Mail to: Christmas Coloring Contest
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PAGE 6 | THE BEE, JEFFERSON, IOWA | TUESDAY | 11.30.21 Sponsor: Jefferson Mail to: Christmas Coloring Contest c/o The Jefferson Bee & Herald 200 N. Wilson St. Jefferson, IA 50129 All entries must be received by Noon Wed., Dec. 22, 2021 at the Jefferson Bee & Herald Entries will not be accepted at the sponsor businesses. In good times and bad our commitment to the community never wavers. Consider supporting local, original reporting with a 1-year subscription 123rd Year Number 14 Jefferson, Iowa Thursday, April 2, 2020 www.beeherald.com $1.00 1957: THE YEAR THE FLU DERAILED GRIDIRON GLORY PAGE 10 THE JEFFERSON HERALD 515-386-4161 SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 200 N. WILSON • JEFFERSON, IA 50129 515-386-4161 • www.beeherald.com Greene County’s News Provider since 1897 JEFFERSON HERALD SIERRA, PAGE 4 MASKS, PAGE 4 If your video-on-demand experience during the CO- VID-19 pandemic has been lacking, Sarah Nicholson couldn’t be happier. The manager of the Sierra Community Theatre, who filed for unemployment about as soon as Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered the clo- sure of all theaters in Iowa to mitigate the spread, is keeping a wary eye on Hol- lywood’s response to the pandemic. Universal Pictures was the first studio to announce it would make new releases available for streaming rath- er than delay them. That means families, who ordinarily might have shown up en masse to the Sierra with candy-hungry kids in tow, will now be able to watch “Trolls World Tour” beginning April 10 without having to leave the house. “The scary part about that is, what if they like that?” Nicholson said, referring to the movie studios. “What does that mean for us once the closure is over?” The challenges of op- erating a single-screen movie theater in the age of 20-screen megaplexes and multiplying streaming ser- vices are many. The Sierra, which has been operated as a community-owned non- profit since 2012, has the added responsibility of car- ing for a building that’s now 135 years old, making it one of the oldest, continuously operated entertainment ven- ues in the state. The local theater survived the Spanish flu, two world wars, the Great Depression and 9/11 — but the threat of COVID-19 is different, be- cause for the first time, tech- nology exists that can render a movie theater obsolete. “Showing up will be the thing that helps us survive this,” Nicholson said. That’s the catch — no one can say when the theater will be allowed to resume operations. Reynolds last week contin- ued the state’s public health emergency declaration to 11:59 p.m. April 7, and it would come as no surprise if it extends even further. The order closed theaters and restaurants, but gave the lat- ter the option to remain open Pandemic an existential threat to theaters like the Sierra By ANDREW MCGINN [email protected] M ichele Madsen learned to sew in fourth grade as part of 4-H. “I’ve used it my whole life,” said Madsen, a native of Churdan. But until two weeks ago, it was unthinkable that her life may actually depend on a craft project. The director of Greene County Ambulance, Madsen and her EMS staff of nearly 20 will likely be the first line of defense in Greene Coun- ty’s fight against COVID-19, the new disease that appears to be spreading with ease. A national shortage of com- mercially produced personal protective equipment, or PPE, pushed Madsen to action, sewing homemade masks for her staff. “Most of what I’ve tried to order is on back order,” she said. “I didn’t want my staff to have nothing.” Madsen hasn’t been alone in her thinking. While everyone else was out buying up toilet paper, area crafters snatched up every scrap of elastic — the material that makes a mask a mask — on hand at The Stitch, the quilt shop on East Lincoln Way, in order to make homemade masks for health care workers, first responders, hospital patients, nursing home residents and other loved ones. “People are saying you can’t even get it on Amazon until May,” said LeAnn Monaghan, a local quilter who’s worked part-time at The Stitch for five years. By her estimation, The Stitch sold enough elastic in two days — in two different sizes — to produce more than 600 masks. They sold more elastic in those two days, Monaghan said, than they usually sell in a year. Monaghan, whose son is police chief in Gowrie and whose daughter-in-law is a nurse in Fort Dodge, has made a half-dozen masks of her own, each one taking about a half-hour to sew. “I ran out of elastic,” she explained, “so I started using hair ties.” It’s fitting, she said, that quilters would be among the first to respond to the call for more PPE. Patterns and tutorials abound online. The Greene County Medical Cen- ter, UnityPoint Health and the Mary Greeley Foundation in Ames (on behalf of Mary Greeley Medical Center and McFarland Clinic) all have patterns on their sites. “Quilters by nature are very generous people,” Monaghan said. “Most people won’t sell you a quilt, but they’ll give THE QUILT BRIGADE Local quilters mobilize to fill need for more protective masks By ANDREW MCGINN [email protected] COVID-19 