryan Stensland, a spokesman for Alliant Energy. “Down in southeast part of the state,
- Mixed reactions to tax reduction OTTUMWA — During past public forums in Ottumwa, Sen. Mark Chelgren, R-Ottumwa, told voters the state should follow its own laws and make taxes equal across the board. This week, legislators in Des Moines took a first step toward that goal, which is a
- Budget shift on county agenda OTTUMWA — There's nothing like having some money in the budget to cover a project that doesn't have enough money on its line item. The Wapello County Supervisors will need to move some money to an item that has spent all of its funding, according to
- Wellness challenge asks people to live healthy OTTUMWA — Are you ready for the Live Healthy Iowa 10-Week Wellness Challenge? Some of the city employees joined Live Healthy Iowa, and Jody Gates, the city's health director, was captain of one of the two teams of about a dozen people. "Our goals for
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Agency couple has provided foster care for 38 kids in last decade
AGENCY — School pictures of 38 grinning children look out into Angie and Terry Hamm's living room, evidence of the years of work and love they've given to those who needed it most. Their house — currently filled with five children, ages 7, 10, 10, 11
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Severe weather returns to forecast
OTTUMWA — The National Weather Service believes severe weather could return to Iowa this weekend. The storms are expected to arrive late in the weekend and could extend into the next work week. Meteorologist Kurt Kotenberg said Sunday and Monday have
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Health clinic in Ottumwa joins Mercy Medical
OTTUMWA — Though their future was uncertain, two local health care practices will continue without any interruption in services to patients and will remain at their current locations in Ottumwa. Ottumwa Internal Medicine North and Ottumwa Family Prac
- 90th Street closed until 2014 OTTUMWA — Not only is 90th Street closed for this summer, it's also closed until the summer of 2014. Wapello County Engineer Brian Moore said Wednesday that the road will be closed for a year while Moore and his team work on the road's design. "There
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