Be Car Care aware, pages 14-15

Thursday,
April 16, 2015
Wilton, Iowa
Vol. 121, No. 16
20 pages $1.00

Durant native
to lead Clinton's
Iowa campaign

Tornado hits Scott, Clinton counties

(Editors note: The following story is being

reprinted with permission of the Des Moines
Register.)
By Jennifer Jacobs
of the Des Moines Register

Troy Price, a longtime Iowa political communicator, gay rights advocate and campaign
strategist, has been tapped for a top job on White
House aspirant Hillary Clintons crew in Iowa.
Price, a 34-year-old Durant native, will likely
be political director if Clinton runs as expected,
Iowa Democrats told The Des Moines Register
on Wednesday.
Clintons other Iowa
hires include Matt Paul,
a longtime lieutenant for
Democratic Gov. Tom
Vilsack and the likely
Iowa state director for
Clinton; Michael Halle,
who will have a role as caucus director; Lily Adams,
communications director;
Molly Schermann, deputy
state director; and Brenda
Troy Price
Kole, who will likely lead
constituency outreach.
Price most recently was executive director
for the Iowa Democratic Party, but left that
job when the new party chairwoman, Andy
McGuire, was installed and brought on her own
staff.
Price has been making news for his political
views since it was announced in 1999 that, as
a student at Durant High School, he had won
a spot in the American Legions Annual High
School Oratorical Contest. The competition
required speeches about the U.S. Constitution,
emphasizing the duties and obligations of citizens to the United States.
Since shortly after getting a degree in political science at the University of Iowa, Price has
been in the thick of things in Iowa government
and election politics quoted or mentioned
more than 300 times in the Register.
He was a press aide for Vilsack and Lt. Gov.
Sally Pederson and worked on their re-election
campaign in 2002. Price was one of the few
staffers who made the transition from the Vilsack
administration when Democrats Chet Culver
and Lt. Gov. Patty Judge were elected in 2006.
When same-sex marriage was legalized
in Iowa in April 2009 by a ruling of the Iowa
Supreme Court, Price helped deal with the aftermath. As executive director of One Iowa, the
states biggest LGBT advocacy organization
from June 2010 until February 2012, Price
helped keep Iowa coalitions together to battle
conservative attacks on marriage equality.
Between his work in 2012 as political
director for President Barack Obamas Iowa
re-election campaign and his two years as
executive director at party headquarters he
was named to that job the day Democratic U.S.
Sen. Tom Harkin startled the political world by
announcing he intended to retire Price is
almost universally well-liked by county chairs
around Iowa, Democratic insiders said. He has
deep connections with grass-roots activists,
especially in the labor movement.
Price still has family in Cedar County,
and Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff
Kaufmann of Wilton told the Register last year
that Prices dad and brother, who are part of the
skilled labor workforce there, had installed his
furnace.

The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado that roared through portions of Scott and Clinton counties shortly after
5 p.m. April 9, eventually ending in Fulton, Ill. According to reports, it was tracked from Donahue to Clinton and DeWitt in
Iowa, reaching 70 mph winds and 2-inch diameter hail near DeWitt. Above, a hog confinement north of Stockton belonging
to Jeff Paulsen is shown. Extensive damage was done to both the front (pictured) and back of the building, which sits north
of the Stockton Interstate-80 interchange. No injuries were reported. Below, debris is shown littering the ditches and field
east of the confinement building. For more storm-related photos, see the AN Facebook page.
Photos by Derek Sawvell

Happ donation to kick-start funding

By Derek Sawvell

Managing Editor, Advocate News

Thanks to a generous donation from a local Durant family, the indoor practice facility
proposal by the DHS softball and baseball
programs has received a $65,000 boost.
Dave and Jeanne Happ of Durant have spent
the last 20 years turning tragedy into giving
and paying it forward. When their daughter
Jennifer Happ was raped and murdered while
living and working as a teacher in Chicago
in 1996, the Happs' world was turned upside
down. Jennifer was just 27 years old.
Countless people left memorial donations
to the family. The school where Jennifer taught
held a walk-a-thon in her honor and donated

the funds to the Happs. The family also held

a memorial softball tournament in Jennifers
honor for 11 years. A 501 (c) 3 non-profit
organization was formed with the funds and
the Happs invested the earnings. Its done

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well, said Dave.

The Jennifer Happ Memorial Trust has
DURANT INDOOR FACILITY

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