Marion Durbala was born in Albia on March 8, 1934 to Frank and Margaret (Bins) Durbala. His youth was spent on a farm with his family west of Lovilia. After graduating from Albia High School he spent two years int the U.S. Army. He continued his education at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa where he earned an accounting degree. His working years in accounting were all in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
Marion was an avid golfer, bridge player, and history buff.
He has two sisters, one brother, and two in-laws surviving him as well as three children and five grandchildren. One sister, Jean( Joe) Hollinrake is a local resident of rural Lovilia
Mr. Durbala died May 18, 2013 in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
A graveside service was held May 24 at St. Peter’s Cemetery (Catholic) in Lovilia.
Storm Damage to Local Home
We have been having frequent rains and thunderstorms here in the last few weeks. Ilene Pottoroff had a large tree split and half came down on her house’s roof causing real damage. A tree trimming company cleaned up the tree the next day. Tarps still cover the roof until repair work can be done. She was not bodily harmed and we are thankful for that.
United Methodist Church of Lovilia Update
New shingles were recently nailed on the church roof by a local roofing company who made quick work of it even though it is a very steep roof. Looks very nice and should give many years of service.
Update to Lovilia Community Building
The building was painted this week by Josh Chance’s painting firm. It was white with dark brown trim and is now tan with deep tan trim. The new sign is over the awning now which says Lovilia Community Building. The sign was done in the old school colors of purple and gold and a lion’s head is on the sign to honor the old school mascot. The inside big room and hall had recently received a new coat of paint and the floors are waxed and shiny clean.
All is ready for the all Lovilia School reunion which will be held Sunday, June 9th at the freshened up building. We can be proud of our community meeting place. Thanks to the Comm. Betterment Committee and all who helped with planning and arrangements and labor.
June 8 Recycling Promotion in Lovilia
Lovilia was chosen for the pilot site for recycling promotion in Monroe County. With cooperation between the city of Lovilia and Monroe County Supervisors the lot was cleaned and prepared on the corner of North E Avenue and 19th Street. Special thanks to the Monroe County Supervisors for moving road graders to the old county home site so the Lovilia space could be used for the recycling trailer. Also, special thanks to city works director, Leonard Geery, for removing the trees, having the locator check the lot, and arranging for grading out the lot , as well as weeding and mowing the lot. Placed there today was a trailer that will be left there seven days a week, twenty-four hours a day for persons to leave their recycling items.
We are very excited to have the benefit of doing this daily as before we had only one Saturday a month for two hours and then the trailer returned to Albia. This was a very small window of opportunity for people to bring items to recycle.
Susan Beary and David Beary of Lovilia, Monroe County coordinators for recycling are thrilled to expand the opportunity in Lovilia and so are local citizens who said , ” This is going to be awesome!”
From 8-10am Saturday, June 8th, householders who brought items to the trailer were shown where to put them according to type: tin cans, plastic, glass jars, newspapers, magazines, books, mixed paper, bags of shredded paper and cardboard.
Thank you gifts for recycling were handed out to each householder of a cloth green shopping bag, green bracelet and washable tattoos for kids, and Casey’s store helped our promotion by giving coupons for donuts/cookies.
Twenty-six household participated. Twenty were long time faithful recyclers and six were new to it in Lovilia. We are grateful for everyone who participates and who continues to do so month after month to help our environment.
Door hangers were passed out to every home this past week to educate everyone about the new trailer and its location and use. Also, ads were placed on Albia radio and one news interview.
Susan wants to thank Sara Bixby the director at the landfill at Tracy that is used by Monroe County and three other counties. Sara helped with the promotion, education materials, and the funding for the promotion. We could not have done it with out her. Thanks, Sara!
Thank you to Casey’s for the treats to thank people for recycling. Those coupons brought big smiles.
Wind Power to Boom in Iowa
Good news for Iowans. MidAmerican Energy has announced they plan to spend nearly 2 billion dollars by 2015 in Iowa. This will translate to about 656 new wind turbines. The location for the turbines is yet to be chosen. The company said no new utility rate hikes will be needed as federal wind tax credits will off fset the cost over the next 30 years. Gov. Branstad said no state tax credits or incentives will be offered for the project.
When completed this wind “farm” will produce 40% of all electricity now used by customers in Iowa is the company projection.
These wind turbines are so high tech now. Not at all like grandpa’s.
Turbines latest version is connected to the internet where it monitors constantly: weather, grid system info., supply/demand patterns and then use that data to adjust electronics and turbine blade positions constantly. This along with changes in tower size, etc. created the newer models that are able to be as much as 25% more efficient.
Can you even imagine power production in 20 years? This is very exciting news.