Business boom

In a story printed in September, Greenfield Chamber/Main Street reported a big business boom in 2021, with many business transactions, milestones, and new businesses starting up for the first time.

To start the year, Joan Newell closed her in-home hair salon of over 50 years.

Her husband Wayne built her a few walls that made a hair salon in her basement over 50 years ago. At the end of 2020, Joan retired from that endeavor of hair styling, saying goodbye to many clients, but not their friendships.

Fountain Florist, owned by Carol Baudler, celebrated 40 years this year, then Baudler retired, closing the business and holding an auction of leftover merchandise and other items.

Celebrating a milestone this year was Tiger Drive-In.

The favorite local eatery of many, owned currently by Dave and Kendalyn Huff and managed by their daughter Katie, celebrated 60 years in its current form. An open house was held and owners of antique or classic vehicles were asked to come visit and get a picture in front of the iconic restaurant.

Changing ownership was The Corner, Greenfield’s coffee shop, located on the west side of the Public Square. After owning the restaurant since it opened, Tom and Tammy Walk sold the business to Jesse and Talli Ramey in May and the Rameys have since made it their own while keeping the foundation the Walks built.

Also changing ownership was the cafe in Orient. Now called The Dugout Cafe, owners Louis and Susan Cruz took ownership of the restaurant during the summer and decorated it with a baseball theme, to pay homage to a team Louis coached at Orient-Macksburg that made the state baseball tournament.

Los Altos Mexican Restaurant changed locations this year, opening in August at 609 NE Sixth St. in Greenfied. Owner Luis Huerta said the community has really liked the new space the restaurant is in, and it provides the restaurant the opportunity to have a community room and other new amenities.

Payge Newbury opened Humble Roots and Company in the former Family Video building on NE Sixth Street in September. Formerly a part of the Copper Pin Salon, Newbury said she was excited for the experience of starting her own salon.

Athletic milestones

Milestones were made this season by many Nodaway Valley athletes and their teams.

In January, Nodaway Valley had its first ever girls wrestle in a state tournament when Grace Britten, Erin Rhoads and Rose Lonsdale competed in the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association’s girls state tournament in Coralville.

“There were so many nice girls,” Lonsdale said. “They were all so sweet, even if I was wrestling them. The whole thing was really nice. It was fun to be a part of something that hopefully is going to be a really huge deal in the future.”

Wolverine boys basketball coach Darrell Burmeister reached the 600-win mark for his career in February. It came in a 66-53 home win over Mount Ayr.

“The opportunity to do this all at one school, it’s pretty special,” Burmeister said. “You’ll see coaches get 600, but they’re scattered about. To do it in one community, it’s pretty special to me. I was like 23 when I first came [here] and they gave me chance. I guess I tried to pay back as much as I could by working hard every day. I’ll be forever grateful for the support here that I’ve had over the years.”

Not a month later, Nodaway Valley girls basketball punched its ticket to the program’s first ever state basketball tournament with a win over AHSTW at Atlantic. The Wolverines received an emergency vehicle escort through Bridgewater, Fontanelle and Greenfield on their way home from the regional final game and advanced all the way to the semifinal round, losing to Maquoketa Valley in a close game.

“It’s really, really imperative to have everybody on the same page. I don’t care if it’s boys, girls, high school, college, pro. It doesn’t matter,” girls basketball coach Brian Eisbach said. “They literally bought into everything we wanted them to do. I’ve said this a thousand times, but they were able to lead with positivity and love. If you would have asked me at the beginning of the season if we would be talking right now, in my heart I believed we could do it, but you’ve got to actually do it. It wouldn’t have happened without those three [seniors: Corinne Bond, Lexi Shike and Macy Kuhns]. They’re great athletes, but they’re even better people. No matter what, I know they’ll go far in life.”

Happily retired

Kirk Wagner retired in June after 46 years with Fareway, most recently as meat manager at the Greenfield store.

With the amount of experiences he’s had and the people he’s met in that time, you could maybe liken Wagner’s career to a cut of meat that is thick with lasting flavor in every bite.

Wagner was celebrated and appreciated Friday, June 25 at a reception celebrating his more than four and a half decades with Fareway. He retired the next day having served as market manager since the store opened here in 1994.

