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.”

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

Hlas: Zach happy his mom got to see victory

By Mike Hlas
The Gazette

Zach Johnson Zach Johnson watches his drive off the first tee on Sunday / AP photo.

After seeing each of her son’s previous five PGA Tour wins on television, Julie Johnson of Cedar Rapids was present for Zach Johnson’s Texas Open win Sunday in San Antonio.

She and her husband, Dave Johnson, originally planned to head back home Sunday afternoon because Dave, a chiropractor, had a lot of patients with appointments to see him this morning.

Dave left La Cantera Golf Club after nine holes to catch his connecting flight to Dallas, but Julie stayed behind and will come home today.

“I’m very happy I stayed,” she said last night. “What a wonderful experience.”

She and Zach’s wife, Kim, followed Zach for the first nine holes, then returned for the final two holes of regulation and the sudden-death playoff hole in which Zach defeated James Driscoll.

“It was nerve-racking,” Julie said, “but when (Paul) Goydos bogeyed on 18, I knew Zach would be first or second, and that gave me a sense of calm.”

After Zach won, he was accompanied on the green by his wife, son, Will, and Julie.

“The people who ran the tournament were so gracious,” Julie said. “It was a really positive experience.”

“Unbelievable,” Dave Johnson described Zach’s win as he sat in a plane in Dallas that hadn’t yet left for its trip to Cedar Rapids.

“I told a lot of people that I thought his win here last year (in October) would do as much for his future as anything, including his Masters win in ’07.”

Johnson has won twice and had five more top-10 finishes since that October victory, making Dad look pretty smart.

Zach Johnson spoke of his parents at his press conference after his victory.

“My dad’s seen me win I think three times,” he said. “… My mom has not. She has a little bit of an anxiety streak, if you will. That’s just being a mom. She just worries.

“It took a little convincing just to keep her here, and quite honestly, they’ve seen me play golf a lot,” Johnson continued. “They watched me a little this week. My dad watched every hole with the exception of flying back today.’’

Johnson said he wasn’t the main attraction for his parents this weekend.

“They didn’t come down here to see me. They came to see my son,” he said. “I was chopped liver relative to that.”

The Grant Wood Scenic Byway along Highway 64 east of Anamosa plays host to the first Art & Culture Tour on Saturday and Sunday, May 16 and 17. Photo by Dave Rasdal.

By Dave Rasdal
The Gazette

ANAMOSA — Dusty roads and power lines aside, the scenic rolling hills of Jones and Jackson counties provide a backdrop artists have craved, probably since before Grant Wood lived here more than a century ago.

So, why not plop artists down along the route to show their stuff, too? It would be the perfect melding of Mother Nature and human creativity.

This weekend (may 16-17), if you travel the Grant Wood Scenic Byway from Stone City to Bellevue, expect to see signs pointing to nearly 100 area artists.

Maria White of Monticello will display some of her elaborate pottery work at Grounds & Goodies in Anamosa during this weekend’s Art & Culture Tour. Photo by Dave Rasdal.

“To the artists, recognition in this day and age is important,” says Rose Rohr of Anamosa, an artistic advocate and an organizer of the first Art & Culture Tour. “It’s quite a commitment to be in all of these places on a weekend.”

Indeed, it’s a commitment most artists love to make. With the promise of sunshine and temperatures in the 60s, they will showcase everything from oil paintings and pottery to quilts and books.

“It amazes me how many artists are in Jones County,” says one of them, K.C. Kiner of Anamosa. “When you think of all the different artists and the mediums they use, it’s tremendous.”

K.C. Kiner of Anamosa relaxes in an Adirondack chair she painted in rural farm motif. She and her two children, Kegan and Kasi, will display their artwork at Daly Creek Winery in Anamosa for this weekend’s Art & Culture Tour in Jones and Jackson counties. Photo by Dave Rasdal.

K.C. and her kids, Kegan and Kasi, will set up at Daly Creek Winery in Anamosa. K.C. has illustrated books and greeting cards since the 1970s, many for national distribution. Her children, in their 20s, enjoy pottery and sculpture as well as drawing and painting.

Some of the artists found their calling by accident, while others made it their vocation.

“I wanted some stained glass for my own home,” says Sharon Burrows, who operates A Glass Act in Stone City. “I’ve been artistic since I was young. I took two lessons and took it from there.”

