2020: The Year in Review

Stories that shaped the year that was (or wasn't) in the Eclipse News-Review coverage area, presented in no particular order:

COVID-19 pandemic brings world to a halt

In March 11's edition of the Eclipse, the words COVID-19 did not appear once. By the following week, the worldwide pandemic had arrived at Butler County's doorsteps.

Aplington-Parkersburg and Dike-New Hartford schools closed their doors the week of March 18, in what was to be a four-week closure, one of many steps taken in an attempt to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

The transition was made to online learning to wrap up the school year, and countless meetings and events were postponed, canceled or moved online as the year wore on, including the Butler County Fair's grandstand events, which were to be headlined by Clint Black; or the 2020 RAGBRAI, which was supposed to have a lunch-time stop in Parkersburg.

The severity of the pandemic ebbed and flowed throughout the year, and many Eclipse stories focused on how COVID-19 affected people, places and things, and also on how residents adapted to the changing conditions or pitched in where they could to help, including mask-making initiatives, ramped up service at the A-P Food Pantry, adjusting graduation to give Aplington-Parkersburg seniors a sense of normalcy. By fall, the discussion had turned to Return to Learn in the schools, and business owners discussed adapting to a "new normal."

The approval of multiple vaccines brings hope that 2021 will not be as dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic as 2020 ultimately was. However, few stories on this Year in Review list exist in a world that does not have the spectre of COVID-19 hanging over the events.

General election brings Republican victories

Republicans fared well in Butler County and in Iowa on Election Day, with Leslie Groen elected county auditor, Greg Barnett re-elected District 1 Supervisor, Jason Johnson re-elected Sheriff, Shannon Latham and Pat Grassley elected in the local Iowa House races, Joni Ernst re-elected to the U.S. Senate and Randy Feenstra winning the U.S. Representative District 4 race.

Republicans retained control of the Iowa House and Senate, going into Tuesday’s election with a 53-47 advantage in the Iowa House, and emerging with a 59-41 seat advantage.

President Donald Trump received 5,540 votes from Butler County to contribute to his win in the Hawkeye State, with 53.2 percent of the vote. Challenger Joe Biden went on to win the national election.

Zieraths, Nevenhoven named top citizens

Aplington and Parkersburg doled out Citizen of the Year awards this year to Duane Nevenhoven and Sue and Jim Zierath, respectively.

"I do thank you for this award," Nevenhoven said. "I don't know if I've been good to Aplington, but Aplington's been really, really good to me. When I came here, we were going to stay 3-4 years and go on to a big school, … it just never happened. We liked it here so much."

Nevenhoven has been a part of the community for 60 years, serving on the City Council for 17 years and enjoying a lengthy career of teaching and coaching in Aplington and Aplington-Parkersburg, including a 1981 girls basketball title with Aplington and 300 career coaching wins. He also led eight boys golf teams to state, with one state championship team. He was inducted into the IGHSAU Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. He was also a longtime driver's education instructor before retiring from that post in 2017.

"I remember having an offer from Des Moines East High School to go down there. … I knew they were a good basketball school, but as I drove home with the family with me, Aplington, that's where I wanted to be," Nevenhoven said as he started to tear up. "And we're still here."

The Zieraths built the Show and Shine car show from the ground up, and by the time they made the decision to retire as organizers at the end of 2019, it had become one of the biggest events of its kind in small town Iowa.

“We did this without fanfare, as they say. We didn’t want a lot of people to know what was going on, but it’s a great surprise for us (to be honored),” Jim said. “We had a lot of fun in 21 years, met a lot of people and made a boatload of friends. I think the reason that it was a big success for us was because those friends kept coming back every year.”

Over the years, the Show and Shine raised over $85,000 that was donated to a variety of local causes and nonprofit groups, and Jim recalled that 2008 may have been the biggest event of them all in the aftermath of the EF-5 tornado—with over 300 attendees.

Parkersburg receives several $500,000 infrastructure grants

The City of Parkersburg received two $500,000 grants from the Iowa Economic Development Authority in 2020, which have since been put to use with a major sewer job on Railroad Street completed earlier this year and a future project to do similar work on Grant Street.