closing in on county Staff report Responding to questions from The Jefferson Herald, the Greene County Medical Center said last week it gets regular shipments of COVID-19 testing kits. The shipments are small, said Dr. Mi- chael Line, chief medical officer, and the facility is working with its partner, UnityPoint, “to get as many kits as we can.” However, as Line noted, having test kits doesn’t prevent the virus from spreading. The only way to limit coronavirus from spreading, he said, is to practice social distancing, wash your hands and self-isolate if necessary. He encourages Greene County residents to follow sug- gestions from the Iowa Department of Public Health. The medical center later elaborated on its preparations for COVID-19 with a press release. Some of the major takeaways: • Daily COVID-19 preparation meet- ings with leaders throughout the facility have been ongoing since February. • Personal protective equipment (PPE) inventory and management is discussed daily, including identifying substitutes and alternative supply sources. In addi- tion, PPE skills training and practicing is ongoing. • Surge, triage and capacity plans are also being reviewed and updated daily for a potential surge of COVID-19 pa- tients. • All staff and providers must undergo screening upon entering the medical center for their shift, including screen- ing questions and temperature taken. PLEASE, STAY HOME! The offices of The Bee and The Jefferson Herald are closed to foot traffic until further notice to help halt the spread of COVID-19. Staff can be reached by phone, email or regular mail with questions about subscrip- tions, advertising, billing or news tips. Newspapers are available for sale only at local grocery stores and at many conve- nience stores. Please, if you want to publish a Thank You or a Card Shower, help us help you by stay- ing home. We’re only a call or email away. The Jefferson city council has set a public hearing for the April 28 council meeting on plans, specifi- cations, form of contract and estimate of costs for the upcoming city shared use path improvements project. The paths include reconstruction of the Daubend- iek Park path, a new trail along Highway 4 south from Ram Drive to Greenewood Road, a trail along East Lincoln Way from the depot to the Jefferson Cemetery entrance, and a trail along West Central Avenue from Highway 4 to Walnut Avenue. Bids on the project were to be received by April 22. Vote on the action March 24 at the council’s regu- lar meeting was 4-0, with council members Darren Jackson, Harry Ahrenholtz, Pat Zmolek and Matt Wetrich voting yes and council member David Sloan abstaining. In other action, the council approved a three-year web services agreement with Tyler Technologies to provide residents with online utility payment ser- vice. The agreement will provide software for the pay- ments for $1,200 per year. The council also amended the city’s urban renewal plan to add Block 33 in the Original Town section of Jefferson. Block 33 is the block immediately east of the middle school. The action will allow the use of tax increment financing (TIF) for possible building im- provements on the block. The amendment followed a public hearing on the subject at the meeting. No comments were received. The council tabled until the April 14 council meet- ing a resolution to award a contract for reconstruct- ing the roof on the building at 100 E. State St. The building, at the northwest corner of the Square, for- merly housed Angie’s Tea Garden. The city will need to amend its urban renewal plan to that effect before the contract is awarded. That action is also anticipated at the April 14 meeting. The council rescheduled the public hearing on the proposed 2020-21 city budget to the April 14 meet- ing, rather than the originally scheduled March 31 special meeting. Rescheduling was necessary be- cause of a publication error concerning the public notice by the Jefferson Herald. The council approved the appointment of Roxanne Gorsuch as city clerk, effective April 1, at a salary of $47,264. Gorsuch replaces Diane Kennedy, who retired March 31 after 40 years of service to the city. The council approved annual appointments of city personnel as follows: Diane Kennedy, city clerk (until March 31); Robert Schwarzkopf, city attor- ney; Jim Leiting (representing Bolton and Menk), city engineer; and council members Jackson and Wetrich to the park and recreation board. New city trails close to reality Bids due April 22 By RICK MORAIN For The Jefferson Herald Sign of the times: LeAnn Monaghan, of Jefferson, models one of the protective masks she sewed for health care workers. “I didn’t smile,” she noted afterward. A national shortage of masks in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic has led many medical facilities, including the Greene County Medical Center, to solicit their communities for homemade masks. ANDREW McGINN | JEFFERSON HERALD PHOTOS Monaghan said she can make a mask in about 30 minutes. However, good luck finding elastic: it’s become the sewing hobby’s equivalent of toilet paper. 123rd Year Number 13 Jefferson, Iowa Thursday, March 26, 2020 www.beeherald.com $1.00 SCHOOLS BEGIN SACK LUNCH PROGRAMS PAGE 3 THE JEFFERSON HERALD 515-386-4161 SUBSCRIBE TODAY! 