Tasia Johnson keeps an eye on her reptilian friend, Cherokee, a green iguana, during her holiday break from classes. The Tabor College junior is the caretaker for some 20-plus critters that have a home in the Loewen Natural Science Center. Jenny Terrell / Free Press
Surrounded by reptiles and loving every minute of it, Tasia Johnson is the caretaker of the animals living in the atrium of the science building at Tabor College.
Johnson, a junior from New Orleans majoring in biology, has been working as caretaker in the Solomon L. Loewen Natural Science Center since January 2008. She got the job when one of the science professors, Jeffrey Henderson, mentioned to another science prof, Karrie Rathbone, that Johnson could do it as a work study. Before then, Johnson just went in and did the job anyway.
The Marion County Commission meeting Nov. 13, pushed ahead with plans that may put a new $7.5 million 75- to 78-bed jail in Marion’s Batt Industrial Park.
The commission plans to place the initiative on the November 2008 general election ballot for a decision by voters.
Hillsboro Industries management team members Mike Gerken, Phil Wyssenbach and Merle Friesen (from left) stand behind the main plant where a new 22,500-square-foot addition will soon be under construction. The project will enable the company to consolidate its production under one roof. Don Ratzlaff / Free Press
The concrete that will be poured at Hillsboro Industries over the next weeks will do more than accommodate a $900,000 facility expansion at the company’s Industrial Park site.
The ownership and management team, in its third year of spearheading a dramatic turnaround of the 39-year-old business, sees the project as laying a foundation for long-term growth and success.
Ben Steketee will be adding to his resume as a city servant. The Hillsboro Fire Chief was appointed by the city council at its Nov. 6 meeting as its new building inspector and code-enforcement officer.
He succeeds Martin Rhodes, who resigned earlier this year.
