Supervisors balk at renaming county’s bridges
The Jasper County Board of Supervisors considered a proposal from the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War to rename two bridges in the county during Tuesday’s regular meeting.
The Civil War group is undertaking a project to rename 12 river bridges along the original route of U.S. Highway 6, the historic National Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Highway. Two of those bridges are in Jasper County; one west of Newton over the South Skunk River on what is now Highway F48, and the other over the North Skunk River on Highway 6 east of Kellogg. The bridges are to be renamed for Iowa Civil War generals.
In his letter to the supervisors, Michael W. Carr, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War highway officer for Iowa, said the plan is to name the bridge over the South Skunk River on Highway F48 after Brigadier General Charles L. Matthies. Matthies was born in Prussia. He served as commander of the First Iowa Volunteer Infantry and the Fifth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was present at the Siege of Vicksburg and the Battle of Missionary Ridge.
However, local historian Larry Hurto suggested our county bridge be named after someone with more local ties. General James B. Weaver outranked Matthies and was a Colfax native after the war, from 1896 until his death in 1912.
The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War has proposed that the other bridge in Jasper County, over the North Skunk River, be named for brevet Major General of volunteers James Alexander Williamson. Williamson was born in Columbus, Ky., and commanded the Fourth Iowa volunteer Infantry Regiment, serving at vicksburg, the Battle of Pea Ridge and Battle of Lookout Mountain. He was a Medal of Honor recipient and is buried at the Rock Creek Cemetery.
The North Skunk River Bridge is still part of Highway 6 and not under county jurisdiction. County Engineer Jim Christensen will notify the Iowa Department of Transportation of the plans to rename the North Skunk Bridge.
Further action on the matter was tabled until a local angle on the bridge naming could be conducted.
In other action Tuesday, the supervisors:
• Heard a report from Jasper County Treasurer Doug Bishop to make county residents’ tax information available online. Bishop said nearly all counties in Iowa have tax information on their county’s Web site. Information concerning the current levies, last year’s taxes, current year taxes, amounts going to schools and other taxing entities will all be made available on the county’s Web site.
Bishop said it will be a big help to area realtors, banks and genealogists. The information will be searchable, and will not contain any sensitive personal information, such as Social Security numbers or bank account numbers.
Information Technology director Robb Harris said the information should be available online within a couple of weeks.
• Approved the purchase of laptop computers for the Planning and Zoning office and the Deputy Auditor. Insight Public Sector of Tempe, Ariz., submitted the low bid of $2,169.62 for the two computers.
• Approved the hiring of Jerry Lee Chander as a permanent part-time custodian for the maintenance department at a pay rate of $12.20 per hour, effective Aug. 5. Chandler will do mowing and light maintenance for an average of 20 hours per week.
• Approved the removal of weight limits on bridges that have been replaced by culverts, one on West 66th Street South and two on East 158th Street South.
• Approved sending a letter of support for Mediacom Communications Corp., which is applying for a federal grant to help it construct broadband infrastructure in unserved and underserved communities in Jasper County.