That was 27 years ago. Sharon has since created windows as large as 6-by-6 1/2 feet (it weighed 300 pounds) and studied glass art in Mexico.

On the other hand, Maria White of Monticello, known for custom Christmas ornaments the last three decades, has been a potter just as long. She’s taught in Italy and will display works at Grounds & Goodies in Anamosa.

“It’s fun,” Maria says, “to promote something people don’t know I do.”

Elizabeth Bollwitt of Monticello will display her pointillist art this weekend at J&P Cycles on Highway 151 just north of Anamosa. Photo by Dave Rasdal.

Promotion is fun, adds Elizabeth Bollwitt of Monticello, who for five years has sold her “pointillism” (acrylic dots on canvas) paintings around the country, including Miami and New York City.

“I picked J&P Cycles for my location,” she says, “because it’s a little out of the box.”

And because a motorcycle is a great way to see the scene, whether that be nature or art.

- What: Art & Culture Tour, with artists set up in businesses in Jones and Jackson counties
- Where: From Stone City to Bellevue, mostly along the Grant Wood Scenic Byway, which officially runs from Anamosa along Highway 64 through Wyoming to Maquoketa and then along Highway 62 and county roads to Andrew and Bellevue.
- When: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday (May 16) and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday (May 17)
- On the Net: www.anamosachamber.org/art-culture-tour-09.htm

© Gazette Communications 2009

CEDAR RAPIDS – Unlike many who reached the pinnacle in pro sports, Tony Dungy has quickly found post-retirement to be as fulfilling and maybe more than his time as a highly successful NFL coach.

Cedar Rapids Washington junior Emily Woods (left) shakes hands with former Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy during an appearance at the Eastern Iowa Fellowship of Christian Athletes 2009 Home Team Drive & Banquet at the Cedar Rapids Marriott on May 11, 2009. Photo by Jim Slosiarek.

Dungy was never just a football coach in his 13 years of being a head coach in the NFL, 13 years that produced twice as many victories as defeats, and the Super Bowl championship with the Indianapolis Colts in January 2007.

He gradually became one of the more-liked people in sports because he was an “us” person instead of a “me” guy. He brought grace and humility to settings that often seemed devoid of them.

Getting Dungy to speak at its annual banquet here May 11 was a coup for the Eastern Iowa Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Dungy has claimed a Vince Lombardi Trophy, and he’s been a winner in the personal image he has projected over the years.

At 53, Dungy said farewell to football. It wasn’t burnout. It was having other ground to cover, using different ways to reach people.

One has been as an author. Dungy’s book “Quiet Strength” was No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list for over half of 2008. It has resonated not only with football fans, but with people looking for positives they can latch onto and use in their own situations.

The chapter titles alone say plenty, like “Develop Your Core,” “Love Your Family,” “Lift Your Friends and Others,” “Establish a Mission That Matters,” and “Choose Influence Over Image.”

That book has over a million copies in print. His 2009 follow-up, “Uncommon: Finding Your Path to Significance,” has also done well.

“When we wrote the first book, I thought it would be a good lesson, especially for young men,” Dungy said. “I never, never dreamed it would sell like it did and that I’d have the platform to speak at colleges, universities, business establishments, non-football areas, because of the book.

“I think it’s a book about faith, but it doesn’t come out as just purely a religious book. … I think both books are about living and growing and heading towards goals, and I think both books were really positive, too.

“Our sports editor in Indianapolis said it wouldn’t sell because there wasn’t any dirt in it, there wasn’t anything anybody would be interested in. But I think that’s wrong. I think people do want to read about positives, and I think it came at the right time for that.”

Of course, all messages seem to be heard more clearly when they come from people of accomplishment. Dungy gets his foot in the door with clean-living types and prison inmates alike because he’s been an achiever.

That achieving came from constructing and guiding winning teams. That begins in the NFL draft. And to bring it home, as Dungy did Monday, that included contributions of two prominent former Iowa Hawkeyes.

“We thought that Bob Sanders and Dallas Clark would definitely fit in to our offense and defense just the way they have,” Dungy said.

“They were both specialist-type players. Dallas was a receiving tight end and he wasn’t as big as many people were looking for at tight end. Bob Sanders was a special, special defensive back, but he wasn’t as big as people were looking for.

“We … just felt they would be the best players available when it came time to pick. We also thought they would fit in to how we played, fit into our system.

