By Eric Gilmore
For The Gazette

OAKLAND, Calif. – Center fielder Ryan Sweeney had to have a sense of deja vu May 20 when he made a spectacular, diving catch to seal the Oakland Athletics’ 7-6 victory against Tampa Bay.

After all, he’d made that catch as a kid in Cedar Rapids.

Oakland Athletics center fielder Ryan Sweeney reacts after making a catch on the wall to rob the Texas Rangers’ Ian Kinsler of a three-run homer April 30 in Arlington, Texas. (AP photo)

“When I was like 12 or 13 years old, we had a game somewhere, I don’t even remember,” Sweeney said last week before the Athletics played the Arizona Diamondbacks. “But I dove and made a catch exactly like that playing center field.

“Somebody hit it in the left-field gap, and it ended the game like that. The only reason I remember that was the grass was wet and I slid really far.”

Defense has always been a huge part of Sweeney’s game, first as a young boy, then as a star at Xavier High School and now as a starter in the major leagues. In the early part of the 2009 season, Sweeney has been putting on a Gold Glove-caliber show in center field.

Sweeney’s spectacular catches have been showing up on “Sportscenter’s” top 10 plays of the day as often as LeBron James’ dunks. It’s been another day, another web gem for this 24-year-old, one year removed from his rookie season.

“He’s pretty amazing out there,” A’s first baseman Jason Giambi said. “He’s as good as anybody I’ve seen play outfield defense in a long time.”

Sweeney has made only two errors in a major-league career that has spanned more than 220 games and more than 400 chances. Oakland Manager Bob Geren said what he values most about Sweeney’s defense is that he’s “fundamentally sound” and consistently makes the routine plays.

This year, though, Sweeney has added a series of jaw-dropping, you-cannot-be-serious catches to his repertoire of rock-solid defense.

His string of spectacular catches began April 30 at Arlington, Texas, with the A’s clinging to a 3-1 lead over the Rangers in the bottom of the eighth. With two runners on and two outs, Ian Kinsler sent a high, deep drive to center field off A’s reliever Russ Springer.

The 6-foot-4, 221-pound Sweeney made a leaping catch, grabbing the ball on the other side of the wall and bringing it back. The A’s won, 4-2.

“That one was more of a timing thing,” Sweeney said. “You’ve got to look at the ball and feel for the wall kind of at the same time. Just jumped up at the wall.”

Oakland Athletics center fielder and Cedar Rapids native Ryan Sweeney (left) and Matt Holliday react after Sweeney robbed Tampa Bay Rays’ B.J. Upton of an exta-base hit to end a game May 20 in St. Petersburg, Fla. (AP photo)

Athletics left fielder Matt Holliday has had a front-row seat of sorts for Sweeney’s highlight-reel show.

“It’s been impressive,” Holliday said. “He’s obviously saved us in two games, and he’s made tons of other good catches. He’s an excellent, excellent defensive player. He’s got a great arm. For a kid that’s as big as he is, he moves well. He covers a lot of ground.”

One night after robbing Kinsler of a home run, Sweeney stole an extra-base hit from Seattle’s Kenji Johjima. He went back-back-back in center field and made a sliding basket catch, a la Willie Mays in Seattle. Then the next night he raced in and made a diving catch in right field to rob Ken Griffey Jr. of a hit.

Sweeney’s defensive gems have helped him stay positive while he tries to get untracked at the plate. After hitting .286 last season, his batting average is hovering around .250 with two home runs, both long blasts to right.

“He’s got a lot of power,” Athletics right fielder Jack Cust said. “It’s learning how to use it in the game. That could come. At the least, he’s going to be a guy that hits for a high average and plays great defense and probably runs into 10 homes runs, maybe 15. I think he has the potential to hit 20. Maybe more.”

Sweeney said he sees himself “ultimately” hitting between .280 and .300 with 15 to 20 home runs and plenty of doubles.

“Hopefully, the home runs will come,” Sweeney said. “But it’s always been a thing for me that if I’m not going to hit a home run that game, if I can stop a run from scoring or throw somebody out or make a good catch, I think that’s just as important.”