200 N. WILSON • JEFFERSON, IA 50129 515-386-4161 • www.beeherald.com Greene County’s News Provider since 1897 JEFFERSON HERALD AFS, PAGE 4 OHRT, PAGE 8 A month ago, Louise Anselmo took a FaceTime call from a friend back in France, who told her about a new virus there. Anselmo, an exchange student at Greene County High School from the rural south of France, will soon join an exodus of AFS students out of the Unit- ed States to their home countries as that virus — COVID-19 — bears down on the rest of the world. Marta Trindade, an exchange student at Greene County High School from Portugal, said this week they’ll be given between 24 and 72 hours notice before their departures, an abrupt end to their year abroad that will leave prom dresses unworn and pre- vent them from saying goodbye to all friends. “I don’t think it’s the best decision to send me home,” Trindade, 16, said. AFS Intercultural Programs made the decision to bring home participants where possible because of COVID-19, believing it to be in the best interest of students to be with their families in their home countries. These are days of intense communal uncertainty and vulnerability. We are always vulnerable. (Ten out of 10 die with or without toilet paper or hand sanitizer.) We are just not forced to look at it so square in the eyes as now. I would like to offer some thoughts on how to han- dle these uncomfortable feelings of fear and anxiety. Anxiety is the focus on a perceived or actual threat related to the future. A manageable amount of anxi- ety helps us focus and do our best. Anxiety has kept the human species alive and in- ventive. Anxiety is a normal feeling and is tied to our drive to survive. However, anxiety does create a problem when it takes over and keeps us from doing or being our best. We can become so focused on what might hap- pen in the future that we cannot function in the pres- ent. Anxiety is also like a virus and is extremely con- tagious. Part of the present dilemma is that we tend not to do well in isolation and yet we are told to distance ourselves for our safety. We see the other as a pos- AFS kids bugging out early Year in Iowa cut short by pandemic By ANDREW MCGINN [email protected] DAVID OHRT A little anxiety is perfectly OK ALL PANDEMICS IS LOCAL This cartoon graced Page 1 of the Jefferson Herald on Jan. 8, 1919, to commemorate Jefferson’s victory after 12 weeks over “Mister A. Flugerm.” The city council’s 12-week quarantine in 1918 likely saved lives MRS. STUDEBAKER DEAD. Today, those words mean little, if anything. But on Christmas Day, 1918, the headline in that af- ternoon’s Jefferson Bee would have undoubtedly knocked the wind out of the community. That is, what wind was left to spare. Dozens locally that De- cember were in the fight of their lives against pneumonia, brought on by an H1N1 virus of avian origin that remains some- thing of a mystery more than a century later. What made the so-called Spanish flu — the most severe pandemic in mod- ern history, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — so unnerving was its abil- ity to ravage the healthiest of citizens. Olga Studebaker, 32, had quickly endeared herself to the community as the high school principal’s charming and cerebral better half when they ar- rived in Jefferson in 1914. A member of Friday Club who was as sweet as she was smart — a lady of “unusual intellectual qualities,” the Jefferson Herald wrote in mourn- ing her death from influ- enza — Olga and husband C.H. (Claud Harmon) were soon Scranton’s gain when C.H. Studebaker was named superinten- dent of schools there in the fall of 1917. MRS. STUDEBAKER DEAD. The news of her death from the “dread pneumo- nia” was as unbelievable as it was believable. Young adults between the ages of 20 and 40, who were otherwise perfectly healthy, suffered espe- cially high mortality rates during the flu pandemic of 1918, according to the CDC. The 1918 influenza pan- demic is still the one by which all pandemics are judged, and hopefully once COVID-19 — the first pandemic caused by a new coronavirus — pass- es through us, the worst remains in the past. Still, you’ve no doubt seen or heard news sto- ries in recent days about the lessons of 1918, when an estimated 50 million people worldwide died of the flu, including 675,000 in the U.S. In many ways, the world today looks nothing like the one in 1918. Until 1930, when in- fluenza was isolated, it wasn’t even known for ANDREW MCGINN MCGINN AGAIN PANDEMIC, PAGE 4 Marta Trindade, an exchange student from Portu- gal, achieved a dream of becoming a cheerleader. Floyd Guiter, who’s buried in the Jefferson Cemetery, lost his battle with influenza on Nov. 10, 1918, one of 16 Jefferson residents killed in that year’s flu pan- demic. For several days, the newspaper reported, his condition “hovered between hopeful and hopeless.” He was 40, and left behind a wife and six kids. Subscribe Today! Classic Newsprint or E-Edition
Transcript of Mail to: Christmas Coloring Contest
page 6 | THE BEE, JEFFERSON, IOWA | TuESdAy | 11.30.21
Sponsor:
Jefferson
Mail to:Christmas Coloring Contest
c/o The Jefferson Bee & Herald200 N. Wilson St.
