The discussion of bids sought by an ad hoc committee
for replacing the building that currently houses the Holden Area Chamber
of Commerce was tabled during the chamber’s regular meeting at
Harmony House last Thursday morning.According to chamber officials, only one bid has been received, and chamber member Adrian Phelps requested the discussion be tabled until the committee has received all bids requested. In other business, Integrity Correctional Centers (ICC) president Bernie Zarda explained the details of a possible inter-governmental agreement (IGA) with the City of Holden. Zarda said although it has been quite some time since the matter was discussed with city officials, he and other administration of ICC are still hopeful the city will explore the opportunity. According to Zarda, ICC currently has 200 beds, although it was designed to be a 400-bed unit. Currently, ICC employs 42 people and has an annual payroll of approximately $1 million. He said, in his opinion, relatives who visit inmates at ICC create revenue for the city. Zarda said he would like to see ICC annexed into the city in the same manner as property housing the city lake was. He continued by noting the city would not be indemnified by the agreement and incur no expense. The agreement, in essence, would mean the city contracts with the federal government to house illegal immigrants at ICC. In return, the City of Holden would receive a portion of the fees recovered by ICC from the federal government to house those inmates. For example, if 50 beds were occupied for 365 days and the city received $10 per day for every occupied bed, the city would receive at total of $182,500 in revenue through the IGA. The city currently pays the county $45 per day when a person needs to be incarcerated. Chamber president Sam Raber created an ad hoc committee to meet with ICC and the city council committee to learn more about the current status of IGA talks and investigate other facilities who have experienced these types of agreements and report back to the chamber. The committee is made up of Chuck Roberts, Jenny Sollars and Adrian Phelps. In other business, chamber members presented a report of progress on a history book that is being compiled for the city’s 150-year anniversary. According to chamber officials, a committee in charge of the book’s design has been gathering and sorting various publications to create a time line of events that may be edited for size at a later time. The committee noted a training meeting would be held August 11 at O&M Enterprises to discuss the process of information gathering and designing the book. In business highlights, Holden Manor Care Center office manager Sandy Roberts introduced Barb Campbell, the facility’s administrator to present chamber members. Campbell then shared information about the facility with the meeting’s attendees. According to Campbell, Holden Manor opened in 1980 and was called “Virginia Manor” for the first four years. She noted the facility recently celebrated its 25-year anniversary. The facility is a 52-bed Medicare/Medicaid certified skilled nursing facility that offers a wide variety of services to its clients. In addition, Campbell introduced the facility’s activity director, Vicky Wells, (a.k.a. Dilly Dimples), who appeared in full clown costume and performed an amusing card trick for the meeting’s attendees. Wells pointed out she strongly believes laughter and humor are an essential part of the well-being of the residents at the facility. In reports, members of the chamber’s economic development committee reported progress is coming along smoothly on Mickey-Dillon Park. Specifically, members noted a planter has been installed, and pavers will be ordered in the near future. In other reports, Jo Ann Nolan reported attendance has been high at the Holden Farmer’s Market, and vendors are increasing. According to Nolan, the market averages 20 vendors per week. The meeting was convened and will re-open at 7 a.m. on September 1 at Harmony House. By Christi Stowe News Editor
|
The familiar white Crown Victoria containing the markings of the Holden
Police Department takes its place in its usual diagonal parking space
behind the police department. Shortly after, a young, petite officer
dressed in a traditional, starch-pressed blue uniform gracefully exits