Danni McCoy (left) and Mary Lichtenberg, both of Omaha, walk along the street in Amana recently. During tough economic times, attractions like the Amana Colonies are one option for a destination that is closer to home./Photo by Liz Martin, The Gazette

By Carla Keppler
The Gazette
 
Iowans may be strapped for cash, but plans to travel are still on summertime agendas.  Rather than cut warm-weather trips, many Eastern Iowans are compromising with close-to-home trips on a tighter budget.

Take Sherri Clemence, 42, of Iowa City. Instead of an annual weeklong fishing trip to Gordon, Wis., Clemence will break summer ventures into weekend trips.

The Clemences are planning a trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. They also want to visit the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago and on another weekend, she hopes, take a day trip to Dubuque’s National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium.

“We figured now if we do just a couple weekend things, it might not hurt so bad” financially, says the first-grade teacher at Penn Elementary in North Liberty. “We’re going more for convenience and in the price range we can afford.”

The same goes for vacationers across the map, a recent Associated Press poll found. The study showed that 20 percent of Americans who plan summer excursions — a number that has dropped from 49 percent to 42 percent since 2005 — will stay closer to home because of economic worries.

Carrie Koelker, director of Eastern Iowa Tourism, says half of Iowans will travel at least 50 miles from their residences this summer, a number down slightly from past years. These trips, she says, can be especially enjoyable.
“There are a lot of tourism destinations in your own backyard,” Koelker said. “People are looking for value in price and in what they’re doing, and these are only a short drive away.”

Nancy Landess of the Iowa Tourism Office now focuses travel promotion on attractions in Iowa and surrounding states and offers gas cards and discounts as incentives for Iowans planning getaways this summer.

Another 23 percent of summer travelers, like Elizabeth Green, a 32-year-old University of Iowa student from Iowa City, are slashing costs by staying with family and friends rather than at hotels while on vacation, the poll showed.
Green and her husband will drive to California with their three daughters to visit family and will be penny-wise on their journey by dining in and skipping the shopping.

The Greens also travel locally when temperatures rise, visiting local festivals, pools and museums and — like some 400,000 others — the Amana Colonies.

As one of the state’s tourism hot spots, the Amanas are the perfect “day-cation,” says Joni Brezina, who plans events for the national historical landmark, which welcomes about 750,000 visitors annually. Food, art, breweries and festivals attract tourists, she says, noting the modest price of the “one-tank” trip for Midwesterners.

“Sometimes you forget what’s right next to you,” she says.

Green says, however, that with frugality comes a loss in spontaneity.

“When we were in a better financial position we would just get in the car and drive … stop and buy a toothbrush and stay,” she says. “With the way things are, we do less of that … and don’t always get to go as far or stay the night.”
Others, like teacher Clemence, look forward to a relaxing summer regardless of the destination.

“Taking time just to sit and talk and just relax and have fun doing the things you don’t have time for throughout the year makes it worth it,” she says.

2009 Gazette Communications

The five Sullivan Brothers from Waterloo died when their ship was torpedoed in World War II. They are (from left) Joseph, Francis, Albert, Madison and George./AP photo

Waterloo family lost 5 sons in WWII

On Memorial Day, Iowans remember the sacrifice of the Sullivan family of Waterloo.

During World War II, five brothers – Albert, Francis, George, Joseph and Madison Sullivan – died when the ship on which they were serving was torpedoed.

The five brothers, two of whom previously served in the Navy, enlisted in the Navy together on Jan. 3, 1942, less than a month after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. They insisted that they serve together on the same ship. It was Navy policy to separate family members, but  the Sullivans persisted in their request and the Navy relented.

They served aboard the USS Juneau, a light cruiser.

On Nov. 13, 1942, during the Battle of Guadalcanal, the Juneau was struck by a Japanese torpedo and sank. Four brothers died.  George, the eldest, made it to a raft and survived for five days.

They were awarded Purple Hearts.

The Sullivan brothers became national heroes, and their deaths served as a rallying cry for a nation at war.

Listen to a musical tribute from Caroline’s Spine.

Albert’s granddaughter reflects on the Sullivan brothers here.

