By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette

During the Public Forum portion of the Panora city council meeting on May 28, Pat Moylan and Jim Wendl addressed the council about their request for the city to ease restrictions on ATV use within city limits.

“ATV/UTV enthusiasts ride through town legally quite often, but on the way through town there’s a number of businesses that they legally can’t stop at (because) there are designated routes to go through town,” Wendl said. “My main point in being here tonight is to ask the city to reconsider its current ordinances regarding UTV use on city streets.”

Wendl pointed out that ATV/UTVs are rapidly evolving, with newer models offering many of the same safety and comfort features as a car.

“Given that, I think the Chamber members could benefit from people like myself or Pat being able to park on Main Street and patronize those businesses,” Wendl said.

Moylan agreed with Wendl’s request, and he pointed out that now many ATVs are used not only for hunting or other recreational purposes, but often for work.

“So, yes, I would like to see if that would work,” Moylan said.

Mayor Curt Thornberry stated that the city faces a challenge in developing ordinances to address the various ways that ATVs are used.

“I know I’ve encountered young drivers on ATVs, and those are the ones I have questions about,” Thornberry said.

Council member Roger Dorr agreed that enforcement of age and licensing could address many of the concerns. He added that from data he’s seen, the majority of ATV accidents are single-vehicle accidents on gravel roads.

“I live on one of the streets, Northwest Third, that allows side-by-sides. I have yet to see any problems. None,” Dorr said.

Mayor Thornberry explained that since the issue was not on the agenda, the council would not take action at this time but can discuss it at a future meeting. He added that the city’s Public Safety Committee could also consider the issue.

Don Daniels addressed the council about his concerns regarding a neighboring property next to his home. He said in the past two years, the condition of the property has become a nuisance.

“Now it looks like we live next to a recycle bin or a garbage dump,” Daniels said. “I’m not happy with the situation that we’ve got.”

When asked if police have been contacted about the issue, Daniels said he’s spoken with the police, and City Administrator Lisa Grossman added that updated photos have been submitted to the city attorney to review for possible ordinance violations. No formal action was taken at this time.

A public hearing was held regarding a proposed budget amendment. Since no citizens were present to speak, and no written comments had been received, the hearing was promptly closed, and the council passed the budget amendment.

Grossman shared that the city is dealing with the “punch list” regarding the Jackson Street project, to deal with any additional “fix-ups” that may be needed. A firm completion date is not yet known, due to recent heavy rains.

Mayor Thornberry shared appreciation for the many years of service from Public Works Superintendent Tony Monthei, who is retiring after 36 years of service to the city.

The council’s next regular meeting will be June 10 at 5:30 p.m. The public is welcome.

By Rich Wicks | Times Vedette

During the regular meeting of the Guthrie Center City Council on May 28, City Clerk Kris Arrasmith updated the council regarding the turkey vulture situation in town. She explained that five turkey vultures will be shot and hung in effigy to hopefully get the remaining vultures to leave the city limits.

“I got a permit…now I have to reach out to Jeremy,” Arrasmith said.

She explained that DNR Officer Jeremy King will be the person approved to shoot the five vultures as allowed by the permit. She also said the city will use bottle rockets for approximately three days to attempt to scare vultures away. Because the birds are a federally protected species, this is the full extent of what the city can do about the problem.

Arrasmith discussed an unexpected additional cost of approximately $1,500 for the council to consider. She explained that one of the city’s emergency sirens did not work correctly during the recent tornado outbreak, because it needs a new radio transmitter to function as expected.

“Money is no object when it comes to that,” Councilmember Carolyn Masters said.

The council unanimously approved the purchase. The council also approved spending $3,061 with Panora Fiber for the three-year plan of computer virus coverage/repaid of the city’s electronic systems/records.

On behalf of the Guthrie County Arts Council, Phyllis Wakefield provided an update on the plans for having a mural painted on the side of the old fire station building. The council formally approved the plan, which is expected to be roughly 24 feet by 8 feet.