Jefferson, IA 50129
All entries must be receivedby Noon Wed., Dec. 22, 2021at the Jefferson Bee & Herald
Entries will not be acceptedat the sponsor businesses.
In good times and badour commitment to the
community never wavers.Consider supporting local, original reporting with a 1-year subscription
123rd Year Number 14Jefferson, Iowa Thursday, April 2, 2020 www.beeherald.com $1.00
1957: THE YEAR THE FLUDERAILED GRIDIRON GLORY
PAGE 10
THE JEFFERSON HERALD 515-386-4161
SUBSCRIBE TODAY!200 N. WILSON • JEFFERSON, IA 50129
515-386-4161 • www.beeherald.com
Greene County’sNews Provider since 1897
JEFFERSON HERALDSIERRA, PAGE 4
MASKS, PAGE 4
If your video-on-demand experience during the CO-VID-19 pandemic has been lacking, Sarah Nicholson couldn’t be happier.
The manager of the Sierra Community Theatre, who fi led for unemployment about as soon as Gov. Kim Reynolds ordered the clo-
sure of all theaters in Iowa to mitigate the spread, is keeping a wary eye on Hol-lywood’s response to the pandemic.
Universal Pictures was the fi rst studio to announce it would make new releases available for streaming rath-er than delay them.
That means families, who ordinarily might have shown up en masse to the Sierra
with candy-hungry kids in tow, will now be able to watch “Trolls World Tour” beginning April 10 without having to leave the house.
“The scary part about that is, what if they like that?” Nicholson said, referring to the movie studios. “What does that mean for us once the closure is over?”
The challenges of op-erating a single-screen
movie theater in the age of 20-screen megaplexes and multiplying streaming ser-vices are many. The Sierra, which has been operated as a community-owned non-profi t since 2012, has the added responsibility of car-ing for a building that’s now 135 years old, making it one of the oldest, continuously operated entertainment ven-ues in the state.
The local theater survived the Spanish fl u, two world wars, the Great Depression and 9/11 — but the threat of COVID-19 is different, be-cause for the fi rst time, tech-nology exists that can render a movie theater obsolete.
“Showing up will be the thing that helps us survive this,” Nicholson said.
That’s the catch — no one can say when the theater
will be allowed to resume operations.
Reynolds last week contin-ued the state’s public health emergency declaration to 11:59 p.m. April 7, and it would come as no surprise if it extends even further. The order closed theaters and restaurants, but gave the lat-ter the option to remain open
Pandemic an existential threat to theaters like the SierraBy ANDREW [email protected]
Michele Madsen learned to sew in fourth grade as part of 4-H.
“I’ve used it my whole life,” said Madsen, a native of Churdan.
But until two weeks ago, it was unthinkable that her life may actually depend on a craft project.
The director of Greene County Ambulance, Madsen and her EMS staff of nearly 20 will likely be the fi rst line of defense in Greene Coun-ty’s fi ght against COVID-19, the new disease that appears to be spreading with ease.
A national shortage of com-mercially produced personal protective equipment, or PPE, pushed Madsen to action, sewing homemade masks for her staff.
“Most of what I’ve tried to order is on back order,” she said. “I didn’t want my staff to have nothing.”