“One thing we didn’t know for sure was what type of leaders they were. That has been the pleasant surprise. They’re guys who made their teammates better.”

Dungy said he and Colts front-office people have had a lot of chats with Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz over the last several years.

“We have done a lot of background checks on Iowa guys and had Kirk on the telephone quite a bit,” Dungy said. “He’s a special coach.

“His guys have been great for us, Dallas Clark and Bob Sanders were critical cogs in our team. Both came very, very highly recommended by Kirk.”

By Dave Rasdal
The Gazette

Nick Clancy (left) and Ryan Kratoska, sophomores at South Tama County High School, show off the construction of their 8-foot long, 45-pound paper airplane / Photo by Jesse Mapes, Toledo

People laughed at the Wright Brothers. So, why should Ryan Kratoska and Nick Clancy be any different as they set about to fly their approximately 7-foot-long paper airplane?

“It took two of us to hold it at the right level and throw it,” says Ryan.

“One, two, three,” counted the 16-year-old sophomores at South Tama County High School. “Go!”

The airplane fluttered 60 feet behind the school.

They wanted more. So off to the Toledo airport they went.

“We just did it for something to do,” Nick says.

“As we did it, it got more interesting,” Ryan says.

The lifelong friends were just being boys in their prep-hour class. Making paper airplanes fascinated them.

“In study hall we kept making small ones,” Ryan says. “We kept getting detention.”

They were not deterred.

“We ran experiments,” Nick says. “We made a bigger one and a bigger one and then this huge one.”

One sheet of paper wasn’t enough. Their imaginations soared.

What, they thought, would happen if they taped sheets of paper together to make it bigger?

Using 8-1/2-by-11-inch sheets of recycled paper and cellophane tape, they simply multiplied length, width and thickness.

Their 3-by-3 airplane used 27 sheets of paper. It flew OK.

Their 4-by-4 plane used 64 sheets and plastic straws for support. It flew better.

Their 7-by-7 plane used 512 sheets of paper, 50 wooden rulers, four rolls of tape and two sticks of staples. Would it fly the best?

Dissatisfied with launching by hand, the boys drove Nick’s 1997 Sunbird to the airport, tied a 30-foot rope to its rear spoiler and connected the other end to the nose of their plane.

With Ryan holding the paper airplane, Nick climbed behind the wheel and floored it. As the rope ran out, Ryan tossed the plane in the air.

Up. Down. Plop.

Undeterred, even as police showed up to make sure they had permission to use the airport, the boys recruited classmates Dustin Horne and Kyle Lux among friends watching the feat.

Dustin followed Nick in his SUV, while Kyle stood through the SUV’s sunroof, holding the paper airplane up for launch.

Racing down the airstrip at maybe 35 mph, Kyle launched the plane.

Up. Down. Plop.

Oh, no. The big paper airplane, its 512 sheets of paper, its 4 1/2 hours of build time, somersaulted down the runway.

“It wouldn’t fly, so we just messed around with it,” Nick chuckles. “When we got done with it, it was demolished.”

“I think our math was a little off,” Ryan laughs.

“We probably didn’t need to use as many thicknesses of paper,” Nick adds.

Still, they hope to challenge the world record, whether that’s the 30-foot-6-inch one made in the early 1990s by Virginia high school kids with help from NASA scientists or one even larger.

“We’re probably going to make a bigger one this summer, figure out how to make it stronger,” Ryan says. “We want to beat the record.”

By Orlan Love
The Gazette

Following skilled mushroom hunters through a public timber can be an unfulfilling experience unless you enjoy finding stubs.

My friend Arthur Clark of Quasqueton and I found ourselves in that unenviable situation last week  in a public timber in Buchanan County.

Jim Gallery of Winthrop points out a dead elm tree to Arthur Clark of Quasqueton during a previous morel hunt in southern Iowa. This particular hunt netted 23 pounds of the tasty fungi in about four hours. Photo by Orlan Love, The Gazette

Though we usually hunt on private ground, which is less likely to have been trampled by others, we opted last week to try our luck at a large and justifiably popular tract of county-owned land along the Wapsipinicon River.

Upon our arrival, we noticed a car parked near the timber but went ahead anyway on the slim hope it had been driven there by a turkey hunter.

Our hope was dashed when we arrived at the most productive part of the woods – an upland covered with large dead elms – and heard the voices of two men about 50 yards apart hollering back and forth, discussing their finds. Since we had no finds to discuss, they probably did not even know we were there.