Legacy and tributes

• In response to their deaths, the U.S. War Department developed the Sole Survivor Policy
• The Navy named two destroyers in honor of the Sullivans.
• In 1944, the Sullivan brothers’ story was made into a movie called “The Sullivans.” It later was renamed “The Fighting Sullivans” and still is shown on some local TV stations around Memorial Day.
• The legacy of the Sullivan brothers continues to inspire popular entertainment, including the story line of “Saving Private Ryan.”
• Waterloo created Sullivan Park at the site of their childhood home and renamed the downtown civic center the Five Sullivan Brothers Convention Center.
• The Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum opened in Waterloo in November 2008.
• A U.S. Department of Defense Dependents School in Japan is named in their honor.
• In 1952, trees were planted at the U.S. Capitol in honor of the Sullivan brothers. Hear about them in a Webcast from Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley.

Click here for Gazette Online anniversary coverage
Click here for KCRG TV-9 anniversary coverage

Parkersburg a shining example of post-disaster recovery

By Orlan Love
The Gazette

Houses at various stages of construction are seen in what was the path of last year's tornado, in Parkersburg on Tuesday, May 12, 2009. Nearly 300 homes were destroyed, and about 100 of those have not yet been rebuilt / Photo by Liz Martin, The Gazette.

Though trees remain scarce and Tyvek house wrap is still the dominant exterior design motif, officials here rate the town’s recovery from a nuclear-bomb-like EF5 tornado at about 75 percent complete.

In the year since the May 25 tornado destroyed nearly 300 homes and killed six people in Parkersburg and two in nearby New Hartford, the town is “about 80 percent back to normal, with the rest to be made up this summer,” Mayor Bob Haylock said.

City Clerk Gary Hinders said the rebuilding of houses is between 75 percent and 80 percent complete, with city infrastructure lagging in the 50 percent to 60 percent range.

“It will take a couple of years to fix the destruction that occurred in 20 to 30 seconds,” he said.

Police Chief Chris Luhring, a leader in the effort to replace the town’s ruined playgrounds, rates the physical recovery at 75 percent, but the psychological recovery — repairs to what Luhring calls “damage to the heart” — has barely begun, he said.

“People see our recovery and they say, ‘You’re all right,’ but hearts are hurting. It takes time. There is post-traumatic stress, and that’s totally all right when you go through something like an EF5 tornado, which struck like an atom bomb,” Luhring said.

The Rev. Betsy Piette, pastor at Parkersburg United Methodist Church, said she and other local clergy have been discussing ways to help their congregations counter the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.

When the dollar damage has all been totaled up, it won’t include residents’ emotional suffering, she said, adding, “You can’t put a value on the trauma people experienced.”

Repairing emotional damage has been largely deferred while residents rebuild their homes, Piette said.

Hinders said he still marvels at the fortitude and ambition of Parkersburg residents who dusted themselves off and immediately set about rebuilding.

“Their attitude has been ‘Lead, follow or get out of the way.’ They were digging basements before their debris was hauled away,” he said.

The No. 1 thing he’s learned during the past year, Hinders said, is “do not discourage people when they want to rebuild.”

Hinders said he, like most Parkersburg employees, has worked double shifts during the past year to ensure the city does not stand in the way of progress. For example, in a city that typically issued one or two building permits a month, Parkersburg has issued 234 since the tornado and 150 so far in 2009, he said.

Parkersburg, which had 1,889 residents as of the 2000 census, had been expecting to climb above 2,000 in the upcoming national count. “We’re hoping now to hold our own at 1,889. If I had to guess, I’d say we’ve lost between 100 and 150 people,” Hinders said.

While most of them will be missed, the following six, killed by the tornado, will continue to be grieved: Bertha Eckhoff, 85; Charles Horan, 74; Richard and Ethel Mulder, both 80; Shirley Luhring, 71; and Ray Meyocks, 74.

Hinders said the town immediately lost $43 million in assessed property value, which was 49 percent of the community’s tax base. Add to that about $13 million to rebuild damaged or destroyed municipal infrastructure and $18 million to replace the school, and the total damage approaches $75 million, he said.

Though most of the loss was indemnified by private insurance or by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, that does not mean residents came out ahead, Hinders said.

“Most of the new homes cost more than the ones they replaced, and many people who did not have mortgages before the tornado have them now,” he said.