Madsen hasn’t been alone in
her thinking. While everyone else was out buying up toilet paper, area crafters snatched up every scrap of elastic — the material that makes a mask a mask — on hand at The Stitch, the quilt shop on East Lincoln Way, in order to make homemade masks for health care workers, fi rst responders, hospital patients, nursing home residents and
other loved ones.“People are saying you can’t
even get it on Amazon until May,” said LeAnn Monaghan, a local quilter who’s worked part-time at The Stitch for fi ve years.
By her estimation, The Stitch sold enough elastic in two days — in two different sizes — to produce more than 600 masks.
They sold more elastic in those two days, Monaghan said, than they usually sell in a year.
Monaghan, whose son is police chief in Gowrie and whose daughter-in-law is a nurse in Fort Dodge, has made a half-dozen masks of her own, each one taking about a half-hour to sew.
“I ran out of elastic,” she explained, “so I started using hair ties.”
It’s fi tting, she said, that quilters would be among the fi rst to respond to the call for more PPE. Patterns and tutorials abound online. The Greene County Medical Cen-ter, UnityPoint Health and the Mary Greeley Foundation in Ames (on behalf of Mary Greeley Medical Center and McFarland Clinic) all have patterns on their sites.
“Quilters by nature are very generous people,” Monaghan said. “Most people won’t sell you a quilt, but they’ll give
THE QUILT BRIGADELocal quilters mobilize to fi ll need for more protective masksBy ANDREW [email protected]
COVID-19 closing in on countyStaff reportResponding to questions from The
Jefferson Herald, the Greene County Medical Center said last week it gets regular shipments of COVID-19 testing kits.The shipments are small, said Dr. Mi-
chael Line, chief medical offi cer, and the facility is working with its partner, UnityPoint, “to get as many kits as we can.”However, as Line noted, having test
kits doesn’t prevent the virus from spreading.
The only way to limit coronavirus from spreading, he said, is to practice social distancing, wash your hands and self-isolate if necessary. He encourages Greene County residents to follow sug-gestions from the Iowa Department of Public Health.The medical center later elaborated on
its preparations for COVID-19 with a press release.Some of the major takeaways:• Daily COVID-19 preparation meet-
ings with leaders throughout the facility have been ongoing since February.
• Personal protective equipment (PPE) inventory and management is discussed daily, including identifying substitutes and alternative supply sources. In addi-tion, PPE skills training and practicing is ongoing.• Surge, triage and capacity plans are
also being reviewed and updated daily for a potential surge of COVID-19 pa-tients.• All staff and providers must undergo
screening upon entering the medical center for their shift, including screen-ing questions and temperature taken.
PLEASE, STAY HOME!The offi ces of The Bee and The Jefferson
Herald are closed to foot traffi c until further notice to help halt the spread of COVID-19.Staff can be reached by phone, email or
regular mail with questions about subscrip-tions, advertising, billing or news tips.Newspapers are available for sale only at
local grocery stores and at many conve-nience stores.Please, if you want to publish a Thank You
or a Card Shower, help us help you by stay-ing home. We’re only a call or email away.
The Jefferson city council has set a public hearing for the April 28 council meeting on plans, specifi -cations, form of contract and estimate of costs for the upcoming city shared use path improvements project.
The paths include reconstruction of the Daubend-iek Park path, a new trail along Highway 4 south from Ram Drive to Greenewood Road, a trail along East Lincoln Way from the depot to the Jefferson Cemetery entrance, and a trail along West Central Avenue from Highway 4 to Walnut Avenue.
Bids on the project were to be received by April 22.
Vote on the action March 24 at the council’s regu-lar meeting was 4-0, with council members Darren Jackson, Harry Ahrenholtz, Pat Zmolek and Matt Wetrich voting yes and council member David Sloan abstaining.
In other action, the council approved a three-year web services agreement with Tyler Technologies to provide residents with online utility payment ser-vice.
The agreement will provide software for the pay-ments for $1,200 per year.
The council also amended the city’s urban renewal plan to add Block 33 in the Original Town section of Jefferson.
Block 33 is the block immediately east of the middle school. The action will allow the use of tax increment fi nancing (TIF) for possible building im-provements on the block.
The amendment followed a public hearing on the subject at the meeting. No comments were received.