Acknowledging their initiative in beating us to the spot, we graciously conceded that part of the timber and headed into the soggy river bottoms to seek morels around live river birches.
For more than an hour we slogged through the bottoms, examining scores of clusters of large birches, picking a morel here and another there but never enough collectively to even make our mesh bags hang straight.

You know you’re failing as a mushroom hunter when the perfume of blooming plum thickets – delightful but inedible – is the highlight of your outing.

Frustrated and discouraged, reckoning that the guys ahead of us had filled their bags and moved on, we decided to re-examine the good spot, hoping they had been less than thorough.

They really weren’t in the sense that they missed many mushrooms beneath the obvious trees. But, in what proved to be the salvation of our trip, they did overlook a few inconspicuous dead elms.

Like the morels themselves, some dead elms are visible only from a particular vantage, which is achieved as often as not through luck rather than diligence.

Lucky us, we walked right up to a pair of large, recently deceased specimens on a south-facing slope and found three dozen succulent 3-inchers that could not have been missed by anyone within 20 feet of the trees.

© Gazette Communications 2009

By J.R. Ogden
The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS — Arlo Becker hasn’t changed much in his “50-some” years of racing cars at Hawkeye Downs.

After more than 50 years of racing, Arlo Becker of Norway is back for another season at Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids. Photo by Liz Martin.

He’s “69 and holding” and still takes things one season at a time.

“I’ll give it one more year,” he said.

But there’s one thing Becker, 71, would like to see change at a track celebrating its 84th season.

“I would like to see Hawkeye Downs go back to dirt some day,” he said last week during a visit to promote his May 17 “Race’m or Wreck’m” event at the track, “but I don’t know if it will happen.”

Becker, of Norway, said he thinks fans and drivers around Eastern Iowa like dirt racing better than asphalt. Hawkeye Downs is the only asphalt track in an area with many dirt options.

“Everybody likes to let it hang out on the dirt,” he said.

Becker, who drives in the modified division at Hawkeye Downs, said he may switch to dirt next season “if my health holds up.”

“I’m seriously thinking about it,” he said, noting he’d run at Benton County Speedway in Vinton and West Liberty Raceway.

Becker and the rest of the modifieds will be back on the half-mile after racing on the quarter-mile last week at Hawkeye Downs.

“I prefer the half-mile,” he said. “You go faster and you get the big picture as far as a guy slowing down up there … your vision has to be better.”

He also said the setup is completely different on the smaller track, where you “turn left and go fast.”

“You have to have your car set up just perfect,” he said.

© Gazette Communications 2009

Mother-daughter bonding reaches new heights

 By Kelsey Sheehy 

Kelsey and her mom Kate have a new bond to share - skydiving/Photo by John Musgrave

Wind roaring in my ear with a loud whoosh, I immediately positioned myself in the free-fall position – head back, hips forwards, feet tucked toward my butt.  Breathe.  The thrill of the free fall felt crisp, like I had just splashed my face with ice-cold water – but multiplied – and I tried to catch my breath.

 Randy DeShaw, my tandem instructor, stuck his hand into my line of sight giving me a thumps-up and signaling me to wave to the camera.  I waved my hands in small, quick bursts, careful not to deviate too far from the proper position, which I was sure would lead to the early death mentioned on several waiver forms earlier that morning.

 ”You know, my life insurance policy won’t pay out for this,” Mom said as we pulled up to Paradise Skydiving’s jump site at the Vinton Memorial Airport – little more than two hangers and a landing strip.  “It’s like they consider it suicide or something, jumping out of a plane.” 

Kelsey freefalls with instructor Randy DeShaw of Paradise Skydiving in Vinton / Photo by Mike Hoy

In just over a minute I dropped from 14,000 feet to 5,000.  Feeling Randy slap me three times on my hip, I grabbed the orange handle and pulled.  Relief mixed with the adrenaline of the free fall as the parachute opened, snapping me upright. 

 It opened!  I’m alive!  I’m a skydiver!

 Taking in the view, I fought off my tendency for motion sickness as Randy pulled down on the right toggle, sending us swooping in that direction.  “That might be your mom over there” he said, pointing to a hot pink and neon green parachute.

 I bet she is loving this!

 I tried to imagine what my mom was thinking as she took in the same sights as I was.  She had wanted to skydive for her 50^th birthday, but the idea didn’t take flight until six years later.