Hinders said the city still has about 100 fewer houses than it had before the tornado. “I expect we will be 60 or 70 houses short when the rebuilding is complete,” he said.

Most of the shortfall is attributable to older residents moving to retirement communities and residents rebuilding on lots expanded by the purchase of neighboring property.

Though there will be fewer houses, the new ones are more expensive, and the city hopes to get back to 100 percent of its pre-storm assessed property value, Hinders said.

The city also hopes to get back to 100 percent of its shade trees, but that will take much longer. By this fall, when the last of five tree-planting events is finished, the town will have as many trees as it did before the tornado, but they will be a lot smaller, Hinders said.

On the commercial side, Parkersburg economic development director Virgil Goodrich said 13 of the 15 businesses destroyed by the tornado have reopened or soon will.

“We lost two businesses, both restaurants, but we have three new ones coming in,” he said.

Parkersburg sales-tax receipts, a good indicator of economic activity, increased markedly in the two post-tornado quarters for which state figures are available.

In the last quarter of 2008, sales-tax proceeds were $3.4 million — up more than 27 percent from the comparable year-earlier quarter. In the third quarter of 2008, receipts were almost 18 percent higher than in the comparable year-earlier period.

Those gains reflect the rebuilding effort and the replacement of items lost in the tornado, though most such expenditures were made outside of Parkersburg.

A comparison of the last two quarters in 2007 and 2008 shows that construction-related sales tax surged from $441,000 to more than $1 million and that sales tax for businesses selling building materials and home furnishings went from about $1.5 million to nearly $2.5 million.

Residents are most excited, Goodrich said, about the grand opening this weekend of Brothers Market, the town’s only grocery store. The new 13,800-square-foot market will be 40 percent larger than the store destroyed by the tornado, said store manager Dusty Hanson.

“It’s going to be huge. The town has been waiting for this. It’s one of the big missing pieces, like the school,” Hanson said.

Most of the new $18 million school will be ready when classes resume this fall, said Aplington-Parkersburg Superintendent Jon Thompson. “We set an aggressive goal to be back in one year, and we’re going to make it,” he said.

With eight classrooms in portable buildings and the entire high school jammed into what had been the elementary school in Aplington, students had to adapt quickly to the new reality.

“Hard as that sounds, it has been a fantastic school year,” Thompson said. “It would have been easy for our seniors to be bummed out by the changes, but they came over (to Aplington) and made the absolute best out of it and set the tone for a tremendous school year.”

By Meredith Hines-Dochterman
The Gazette

Eileen Ahlberg (left) looks at a poster about her life with Andrew Fortmann. Fortmann, a senior at Iowa City West High School, made the poster as their final project in Gary Neuzil's sociology class. For three months, West students have met with Melrose Meadows residents to discover similarities across generations. Students shared their findings through presentations./ Photo by Meredith Hines-Dochterman, The Gazette

IOWA CITY — Dylan Carew and Jim Corwin have much in common.

They love sports, especially University of Iowa wrestling, and learned at an early age that you have to work for what you want in life. Both athletes, that’s what they did.

“There’s not really that much different between us,” Corwin said.

Some might think that Corwin being a resident at Melrose Meadows, a retirement community, and Carew, 17, a senior at Iowa City West High School, is a big difference.
They would be wrong.

For the past three months, Melrose Meadows residents and students in Gary Neuzil’s sociology class have met each week to exchange ideas and opinions on issues such as values, immigration, economics and family dynamics.

The project, Neuzil said, wasn’t designed as us versus them, but to give people of different generations the opportunity to find the common theme in a variety of topics.

“The outcome was a sense of wonderment,” Neuzil said. “You really saw a wonderful blending of ideas and connections.”

Brook Easton, Melrose Meadows’ marketing coordinator, helped organize the project.

“I was looking for something that was more of an oral history sort of thing,” she said.

Instead, the students and residents developed an intergenerational project, sharing aspects of their lives with one another. Teams spoke of first loves and life lessons, school dances and teenage pranks.

West High seniors Ben Joe Potter and Ani Vardanyan, both 18, learned about cherry bombs from their partner, Eldon Hans. They shared teepee stories with him.