“I started in 1976 with Fareway. I feel that if you can stay with a company for that long they’re treating you good, are taking care of you, and I can’t complain one bit,” Wagner said.

Jane Ernst retired as Adair County Public Health Director in September after 41 years in nursing.

Ernst has spent the vast majority of her career at Adair County Health System working in a variety of areas.

“I kind of have mixed feelings about retiring. I’m really excited to have more of a chance to spend time with family but I’m also going to miss the people I’ve worked with and the things I’ve done,” Ernst said. “I’ve been so fortunate to have had a career that I’ve loved and enjoyed all these years.”

Solar ordinance passes

An ordinance passed by the Adair County Board of Supervisors Wednesday, April 28 set parameters for future utility-scale solar energy development in the county.

The ordinance passed by 3-2 vote with Jodie Hoadley, Jerry Walker and Matt Wedemeyer voting in favor and Steve Shelley and John Twombly voting against. Shelley said he voted no because some of the setback distances are too far. Twombly said a 400-acre cap that is included is unnecessary.

The supervisors waived the second and third reading of the ordinance.

A public hearing was held with about 25 persons gathered, either in person or on the phone. All residents who spoke during the hearing were in favor of the supervisors approving such an ordinance. MidAmerican Energy project developer Matt Ott spoke in favor of solar development.

Since early March, residents shared concerns with the county’s elected officials that if certain parameters such as setbacks weren’t set soon, the county would potentially incur a large amount of acres of solar panels.

Comments shared dealt with a wide array of concerns residents had, as eight different individuals spoke.

Ribbon cut on new Downtown Generation Plant

A ribbon cutting was held Sept. 30 during an open house of the new Greenfield Municipal Utilities’ Downtown Generation Plant.

The approximately $7.5 million plant includes two new diesel generators and room for future expansion. GMU was able to build this without raising rates.

The City of Greenfield opened a new wastewater treatment plant during the pandemic and held an open house for it the same night.

A short time after the ribbon cutting and open house were held, Governor Kim Reynolds made a 99-county tour stop at the generation plant and had many kind words to share about Greenfield’s innovation to complete this project.

Greenfield native wins Emmy for work as multimedia journalist

And the Emmy goes to Greenfield native Wendi Lane.

Lane, a multimedia journalist at ABC Action News in Tampa Bay, has won a regional Emmy Award for her work on a story that profiled a military sexual trauma survivor’s story of heartbreak and hope in the category of military news.

The news was released in the Free Press Dec. 15.

“It’s hard for me to really understand that this is still real, because to me, I still feel like this small town Iowa girl who just got really blessed,” Lane told the Free Press in a phone interview Monday. “It feels really good. I feel so grateful and blessed.”

Lane was named a nominee for the Emmy back in October.

100th Freedom Rock goes to Altoona’s Adventureland

In September, Ray “Bubba” Sorensen II announced work was complete on the 99th Iowa Freedom Rock, and officially released details for an auction on which the 100th rock would be sold, with proceeds going to veteran causes.

Sorensen announced on the Simon Conway Show on WHO Radio Veterans Day that Adventureland was the winning bidder for the 100th rock and the amusement park in Altoona will be receiving the tree-topping final Iowa rock.

Sorensen has plans to paint a rock in every Iowa state and is well on his way, with many in the Midwest already completed.

Seley found guilty of murdering brother on Adair County road

A jury found a man guilty Monday, Dec. 20 of killing his brother and leaving his body behind on an Adair County road.

After nearly four hours of deliberation Monday in the Adair County Courthouse, the jury delivered a guilty verdict of murder in the first degree for Dustin James Seley, 43, in the death of Timothy Charles Fechter, 58, of Creston.

Fechter, the biological brother of Seley, was reported missing to Creston Police June 21. His body was discovered July 1 in a farm field adjacent to 320th Avenue in Adair County. Seley pleaded not guilty to the charge brought against him, according to arraignment documents filed Sept. 3 with the Iowa Courts.

Following the verdict, 5th Judicial Court District Judge Thomas Murphy polled the jury at the request of the defense. In open court, each juror declared his or her agreement with the verdict the jury foreman returned.

Seley has 45 days to file post-trial motions, such as a motion in arrest of judgement or a motion for a new trial.