The council tabled until the April 14 council meet-ing a resolution to award a contract for reconstruct-ing the roof on the building at 100 E. State St. The building, at the northwest corner of the Square, for-merly housed Angie’s Tea Garden.
The city will need to amend its urban renewal plan to that effect before the contract is awarded. That action is also anticipated at the April 14 meeting.
The council rescheduled the public hearing on the proposed 2020-21 city budget to the April 14 meet-ing, rather than the originally scheduled March 31 special meeting. Rescheduling was necessary be-cause of a publication error concerning the public notice by the Jefferson Herald.
The council approved the appointment of Roxanne Gorsuch as city clerk, effective April 1, at a salary of $47,264. Gorsuch replaces Diane Kennedy, who retired March 31 after 40 years of service to the city.
The council approved annual appointments of city personnel as follows: Diane Kennedy, city clerk (until March 31); Robert Schwarzkopf, city attor-ney; Jim Leiting (representing Bolton and Menk), city engineer; and council members Jackson and Wetrich to the park and recreation board.
New city trails close to realityBids due April 22By RICK MORAINFor The Jefferson Herald
Sign of the times: LeAnn Monaghan, of Jefferson, models one of the protective masks she sewed for health care workers. “I didn’t smile,” she noted afterward. A national shortage of masks in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic has led many medical facilities, including the Greene County Medical Center, to solicit their communities for homemade masks. ANDREW McGINN | JEFFERSON HERALD PHOTOS
Monaghan said she can make a mask in about 30 minutes. However, good luck fi nding elastic: it’s become the sewing hobby’s equivalent of toilet paper.
will be allowed to resume
Reynolds last week contin-ued the state’s public health emergency declaration to 11:59 p.m. April 7, and it would come as no surprise if it extends even further. The order closed theaters and restaurants, but gave the lat-ter the option to remain open
Pandemic an existential threat to theaters like the Sierra
The Jefferson city council has set a public hearing for the April 28 council meeting on plans, specifi -cations, form of contract and estimate of costs for the upcoming city shared use path improvements
The paths include reconstruction of the Daubend-iek Park path, a new trail along Highway 4 south from Ram Drive to Greenewood Road, a trail along East Lincoln Way from the depot to the Jefferson Cemetery entrance, and a trail along West Central
Bids on the project were to be received by April
Vote on the action March 24 at the council’s regu-lar meeting was 4-0, with council members Darren Jackson, Harry Ahrenholtz, Pat Zmolek and Matt Wetrich voting yes and council member David
In other action, the council approved a three-year web services agreement with Tyler Technologies to provide residents with online utility payment ser-
The agreement will provide software for the pay-
The council also amended the city’s urban renewal plan to add Block 33 in the Original Town section
Block 33 is the block immediately east of the middle school. The action will allow the use of tax increment fi nancing (TIF) for possible building im-
The amendment followed a public hearing on the subject at the meeting. No comments were received.
The council tabled until the April 14 council meet-ing a resolution to award a contract for reconstruct-ing the roof on the building at 100 E. State St. The building, at the northwest corner of the Square, for-
The city will need to amend its urban renewal plan to that effect before the contract is awarded. That
The council rescheduled the public hearing on the proposed 2020-21 city budget to the April 14 meet-ing, rather than the originally scheduled March 31 special meeting. Rescheduling was necessary be-cause of a publication error concerning the public
The council approved the appointment of Roxanne Gorsuch as city clerk, effective April 1, at a salary of $47,264. Gorsuch replaces Diane Kennedy, who retired March 31 after 40 years of service to the city.
The council approved annual appointments of city personnel as follows: Diane Kennedy, city clerk (until March 31); Robert Schwarzkopf, city attor-ney; Jim Leiting (representing Bolton and Menk), city engineer; and council members Jackson and
123rd Year Number 13Jefferson, Iowa Thursday, March 26, 2020 www.beeherald.com $1.00
SCHOOLS BEGIN SACK LUNCH PROGRAMS PAGE 3
THE JEFFERSON HERALD 515-386-4161
SUBSCRIBE TODAY!200 N. WILSON • JEFFERSON, IA 50129
515-386-4161 • www.beeherald.com
Greene County’sNews Provider since 1897
JEFFERSON HERALD
AFS, PAGE 4
OHRT, PAGE 8
A month ago, Louise Anselmo took a FaceTime call from a friend back in France, who told her about a new virus there.