“I know the residents, but the students uncovered things I didn’t know,” Easton said. “This was better than I imagined.”

West High senior Aaron Kepler said he wasn’t sure what to expect when he learned of the assignment.

“It was kind of awkward the first time, a little uncomfortable,” said Kepler, 18.

The residents stood on one side of the room, the students on the other. By the time the project culminated, students and residents readily sat together.

“I loved listening to the stories,” Kepler said. “What they did when they were our age, what we do now — it really hasn’t changed. We have a lot in common, although maybe we play our music a little too loud and drive a little too fast.”

Students and residents met one last time Tuesday night. One by one, students stood before the audience in Melrose Meadows’ wellness center to share what they learned from one another. Some students presented timelines; others, question-and-answer projects. A few had video and computer reports, showcasing the technology often mentioned as a big difference between generations.

“School was a lot harder back then because they didn’t have the technology we have,” said Andrew Fortmann, 18, a senior.

Eileen Ahlberg, a Melrose Meadows resident, told Fortmann she probably would have been a better student if she had the technology — a statement that was met with laughs.

“This was a neat project,” Ahlberg said. “It was surprising how often our thoughts were about the same.”

Easton and Neuzil said the project would continue next year.

“I think it was a great way to bring about history for these young people, giving them some perspective of where their ancestors came from and the world they grew up in,” resident Hans said.

Match Iowans with their TV shows

You know that Shawn Johnson won “Dancing With the Stars,” that

Donna Reed

“Tonight Show” legend Johnny Carson was born in Corning and that Cloris Leachman of Des Moines was on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.”

But just how extensive is your knowledge of Iowans on television?

Take this quiz and find out. Match the actor or actress with the series in which that person was a member of the regular cast.

Keen eyes will notice that there are 15 people listed but only 13 TV shows. That’s because one pair of Iowans was on one show, and another pair on another show.

The names are followed by the places of birth, with the exception of Annabeth Gish, who was born in New Mexico but was raised in Cedar Falls.

1.       Ron Livingston   (Marion)                                            A.  “The Bob Newhart Show”

2.       Michelle Monaghan  (Winthrop)                               B.   “CSI: New York”

3.       Annabeth Gish (Cedar Falls)                                       C.    “I Love Lucy”

4.       Donna Reed (Denison)                                                 D.   “Leave It to Beaver”

5.        Lara Flynn Boyle (Davenport                                     E.    “Dallas”

6.       Christian Clemenson (Humboldt)                               F.    “Boston Legal”

7.       Stephen Collins (Des Moines)                                     G.   “Seventh Heaven”

8.       Hill Harper (Iowa City)                                                 H.   “Lassie”

9.       William Frawley (Burlington)                                      I.    “Love Boat”

10.   Marcia Wallace (Creston)                                            J.    “The Practice”

11.   Fred Grandy (Sioux City)                                               K.    “Boston Public”

12.   Jerry Mathers (Sioux City)                                             L.      “Lost”

13.   Cloris Leachman (Des Moines)                                    M.    “Brotherhood”

14.   Michael Emerson (Cedar Rapids)

15.   Bill Daily (Des Moines)

Answers:  1 – J;  2 – K;  3 – M;  4 – E;  5 – J;  6 – F;  7 – G;  8 – B;  9 – C;  10 – A; 11 – I;  12 – D;  13 – H;  14 – L;  15 – A

Mark Wyatt (from left), Gina Weaver and Nikki Davidson ride down 42nd Street NE at the start of a six-mile group ride near Twin Pines Golf Course earlier this month. Riders from the city's traffic engineering division, the Bicycle Advisory Committee and police braved chilly and wet conditions to educate themselves about how to make Cedar Rapids more bicycle friendly / Jeff Raasch, The Gazette.

Rick Smith
The Gazette

The Cedar Rapids City Council will submit an application on Aug. 7 to the League of American Bicyclists in hopes of becoming Iowa’s second bicycle-friendly community.

Cedar Falls secured the distinction this year, according to the certifying organization’s Web site. 

In total, 102 communities in the United States have the bicycle-friendly status, with three, Davis, Calif., Boulder, Colo., and Portland, Ore., having the top platinum rating. Nine cities have a gold rating, 23, a silver rating, and 67, including Cedar Falls, a bronze rating.