As part of the consent agenda, the council approved a tobacco permit for Sparky’s One Stop, a liquor license for the all-school reunion, and a fence permit for 1107 Main St. (Lacey).

The council’s next regular meeting is set for June 10 at 6:30 p.m. The public is welcome.

Courtney Hodges silk screens a shirt.

Courtney Hodges has been providing screen printing, embroidery, laser engraving and more at her business, which she has operated since 2016.  

By Rich Wicks | Panora Times

Most anyone who has parented multiple kids has learned to multi-task, and, maybe not coincidentally, multi-tasking is also a daily job skill for Courtney Hodges, owner of T & K Designs at 126 W. Main St. in Panora. The business is named for Tinsley and Kambri, the daughters of Courtney and her husband, Nate. She recently took a brief break to share information about her business.

Hodges had given birth to her second child in 2015 and had been doing embroidery out of her home, and she was considering making that work into a career.

“I started in 2016. It was kind of one of those things, you’re either going to do it or you’re not,” Hodges said. “Then this building became available. Jennifer Danker owned it, and she asked if I wanted to buy her building. So, we moved up here in 2016. We had to redo the place, and we started adding machines. I started with one embroidery machine, then added another and all the screen printing. I’ve been up here ever since, and business has been crazy good.”

Hodges was happy to describe the various creations she makes.

“We do a lot for schools and businesses,” Hodges said. “We do screen printing, embroidery, promotional items, koozies, notebooks, lanyards, keychains, and I actually have a laser machine that I can engrave cutting boards. So you send me a really clear picture of grandma’s recipe card, and I basically blow it up on my iPad and trace it exactly, and then I burn it into the cutting board, and it looks like the same handwriting.”

Hodges  says one part of the offerings that people may not fully understand is screen printing.

“It’s super complex,” Hodges said. “You literally have a screen, and there’s different mesh types. You’ve got to wash it and dry it. You’ve got to degrease it. Before you put the emulsion on, it has to harden. Then you literally burn the design into the screen and dry it before you can print. Temperatures have to be right. It’s a lot of small details that are very important.” 

Hodges says she can print on anything. 

“We can do sweatshirts, we can do T-shirts, we can do jackets, we can do Carhartt. I can embroider on mostly anything, too.”

Because many area sports teams have apparel made at T & K Designs, Hodges explained she is used to doing “rush jobs” and accepts that as a normal part of her business. One example is when T-shirts are ordered for a team or individual athletes who qualify to compete at state tournaments. In such situations, she often has two days or less to complete an order. Hodges burns the midnight oil when needed to get the job done.

“There’s a lot of it… especially with wrestling and things like that. And usually there’s a front and a back…and they have to be able to order, and I have to order the shirts, too,” Hodges said.

Despite the hectic work schedule and her family commitments, Hodges somehow finds time to be involved in the community as well.

“I’m the parks and rec president, and then I’m on the planning and zoning board, and I’m part of the chamber. And then I also own ReGlow, the new spray tanning business at ReStore,” Hodges said. “Sue Bump and I are partners with that. We just started doing that in January.”

Incredibly, Hodges also finds time to coach two youth softball teams.

Although Hodges seems to thrive on fast-paced workloads, she encourages non-rush customers to plan ahead when possible. For most screen printing or embroidery jobs, she suggests customers plan ahead roughly two weeks so that she can squeeze in a rush order if needed and still get all orders done in time.

Looking to the future, Hodges expects screen printing and embroidery to continue to be popular orders.

“I would say the bulk of my business is probably screen printing, but embroidery is right up there. They’re pretty close,” Hodges said.

Hodges also shared a new offering she’s introducing.

“I’m actually working on something right now called PVC patches for hats,” she said. “It looks kind of like rubber, but it’s a patch that goes right on your hat.”

Asked if there’s something people are surprised that she offers, Hodges showed some of the apparel in her front window area.

“I do a lot of the Lake Panorama stuff,” Hodges said. “I’m pretty much the only place that does Lake Panorama apparel.”