Anselmo, an exchange student at Greene County High School from the rural south of France, will soon join an exodus of AFS students out of the Unit-ed States to their home countries as that virus — COVID-19 — bears down on the rest of the world.
Marta Trindade, an exchange student at Greene County High School from Portugal, said this week they’ll be given between 24 and 72 hours notice before their departures, an abrupt end to their year abroad that will leave prom dresses unworn and pre-vent them from saying goodbye to all friends.
“I don’t think it’s the best decision to send me home,” Trindade, 16, said.
AFS Intercultural Programs made the decision to bring home participants where possible because of COVID-19, believing it to be in the best interest of students to be with their families in their home countries.
These are days of intense communal uncertainty and vulnerability. We are always vulnerable. (Ten out of 10 die with or without toilet paper or hand sanitizer.) We are just not forced to look at it so square in the eyes as now.
I would like to offer some thoughts on how to han-dle these uncomfortable feelings of fear and anxiety.
Anxiety is the focus on a perceived or actual threat related to the future. A manageable amount of anxi-ety helps us focus and do our best.
Anxiety has kept the human species alive and in-ventive. Anxiety is a normal feeling and is tied to our drive to survive.
However, anxiety does create a problem when it takes over and keeps us from doing or being our best. We can become so focused on what might hap-pen in the future that we cannot function in the pres-ent.
Anxiety is also like a virus and is extremely con-tagious.
Part of the present dilemma is that we tend not to do well in isolation and yet we are told to distance ourselves for our safety. We see the other as a pos-
AFS kidsbuggingout earlyYear in Iowa cut short by pandemicBy ANDREW [email protected]
DAVIDOHRT
A little anxiety is perfectly OK
ALL PANDEMICS
IS LOCAL
This cartoon graced Page 1 of the Jefferson Herald on Jan. 8, 1919, to commemorate Jefferson’s victory after 12 weeks over “Mister A. Flugerm.”
The city council’s 12-weekquarantine in 1918 likely saved lives
MRS. STUDEBAKER DEAD.
Today, those words mean little, if anything. But on Christmas Day, 1918, the headline in that af-ternoon’s Jefferson Bee would have undoubtedly knocked the wind out of the community.
That is, what wind was left to spare.
Dozens locally that De-cember were in the fi ght of their lives against pneumonia, brought on by an H1N1 virus of avian origin that remains some-thing of a mystery more than a century later.
What made the so-called Spanish fl u — the most severe pandemic in mod-ern history, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — so unnerving was its abil-ity to ravage the healthiest of citizens.
Olga Studebaker, 32, had quickly endeared herself
to the community as the high school principal’s charming and cerebral better half when they ar-rived in Jefferson in 1914. A member of Friday Club who was as sweet as she was smart — a lady of “unusual intellectual qualities,” the Jefferson Herald wrote in mourn-ing her death from infl u-enza — Olga and husband C.H. (Claud Harmon) were soon Scranton’s gain when C.H. Studebaker was named superinten-dent of schools there in the fall of 1917.
MRS. STUDEBAKER DEAD.
The news of her death from the “dread pneumo-nia” was as unbelievable as it was believable.
Young adults between the ages of 20 and 40, who were otherwise perfectly healthy, suffered espe-cially high mortality rates during the fl u pandemic
of 1918, according to the CDC.
The 1918 infl uenza pan-demic is still the one by which all pandemics are judged, and hopefully once COVID-19 — the fi rst pandemic caused by a new coronavirus — pass-es through us, the worst remains in the past.
Still, you’ve no doubt seen or heard news sto-ries in recent days about
the lessons of 1918, when an estimated 50 million people worldwide died of the fl u, including 675,000 in the U.S.
In many ways, the world today looks nothing like the one in 1918.
Until 1930, when in-fl uenza was isolated, it wasn’t even known for
ANDREWMCGINNMCGINN AGAIN
PANDEMIC, PAGE 4
Marta Trindade, an exchange student from Portu-gal, achieved a dream of becoming a cheerleader.
Floyd Guiter, who’s buried in the Jefferson Cemetery, lost his battle with infl uenza on Nov. 10, 1918, one of 16 Jefferson residents killed in that year’s fl u pan-demic. For several days, the newspaper reported, his condition “hovered between hopeful and hopeless.” He was 40, and left behind a wife and six kids.
Subscribe Today!Classic Newsprint or E-Edition