the vehicle. She removes her hat, revealing long, golden blonde hair fashioned into a french braid. Being a female, she is not the typical Holden officer, and she is outnumbered by males in the department by a fairly significant number. However, one should not be fooled by her feminine frame nor her soft-spoken voice. When criminals come into contact with Officer Lisa Ambrusko, they are looking directly into the eyes of a worthy adversary. Ambrusko, a single mother of three children, has been with the Holden Police Department for the past eight months. She became an officer a little over a year ago and started on the night shift at the Holden Police Department shortly after. A few months ago, Holden Chief of Police Ed Bone appointed Ambrusko the department’s codes enforcement officer. She will also serve as school resource officer after school starts for the year. Ambrusko enters the P.D., sits down at her desk and begins the arduous task of completing paperwork that never seems to end. “We do a lot of paperwork,” she says, nodding toward two large stacks of paper filed neatly in trays both on top of and behind her desk. “We have to report everything we do. A lot of people don’t realize that. It takes an enormous amount of time.” She sighs and continues to “hunt and peck” on her computer in an effort to complete reports. “Riiiinnnnng!” The phone rings, and Ambrusko picks up the receiver, seeing no one else available in the department at the moment. “Holden Police Department,” she answers. “You need a road block?,” she asks. “Right now... mmmhmm. I’ll be right there.” She hangs up the receiver, grabs her hat from its hanging place and heads for her patrol vehicle. A large metal beam must be moved to accommodate an upcoming location change for the local Catholic church’s parsonage, and Ambrusko will direct traffic to ensure motorists are not injured by the beam. After arriving at the church’s location, Ambrusko exits the vehicle and has a short discussion with workers at the construction site, who explain their plans to move the beam. Ambrusko, seeing the site is in close proximity to a curve in the road, positions her patrol vehicle safely away from the curve with its lights flashing. She then positions herself on the side of the road nearest the curve to direct traffic. A small gray car is the first to arrive with its driver realizing she will be unable to pass. Ambrusko’s hand is held out in a “stop” motion. “How are you doing today,” she asks the driver politely. “We are moving a beam. It’ll be just a few minutes. You may turn around in the church parking lot there if you like.” The car takes her cue, turns around in the parking lot and heads back the same way from which it came. The next vehicle to arrive is an older model car with the smells of leaky exhaust, driven by a man who appears to be in his early twenties. Ambrusko speaks to him briefly, and he also enters the parking lot, but he does not turn around. Instead, he appears to be parked there. “I think he might be stuck,” she chuckles with sympathy, remembering the car’s leaky exhaust and noting several quarts of un-opened transmission fluid sitting in the passenger seat of the car. “Did it quit on you?,” she asks the driver. “No. I’ll get it going, but it’s using a lot of transmission fluid,” he answers with a sly smile. “I have some wheels I’ll sell you, though.” He points to an impressive set of chrome wheels in the car. Ambrusko laughs, noting that she is familiar with the young man and comfortable kidding with him. “What good are those wheels going to do you if the car doesn’t run?,” she asks with a smile. The man chuckles. “Ha, Ha, very funny,” he answers. “You just wait until I get this baby running.” Turning from their casual conversation, she then questions the gentleman regarding the whereabouts of someone she believes to be a friend of his. “I dunno... probably at our house in bed, why?,” the man answers. “Just wondering,” she replies. “I haven’t seen him in awhile.” Seeing the beam successfully moved, Ambrusko re-enters her patrol car and drives away. “I think his friend might be wanted,” she explains as she drives slowly by the house shared by the man in question and the driver she just had a conversation with. “I don’t see any sign of him,” she says. “He likes to run, so I won’t stop with you (newspaper reporter) in the car.” Ambrusko continues to drive, noting she will be concentrating on her duties as codes enforcement officer, which means she is responsible for ensuring citizens keep their lawns mowed, don’t harbor trash and other rubbish in their yards and don’t live in houses that should be condemned due to dangerous conditions. “A lot of people don’t like me because of codes enforcement,” she explains. “People don’t like being told to cut their grass or clean up their yard, but it’s important. It’s especially important on the main roads that enter into town. That’s the first thing people see when they visit Holden.” She drives to an out-of-the-way house that appears to be in the process of repairs. Waist-high weeds and grass surround the property, and an older passenger van sits in the property’s driveway. “No one is ever here to answer the door,” she comments. She calls the “suspicious vehicle” into dispatch and finds out who the owner is. Upon further inspection, she finds a man sitting in the driver’s seat. She has a brief conversation with the man and then