Glance Back

(From The Washington Evening Journal, Friday, Sept. 24, 2004)

10 YEARS AGO

BRIGHTON ? Though it?s just over a year old, GGG Productions has already outgrown its first office space.

Whether it was company expansion, as Byron Pringle puts it, or the fact that the CEO?s parents made him take his operation elsewhere as Assistant Vice President Jason Showman later disclosed, Great Grape Games is now headquartered in the dusty and dimly lit garage adjacent to Pringle?s parents? house off a gravel road in Brighton.

? Byron, 17, and best-friend Cory Heminger of Washington, 16, set out in the spring of 2003 with the goal of creating their own video games on their home computers. A year later, Byron and Cory now have a company name, a new office space stocked with a couple of PCs and some audio equipment, four completed games, and a handful of computer-savvy co-workers with big dreams.

Maggie Smith of Crawfordsville will have a new look for her school pictures next week. Wednesday afternoon, the 4 ½-year-old had 10 inches of hair cut off to donate to Locks of Love.

KALONA ? The 33rd annual Kalona Fall Festival got under way this morning with a variety of foods, crafts and demonstrations available. Among the first arrivals was a large contingent of photographers who were attending the North Central Iowa Photography Convention in Iowa City.

20 YEARS AGO

AINSWORTH ? Ainsworth will form what amounts to a one-man police department after city officials rejected continued law enforcement from the Washington County Sheriff?s Department last week.

The City Council agreed to contract with former Washington County deputy John Combs for an unspecified number of hours.

The decaying outdoor Washington pool has crumbled a bit too far and Washington Park District Board members are looking at alternatives.

Losing an estimated 25,000 gallons of water a day, the leaking pool could be repaired or demolished to be replaced with another outdoor facility or an indoor one.

BRIGHTON ? Marion Dunbar has endured flat tires, icy roads, close calls and pranks for 30 years as a rural Wellman mail carrier, but he has made it through unscathed.

Dunbar, of Brighton, was honored recently by the National Safety Council for outstanding performance in driving 1 million miles, or 30 years, without a preventable accident as an employee of the U.S. Postal Service.

30 YEARS AGO

Dr. Ann Harris has joined the staff of Washington Dental Associates, a professional corporation whose offices are located in the Professional Building here. Harris, who received a doctor of dentistry degree from the University of Iowa?s College of Dentistry in May, began her practice here today. She replaces L.B. Eicher at Washington Dental Associates. Eicher retired recently after a 40-year career in dentistry, and he and his wife Anne plan to move soon to Portage, Wis. Harris will be associated in dental practice with her husband, Dr. J.M. Harris, and Dr. J.M. Leary.

An Alabama company won a $79,500 contract Tuesday for refurbishing the so-called ?Big Egg,? a century-old, underground tunnel that serves as the backbone of Washington?s sewer system. The project calls for repairing 1,715 linear feet of the Big Egg, from a point 500 feet west of the Van Buren Street and D Avenue intersection to B Avenue midway between Monroe and Adams streets. The Big Egg, built in the 1880s, is so named because of its shape, which resembles an egg standing on end. The combination sewer, which is 5 feet tall and 3 ½ feet wide, carries both storm and waste water.

40 YEARS AGO

A Missouri farmer, Richard Oberdahloff of Bowling Green, swept the championship in the commercial gilt class and Dale Thompson of Riverside took first in the on-hoof judging of production barrows Friday as judging got under way in the National Commercial Swine Type Conference at the county fairgrounds.

The outlet terraces are becoming more popular and widely accepted as an effective erosion control practice. More than 55 miles of such terraces have been built by 63 landowners in Washington County since the first of this type were constructed in 1966.

KALONA ? The Earl Yoder Construction Co. of Kalona and Iowa City were awarded a $74,900 contract by the town council Monday night for construction of a new fire station here. The 64- by 80-foot fire station will be built on land just north of the post office on Fifth Street.

The VFW and Auxiliary poppy sale in Washington this month was described today as a success. Over $500 was received from the sale of 3,000 poppies.

The board of education of the Joint County School System voted Monday night to sell the Prairie Flower School building about 10 miles northwest of Washington. The building was formerly used as a learning center for the mentally handicapped and slow learners, who have been assimilated into the Washington school system this year.

J. Richard Wiley was re-elected president of the Washington Community School District?s board of education in a special reorganizational meeting Monday afternoon. Sept. 23 tentatively has been set as the date for moving to the new center building on West Main Street.

50 YEARS AGO

Miss Helen Hamilton of San Jose, Calif., daughter of the late Judge Hamilton, is a house guest of Ella and Nellie Link. Miss Hamilton was a court reporter for Judge Bechly for many years.

The question of whether or not Washington County will have a new jail will be decided by voters at the general election in November.

Mr. and Mrs. Paul Weldin are home from a vacation trip to Wisconsin and northern Michigan.