2018: the year in review

2018 was another big year in Grundy County, with major developments in politics, crime, business and sports, and The Grundy Register was there for all of it. Our editors have chosen what they consider the most important stories of the year, and we welcome readers to weigh in on what we got right, what we got wrong and what you'd like to see more of in the future. Here are a few of our picks. 
 
Agricultural cooperatives expand amidst trade uncertainty- It was a big year in the grain storage business locally as Conrad-based Mid-Iowa Cooperative built and completed an entirely new facility north of Grundy Center along Highway 14—dubbed “Mill Junction”—and purchased a minority stake in the Sinclair Elevator just east of Parkersburg with plans to buy a controlling stake at a later date.
           
Discussions regarding the Mill Junction project commenced in the summer of 2017, and leaders from Heartland in Grundy Center and Snittjer Grain in Wellsburg—which had completed its own expansion project earlier that year—questioned the board of supervisors on a potential tax abatement deal for Mid-Iowa that was later approved.
           
Passersby on the well-traveled stretch of 14 near the Holland turnoff probably noticed the construction for most of 2018, and it was fully functional in time for harvest this fall. The total cost of Mill Junction was estimated at around $15 million, and there are four full-time employees working there. 
 
Ivester Wind Farm nears completion- After years of planning, delays and contentious debates over whether or not the Ivester Wind Farm should be legally permitted, work on the long-awaited project finally kicked off this summer, and the project is wrapping up as the new year approaches.
 
The 45-turbine, 90 megawatt wind farm was scaled down to a 35-turbine project, earlier this summer after debate from local residents and landowners.
 
In a presentation in favor of the project, EDF Renewable Energy say they expect this project to create four to eight permanent jobs, millions in tax revenue after the abatements expire and over $500,000 in annual easement payments to affected landowners.
 
Slinker family sues, settles with Grundy County over jail suicide- In January, news broke that the family of Jared Slinker, a 26-year-old who had grown up near Grundy Center and lived in Wellsburg, had filed a federal lawsuit against Grundy County and four individual employees of the sheriff’s department alleging wrongful death and negligence after he took his own life at the Grundy County Jail in 2016. By October, the two parties came to terms on a $500,000 out of court settlement.
           
According to the initial filing, Slinker’s father Earl had provided forewarnings to law enforcement officials about his son’s addiction struggles and mental state before an arrest warrant was executed over an alleged theft in Iowa Falls, and within a few days, he had hung himself by a bed sheet in his cell. One of the key allegations in the lawsuit charged that the jailer and deputy on duty—Shane Oltman and Kirk Dolleslager, respectively—waited 13 minutes to call an ambulance upon discovering Slinker unresponsive. 
 
Dix resigns; Sweeney wins two Senate elections in seven months- Former state Senate Majority Leader Bill Dix, a Republican from Shell Rock who had represented Grundy County in the legislature, resigned his seat in March after a video posted by the Iowa Starting Line blog showed him kissing a lobbyist at a Des Moines bar, setting off a chain of events that ended with former Republican State Representative and USDA Director of Rural Development for Iowa Annette Sweeney, a farmer from Buckeye, returning to politics and winning two elections in seven months to become the area’s new state Senator.
           
Prior to his departure, Dix had been dogged by questions surrounding a sexual harassment scandal at the statehouse involving several GOP lawmakers and staffers and a $1.75 million settlement paid to former communications director Kirsten Anderson, who was fired after reporting what she perceived to be inappropriate behavior.
           
Sweeney faced an upstart Democratic challenger in small business owner and former banker Tracy Freese of Dike, who had become the chairwoman of the Grundy County Democrats in 2017. A special election was set for April 10—just three weeks after Sweeney entered the race—and she still managed to win by 12 percentage points in Senate District 25, which covers all of Grundy and Hardin Counties, southern Butler County and the northern and eastern portions of Story County outside of Ames. 
 
Read the full recap in this week's Grundy Register. Subscribe by calling (319) 824-6958 or clicking here.