Editorial

A hearty Iowa cheer goes out to Sen. Mark Segebart, R-Vail, who told us Wednesday that he is fully committed to making certain that no client falls through the cracks or that work activity centers are diminished under a new mental health redesign.

The problem with sheltered work activity centers designed to employ Iowa mentally handicapped adults are as complicated as they can be. So it is no easy task to help them in their hour of need, as new rules governing mental health care and costs find their way to application. In the case of Genesis Development of Storm Lake, it appears that the days of sheltered workshop may end come July. That’s when the work activity center plans to quit redeeming cans and bottles.

The most vulnerable among us are again on the bottom of the heap. Genesis Development of Storm Lake plans to discontinue redeeming bottles and cans for their nickel deposit because of changes in mental health rules. Now, handicapped people cannot work exclusively in a sheltered work activity center sorting cans. They are required to get jobs in the community so they are “integrated” better. Hence, those who are not found job placement outside the work activity center will have little productive to do.

The Sioux City Journal reported last weekend in a story about broadband access in schools that 74% of Storm Lake district students live in poverty. If it were 50% the number would still be stunning. That means the best meal they get probably will be at school. It means they can’t get broadband access outside school. It means they probably cannot afford to attend school past high school without extraordinary help.

Zebra mussels are infecting East and West Okoboji lakes. We can assume that if these lakes are covered, which they are, the other Iowa Great Lakes must also be infected. The boat traffic is just too common. Clear Lake is infested with the razor-sharp mussels worse than the Great Lakes, but not for long. Juvenile mussels were everywhere on Okoboji boat hoists.

University of Iowa President Sally Mason stopped by our office late in September for an interview. We pointed out to her that few immigrant students attend a state public university. Many attend Iowa Central Community college. A few study at Buena Vista University. Not so much at Iowa, Iowa State or Northern Iowa. Mason’s response was quick and clear: The University of Iowa is missing an opportunity, and Mason would fix it.

The ethanol industry was in deep hyper-ventilation this week after the Associated Press revealed that — surprise, surprise — making fuel from corn has environmental consequences. Some are good. Some are bad. So the apologists took aim and shot several glancing blows at the messenger. The report, published across the nation, was variously called a fraud, an attack on Iowa farmers, malicious and ill-informed.

The Storm Lake Marina on the west side always has been loaded with potential and fraught with disappointment. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources a few years ago invested up to $4 million in making a beautiful facility that should be a thriving showplace for outdoor recreation. But it never took off despite the best of intentions. One reason: beer, or lack thereof.

Tuesday night and Wednesday morning the malcontents capped their social networking campaign by hurling barnyard epithets at our incumbent mayor and The City Beautiful. It was sort of the unbridled marketplace of ideas that the philosopher Milton talked about, but for the basic lack of ideas. The mayor could reshape Storm Lake, drive out the Latinos, make it less a hole into which you inject manure (to paraphrase).

Words such as “overwhelming” and “amazing” are used by agri-industry to describe the awe they hold at just over 1,000 Iowa farmers signing up to share in the $2.8 million 2013 Iowa Water Quality Initiative. These farmers agreed to install grass strips, improve wetlands and adopt other conservation practices with the state willing to share the cost. To those farmers, we offer our heartiest good wishes.