The pursuit of the bicycle distinction is something that the council and local bicycle and trail enthusiasts have been working on for months.

Ron Griffith, a traffic engineer with the city, is heading up the city’s effort along with a new Bicycle Advisory Committee.

The city must take steps to promote bicycling by focusing on what Griffith last night called the five Es: engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement and evaluation and planning.

In tandem, as the city prepares to sell itself as worthy of bicycle-friendly status, it is in the midst of a process to create a Trails Development and Management Plan.

A special task force comprised of city and community representatives met the entire week of March 30 to begin the planning process. A key finding: The city needs to look at trails both as recreational venues and transportation assets that connect the neighborhoods and streets to parks, schools and jobs.

Griffith reported that city staff and local planners and others the last two Fridays have been out riding city streets with an eye to how they work with bicyclists.

Griffith said the city is looking to create “sharrow” lanes as part of four streets projects now under construction, 33rd Avenue SW, Council Street NE, C Avenue NE and Kirkwood Boulevard SW. The outside shared lane or sharrow might be 14 feet wide while other lanes that might typically be 12 feet wide will be 11 feet wide, he said.

Council member Justin Shields said he hoped no money would be directed away from flood relief for the bicycle initiative. Griffith noted that trails and connecting neighborhoods to them was a major focus on the city’s just completed planning process for its flood-damaged neighborhoods.

Among the lingering questions: Is a 10 foot-wide sidewalk, which is intended for pedestrians and bicycle use, a sidewalk or a trail?

2009 Gazette Communications

Watch speed, seat belts — police are out in force

Watch your speed and seatbelt use this Memorial Day weekend. More travelers will be on the road as will additional officers / Photo illustration by Jupiter Images.

The Gazette

If you’re hitting the road this weekend, expect to see a few more of your fellow Americans traveling than last Memorial Day — as well as law enforcement officers checking how fast you’re driving and if you’re wearing your seat belt.

Americans traveling 50 or more miles this weekend will increase 1.5 percent this year over 2008 to about 32.4 million, according to AAA.

“Last year, soaring gas prices and a deteriorating economy resulted in far fewer trips being taken than had been forecast,” said Randy Williams, president of AAA Minnesota/Iowa. “Sharply lower gasoline prices and plentiful travel bargains have Americans feeling better about taking a road trip this summer.”

Gas did go up to around $2.35 per gallon at most stations on Thursday, up from $2.10 to $2.20 last weekend but still much lower than last year’s range of $3.71 to $3.75 a gallon.

Law enforcement agencies throughout Eastern Iowa reported they would be increasing patrols to watch for people speeding, not using their seat belts or breaking other traffic laws.

The average distance traveled this Memorial Day weekend is forecast to be approximately 620 miles, AAA reported, a slight decrease from 2008.

Average spending for weekend trips is estimated to be $1,052.

Nearly 60 percent of Americans will spend time with friends and relatives over the holiday, and traveling as a family will be the most popular way to go with 34 percent of travelers making a journey with kids or other family.

Click here for a list of fairs and festivals going on around the state this weekend.

2009 Gazette Communications

 The CW network has tapped the talents of two Eastern Iowa natives for its fall lineup.

Ashton Kutcher

 As expected, the CW picked up the pilot for “Melrose Place,”  in which Iowa City native Laura Leighton, 41, will reprise her role of Sydney Andrew from the original Fox series.

Laura Leighton

  “The Beautiful Life,” created and produced by Ashton Kutcher, also was part of the lineup unveiled by the network Thursday.

The drama focuses on beautiful young people as they struggle to make it in modeling. Which is something  that Kutcher, who  was born in Cedar Rapids, knows about.  After winning the Fresh Faces of Iowa  modeling contest 12 years ago, he headed for New York City to pursue a modeling career .

The parallels did not escape the notice of Zap2it news, which described Kutcher’s new show this way:

“Executive producer Ashton Kutcher presents “The Ashton Kutcher Story” — sort of. One of the show’s central characters (Benjamin Hollingsworth) is an Iowa farm boy — like Kutcher once was — who gets discovered by a modeling agent in New York.”