 Earlier that morning, waiting for our turn to jump, my mom showed no sign of nerves.  She had been waiting for this day. 

 ”That’s my guy!” she laughed, pointing to her tandem instructor Ken Poston as he fitted her harness.  “I’m so excited!  We’re going to flip!”  I thought about how my mother’s exuberance embarrassed me growing up, and how I did not always appreciating having what my friends referred to as a “cool” mom.

 But I was far from embarrassed as I watched her jump around, clapping with excitement and entertaining our fellow skydivers.  As I silently chewed on my nail – a nervous habit – I thought of all the seemingly irrational things my Mom had prodded me to do – like leaving my full-time job to go back to school.  Now I could add jumping out of a plane to the list. And how many people can say they’ve done that with their moms?  This was something we would always share, just the two of us.

It took less than five minutes to parachute down from 5,000 feet.  As I came in for landing, the distance between myself and the ground quickly disappeared. “Flare! One, two, three four!” Randy shouted in my ear, signaling the landing procedure we had gone over on the way down.  My feet touched solid ground and it was over. 

 My mom landed just before me and, already unhooked from her parachute, was jumping up and down like a high school cheerleader.  She wrapped her arms around my waist in a hug and said “Want to do it again?”

 Absolutely.

Kelsey is a full-time journalism/spanish student at the University of Iowa, graduating in December, with no idea what she’d like to be when she grows up. She hopes it involves a bottle of wine, Dove dark chocolate and a little adventure.

Latest Star Trek film opens in Iowa City

By Diana Nollen
The Gazette

Local Invasion Iowa cast member Diane Schultz of Riverside (left) gets out of a limousine with the help of Riverside Area Community Club President Carol Riggan of Riverside (right) as they arrive for a special screening of Star Trek at the Sycamore 12 Theaters in Iowa City / Photo by Brian Ray, The Gazette

“Riverside Shipyard.” “Riverside Shipyard.” “Riverside Shipyard.”

The whispers rippled through the nearly 300 Riverside residents gathered for a sneak peek at what the future holds for their town – the birthplace of James T. Kirk.

Paramount Pictures invited them to gather last night to see “Star Trek” at the Marcus Sycamore Cinema 12, 1602 Sycamore St. in Iowa City. The movie opens at theaters nationwide Friday, including Galaxy 16 Cine and Wynnsong 12 in Cedar Rapids, Sycamore 12 in Iowa City and Coral Ridge 10 in Coralville.

This latest chapter in the “Star Trek” franchise is actually its earliest chapter, explaining how a wayward Iowa farm boy meets Spock, Scotty, Bones and the rest of the USS Enterprise crew 200 years from now.

The reference to Riverside almost went unnoticed, after two previous mentions of Iowa drew cheers and applause from the crowd.

“Riverside Shipyard kind of snuck up on you,” Mayor Bill Poch, 55, said after the screening.”The next time I go to the movie I will say ‘yea Riverside!’ ”

Steve Miller, 60, of Iowa City, who launched the Riverside/Star Trek connection 25 years ago, called the movie “edge-of-your-seat spellbinding.”

“They mentioned Riverside, although the scenes in Iowa 200 years from now don’t look like Iowa today.” But he wasn’t disappointed. “It’s as good as we could hope for.”

The voyage began in the mid-1980s when Miller lived in Riverside and served on the City Council. He had read in a “Star Trek” book that Kirk was an Iowa farm boy. So he and the council decided to write to “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry suggesting Riverside as Kirk’s hometown.

Roddenberry agreed and officially designated Riverside as “The Future Birthplace of Captain James Tiberius Kirk.”

Lena Popkova, 16, from the Ukraine, an exchange student at Riverside’s Highland High School, was looking forward to the show, dressed for the part in a red Starfleet uniform. “I have seen part of the old movie,” she said. “Today I see the new one.”

Afterward, she declared the movie “great.” “I liked it a lot,” she said “It was fantastic,” with special effects “you don’t see every day on TV.”

Just a handful of audience members came in costume, but many came in style, via five stretch limos and two buses.

And despite all the conflict among the species, Vulcans, Romulans and humans will gather peacefully to celebrate their common heritage June 26 and 27 during Riverside’s TrekFest XXV.

Cecelia Hanley of The Gazette contributed to this report.

2009 Gazette Communications