Luhring indicated that through housing, sewer, and other infrastructure grants, the city has been able to take some of the burden off of the residents themselves in repairing issues that were necessary to fix, and to do so as soon as city officials were able. The application for the Grant Street grant was submitted in early September, and was awarded in record time on September 24, signing the contract on September 28.

“It’s not necessarily something we were planning to do so quickly,” Parkersburg City Administrator Chris Luhring said. “But, we started having some issues that were [really] concerning about [the Grant Street] water main.”

Luhring credits much of the community’s funding success to the Public Workers employees and Parkersburg City Council’s drive and determination to provide the city with the repairs that they deserve, and their adoption of an aggressive approach in getting the projects completed. 

“I can’t say enough about our public works department,” Luhring said. “The last two years we’ve accomplished so much working together. We’ve developed some of the best plans together. They have been working day-in and day-out.”

Split end of an era: Kerns retires after 40 years at Mane Station

On Friday, June 26, family, friends, clients, and general well-wishers stopped by the Mane Station Salon and Spa, on 4th Street in Parkersburg, to celebrate Deb Kerns' retirement after 40 years.

Two pop-up canopies, loaned by the NAPA Auto Parts store across the street, protected from the chance of occasional rain. Beneath these were several tables laden with coffee, cookies and cinnamon rolls provided by new local business, Bev & Hennie’s.

Kerns first became a part of the Mane Station family in May 1980, joining up with Bobbi Patterson, and working for her under the awning of Bobbi’s Boutique. After a decade, she took on the mantle of owner, and changed the name to Mane Station, under which it has remained with new owner Tasha Kramer.

For Kerns, it has been a whirlwind adventure, and as the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded, it allowed her time to solidify her post-career goals after spending 46 total years behind a chair. 

“I’m excited,” Kerns said with a laugh, “scared... but excited! It just seemed like time. With COVID, it showed me that I could [retire] after being at home for two months. It also made me think that I should spend more time with my family.”

D-NH bond vote easily passes

Voters in the Dike-New Hartford school district overwhelmingly approved a $9.4 million bond issue, which will be paired with $8.5 million in SAVE funds to upgrade facilities in both communities, install air conditioning and build a new high school gymnasium in a poll issue presented to voters earlier this year.

According to the unofficial canvass, 707 voters who cast ballots (69.59 percent) supported the measure, while 309 (30.41 percent) voted against it. At the Dike precinct, yes votes more than doubled no votes at 356 to 139, and in Butler County, 103 voted in favor and 62 voted against it. Absentee votes from the Dike precinct went overwhelmingly in favor of the bond issue at 198-79, and the Butler County absentee total was 50 votes in favor and 29 against. In total, 1,016 votes were cast, and the turnout rate was 33.4 percent.

Superintendent Justin Stockdale mentioned that it’s too soon to speculate on a timetable for receiving bids and when work might begin, but he planned to enjoy the results for now before preparing to take the next steps. Stockdale noted that in conversations with students, they were most excited about the prospect of central air conditioning and more classroom space in the future.

Derecho hammers central Iowa

While the bulk of the Aug. 10 "derecho" storm missed the Butler County area, nearby counties to the south were hit hard by the high winds that wiped out power, wrecked homes and devastated crops throughout the state.

Winds reached gusts of at least 70 miles per hour, with several weather stations in the state clocking gusts over 110 miles per hour.

In September, Farm Service Agency disaster relief programs were extended to contiguous counties affected by the storm, including Butler County. The derecho placed further strain on farms that were already struggling with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, as millions of acres of crops fell to the high winds.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated damage from the derecho at $7.5 billion, costlier than many hurricanes and tornadoes that wrought similarly-catastrophic, but less-widespread damage.

Many area residents, particularly those in the Parkersburg area that remembered the recovery efforts following the 2008 tornado, offered their help in the days and weeks after the storm hit, particularly to the Cedar Rapids area that was struck hard by the storm, with power wiped out for most in the area for over two weeks.