In addition to wracking up more than 1 million followers on Twitter, the 31-year-old actor has produced a string of TV series, including “Punk’d,” “Beauty and the Geek,” “The Real Wedding Crashers,” “Opportunity Knocks” and “True Beauty.” 

As for Leighton, it’s a mystery as to how Sydney is alive, as the character was thought to have died after being hit by a car two years before the original “Melrose Place” went off the air.

Reportedly, something else about her role is shrouded in mystery. If you DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED,  do not read this report from EW.com

By Orlan Love
The Gazette

Eric Aitchison talks with his 5-year-old son Sam as two-year-old Will and his mother Missy Aitchison toast marshmellows at F.W. Kent Park near Tiffin. Eric said the Iowa City family decided to camp overnight in the park after they saw the day's weather report, "we threw everything together and grabbed some marshmellows and soy dogs" They did bring cellphones in case of emergency, but had not checked their voicemail / By Cliff Jette, The Gazette

Campers who want to commune with nature rather than the occupants of recreational vehicles can find plenty of good places to pitch their tents.

Though the trend has been to accommodate RVs by upgrading campsites with electricity, water and sewer hookups and even wireless Internet access, most state- and county-operated parks still provide ample opportunities for campers to rough it, says Kevin Szcodronski, chief of the Department of Natural Resources Parks Bureau.

Iowa’s state park system has 2,706 electrified campsites and 1,977 primitive sites. About half in each category can be reserved, with the other half available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The conservation departments in Iowa’s 99 counties operate a combined 11,500 sites, about half of which are primitive, says Tom Hazelton, special programs manager for Linn County Conservation Department.

“People flock to scenic vistas and water, and the trend has been to improve the most popular sites with amenities, but some people just like to camp the old-fashioned way,” Hazelton says.

One such person is Harry Graves, director of the Johnson County Conservation Department.

“We are tent people,” Graves says of wife Ellie and himself. “When we go camping, we are out to enjoy nature rather than neighbors. We like being able to set up camp on a moment’s notice, wherever we happen to be.”

Tent camping is no longer synonymous with primitive camping, though, Graves says.

“A fair number of tent campers pick electric sites for their fans, televisions and cell phone chargers,” he says.
Around holidays, like the upcoming Memorial Day weekend, primitive campers enjoy another advantage — less competition for sites. While most primitive sites do fill up, they are the last to do so, says Linn County’s Hazelton.

The 1,624-acre Matsell Bridge Natural Area in eastern Linn County has about a dozen “pack-in” campsites along the Wapsipinicon River that provide rustic camping at its finest, he says.

“You can’t drive to them. You have to carry everything you need, including water, so they’re generally not crowded,” he says.

The 340-acre Wakpicada Natural Area along the Wapsipinicon, south of Central City, is also popular with primitive campers, Hazelton says. “It’s dark at night at Wakpicada,” he says.

Linn County provides 581 sites at 24 campgrounds, with slightly more than half of them unimproved.

In Johnson County, the Hills Access and the River Junction Access each provide about a dozen primitive sites along the Iowa River, and 48 of the 84 sites at F.W. Kent Park near Tiffin are non-electric, Graves says.

The Jones County Conservation Department offers 43 primitive sites at its Central Park, says director Larry Gullett.
“Tent camping really appeals to people who like to paddle and fish the river systems,” he says.

The Wapsipinicon in Jones and Jackson counties is classified as a meandered stream, which means camping is permitted on its sandbars, Gullet says. The Maquoketa River is a non-meandered stream, which means landowner permission is required to camp on its sandbars, he says.

“Always ask first. Most of the landowners are cooperative as long as its not a large group intent upon partying,” he says.

For campers who really want to get away from it all, Szcodronski recommends the three state forests in Eastern Iowa: Yellow River, 8,503 acres in Allamakee County; Shimek, 9,148 acres in Lee and Van Buren counties; and Stephens, 15,170 acres in Lucas, Clarke, Monroe, Appanoose and Davis counties.

“This is primitive camping at its best. … You’ve got latrines, fire rings and picnic tables, and the rest is up to you,” he says.

For more on camping, check the iowa.com camping page.

2009 Gazette Communications