tuesday, november 11, 2008
volume 21, issue 2
Cancer
Ending successfully
A glimpse into how cancer affects our community, and how students and their families are battling back. pp. 67
The Marching Dutch wrapped up their season by taking top honors at the Mid-Iowa Band Championships. p. 5
“Pelladium” adviser wins prestigious award, receives national recognition
BORN TO HAND JIVE. Before an audience of middle schoolers, students perform the song “Hand Jive” during a “Grease” rehearsal. After the rehearsal held Oct. 30, there were two other performances, both open to the public, which occurred Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. “I think I did well on the acting part when I was Cha-Cha. It was so much fun being the character for those moments and acting like her,” said junior Chelsea Byers. •Photo by Madison Vander Well
The Dow Jones Newspaper Fund recently named journalism adviser Ann Visser a “Distinguished Adviser.” Visser was one of only four high school journalism advisors nationally to be honored. “(This award) is more a recognition of the students who have been a part of (‘The Pelladium’) staff for the past 25 years. I’ve been fortunate to be able to work with some incredible young people who have worked hard to make ‘The Pelladium’ a good publication,” said Visser. Visser, who has advised for the past 25 years, previously was president of the Journalism Education Association. “(Visser) works really hard at what she does, and does her best to make the paper good, even if that means sacrificing a lot of her time,” said “Pelladium” co-editor Marcus Haustein. “It does not surprise me that she won the award---she definitely deserves it.” “(I think that winning the award has shown) the tenacity that I’ve had to stick with advising as long as I have,” said Visser, “Being adviser is not the most popular position in town--people can get angry when pictures are blurry, mistakes are made. Putting out the fires has been both interesting and challenging.” Visser will be recognized at the National High School Press Association Convention in St. Louis in November. Additionally, one student who plans on majoring in journalism will receive a $500 scholarship from the Fund. •Michael Suplee (ms.pelladium@gmail.com)
Connection found between Lincoln, Scholte; display erected In the last couple weeks, there has been activity shuffling about on the north side of the square that can be traced to the Scholte House’s new display of Abraham Lincoln. A Pella man who owns an extensive collection of Lincoln material organized the display, which is supplemented by the recent discovery of our town founder’s journals. Ron Rietveld, now in his 70s, began collecting Abraham Lincoln material when he was just 14. He was looking through books and happened to come across a picture of Lincoln in his coffin. This was after rumors claiming that pictures of Lincoln were non-existent became widespread. “There weren’t supposed to be any pictures of him after he passed away. In fact, they had burned all of them because Mrs. Lincoln didn’t like them, but (the owner of the picture) saved one, probably for himself, and it turned up in the book that Ron had been looking through,” said Scholte House employee Shirley Rudd. Rietveld was asked to keep the discovery a secret for three months until it was announced that it had been found. After, Rietveld was given a copy of the picture, which is included in the Scholte House display. “They had to do research on the picture before it was released into the public. I promised not to tell anybody only if I could receive a copy of the picture. In September of that year, when the picture was released, my mother awakened me at five in the morning saying that I was on
the front page of the “Des Moines Register,” and then asking, ‘What did you do?’ I hadn’t even told by mother (about the picture),” said Rietveld. The display is partly a celebration of Lincoln’s 200th birthday, occurring Feb. 12. Cities across the nation will join in commemoration, and an even bigger display will be set up in Springfield, Illinois, Lincoln’s hometown. That’s not the only reason the Lincoln display was constructed. Recent information has been documented that shows direct ties between Lincoln and Pella’s founder Dominie Scholte. “We decided to put the display up now for a combination of things. Dominie Scholte’s journals have been recently found in the vault of the US Bank. Scholte ran the first US bank in Pella, which was located on the northeast corner of Main and Washington Street, and when the bank was moved to where it is now, many of Scholte’s possessions were transferred as well. The head of the Historical Village asked me to come down to the bank and look through these possessions with her, where we found these journals. In them, there were personal accounts of Scholte and his three separate meetings with Lincoln,” said Rietfeld. Lincoln and Scholte became good friends during the beginning of Lincoln’s campaign for presidency. Lincoln even referred to Scholte as his “good Dutch friend.” “Scholte was elected a Republican delegate at large in Iowa and had means of campaigning for William Seward, but
eventually became fond of Lincoln and began telling other to vote for Lincoln as well. Scholte received a free railroad ticket to travel to Washington D.C., for what reasons, we still don’t know, but it is written in these journals. There, Scholte was paid $45 to translate Lincoln’s speeches into Dutch to get some of the immigrant vote. After leaving Washington D.C., Scholte went to Springfield, where he first met Lincoln. They became good friends. Back in Pella, Scholte began campaigning for Lincoln in Marion and Mahaska Counties, and even speaking in Dutch on occasion to sway the immigrant vote,” said Rietveld. A combination of the present in the celebration of 200 years since a man’s birth, and past between two men and their interaction, and the connection with this quaint town, all contribute to the elaborate and well put together display being currently shown. •Josh Van Ee (jve.pelladium@gmail.com)
The display will be open: Monday-Friday, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. Thursday until 8 p.m. Saturday, 10 p.m. - 4 p.m. Ends Nov. 22
news briefs .... • A new master clock system has been installed to address the recent clock problems. The clocks have not worked since early September. The cost of replacement was around $1,300. • The Pelladium website is up
and running. Check out the latest polls, stories, pictures and video casts at http://www. pelladium.com/. • Senior Marcus Haustein has been named a Commended Student for his performance on the PSAT. About 34,000
students throughout the nation are being recognized. • Results of Special Olympics bowling included blues and first place finishes for sophomore Allen Johnson, junior Amanda Keffer and sophomore Erinn Riggen. Freshman Jeconiah
Vue was second. • Senior Katie Allen and junior Lauren Cooper both received Division I ratings in the state drill team solo competition Nov. 1. • Students in Lorri Grubb’s classroom sold cookies for 25
cents each on election day as a fundraiser. In total, $30.75 was raised for Obama, $16 for McCain, $3.25 for other candidates. Votes in the “other” category included instructor Ann Visser and Jesus. •Caleb Klyn