returns to her patrol car. According to Ambrusko, when she notes a property is not in appropriate condition, a written warning is given to the property-owner, who then has an allotted length of time to clean up the issues mentioned. If she has to speak to the property-owner about the same issue a second time, they are then written a ticket. Subsequent tickets that are written increase in cost for every one that is written. “Attention all Johnson County Cars,” a voice says through the speakers of Ambrusko’s police radio. “Please be on the lookout for a missing adult male.” Ambrusko stops her vehicle, retrieves a pen and paper and begins to write down dispatch’s description of the missing person. The description stops, and Ambrusko continues down the road, determined to complete the current task at hand. She notes a number of ditches along North Highway 131 just inside the city limits of Holden. “This doesn’t look very good,” she comments, writing down several specific addresses. “I have to check these addresses in the computer back at the office to make sure I haven’t made contact with them before. If I have, they’ll be written tickets.” After checking the addresses in the computer, she returns to the residences and leaves warning tags on their doors explaining what must be done in order to remain within city codes. She then drives her patrol car to a local business where she has already left a warning due to tall grass and weeds in front of the building and in ditches. “I will probably have to write him a ticket,” she says of the business’s owner with a sigh. “I won’t do it in front of his customers, though. I will wait until he is alone or pull him aside by himself. I try not to do that sort of thing in front of a business owner’s customers.” She enters the building and returns a short while later with a smile on her face. “I didn’t have to write him a ticket,” she explained. “He was very cooperative and agreeable. Hopefully he’ll have it cleaned up shortly.” Ambrusko continues to drive. “I don’t want to give up patrolling for codes enforcement,” she says. “I try to do both, and unfortunately I get overwhelmed with paperwork because of it.” A call on Ambrusko’s radio nearly interrupts her in mid-sentence. “We have a complaint of some kids shooting off bottle rockets in the neighborhood of...” Ambrusko answers the dispatcher and lets them know she will investigate the matter. After driving by nearly every house in the neighborhood in question, Ambrusko decides either the individuals have stopped shooting bottle rockets or a neighbor was mistaken about the source of the noise. She then drives by a house with three small children outside, and stops to talk to the children for a moment. “You kids aren’t shooting bottle rockets, are you?,” she asks. “No, we’re finding treasure,” a small girl answers, holding up a rock.” “I’ve got a ‘piderman,” a little boy exclaims holding up a tattered action figure for Ambrusko’s inspection. She smiles. “Okay, guys... Just be sure there’s nothing sharp that can hurt you in that stuff you’re looking through.” The children promise to be careful, and Ambrusko pulls away. “They were cute,” she comments with a chuckle. She continues to patrol town and notices doors wide open at a local grain elevator, but does not see vehicles of employees parked outside. “I’d better make sure everything’s okay,” she says, exiting her vehicle with her flashlight in hand. “Hello, anybody in here?,” she asks in a loud voice, walking through the old grain elevator. “It’s the police... Hello...Anybody here?” Ambrusko makes her way through the building, which has floors covered in grain. Seeing no one and no signs of foul play, she exits the building and re-enters her patrol car. “Maybe the workers are out to lunch or something,” she says. “Have you ever seen a police officer scream when they see a mouse?” Ambrusko laughs, explaining her fear that with grain all over the floor of the building, a rat or mouse would jump out. “I’m not afraid of a lot of things, but I don’t like spiders or rats,” she chuckles as she directs her patrol car back to the P.D. where she is intent on finishing a mountain of paperwork. Ambrusko’s comment about spiders and rats brings to mind a quote I once read- “A real hero is always a hero by mistake; He dreams of being an honest coward like everybody else.” Ambrusko may fear mice, spiders, rats and maybe even a bad guy or two just like any other lady. However, one thing is for certain. When patrolling the streets of Holden, Ambrusko puts her fears aside, musters up a chest full of courage and serves the citizens of Holden with the same strength displayed by her male counterparts. If you don’t believe it, just ask the last “bad guy” who tangled with her. By Christi Stowe News Editor |
|
©2004 The Holden Image Site Designed, Maintained and Hosted by Suncoast Networks |
|