Winners

Iowa teachers no longer need to be embarrassed when the topic of salary comes up. Gov. Chet Culver made good on a loudly trumpeted campaign promise Friday, signing a bill containing a $145 million pay package. Teachers can expect to get a $5,000 raise over the next two years, raising them from 42nd to 25th in the national salary rankings. Some critics say teachers were already well compensated with generous amounts of vacation time. But the reality is, to attract qualified professionals, a competitive salary needs to be offered. Paying teachers a good salary will help ensure the next generation of Iowans receives quality instruction.

Regardless of whether President Bush vetoes proposed legislation that would order him to begin withdrawing American troops from Iraq by October, the U.S. House of Representatives at least got the issue on the table by approving its passage 218-208. Iowa congressmen followed party lines as Democrats Leonard Boswell, Bruce Baley and Dave Loebsack voted for the bill and Steve King and Tom Latham opposed it. Critics argue that al Qaida would view its passage as the day the U.S. threw in the towel while proponents say our troops are mired in a civil war we can’t win. There are no easy answers, but proposed legislation should increase public discussion on the matter and that’s a good thing.

Congratulations to those who devoted countless hours to make the Drake Relays and Veishea celebration a success. Both events went off without a hitch, i.e. no riots in Ames and no rain in Des Moines, as thousands of Iowans and visitors gathered for two of Central Iowa’s biggest and best spectator events and enjoyed some big-city flavored fun smack dab in the middle of what outsiders call “the corn state.”

Losers

You would think a company with 1,000 employees could come up with its own ideas. But The Des Moines Register proved once again that it couldn’t stand seeing another company gain a single penny in advertising revenue. Case in point, faux-alt-weekly Juice’s blatant rip off of Cityview’s established Condo-Loft Guide. Seems like the only thing they’re not copying is the movie times, which we will continue to publish.

John P. Tomkins, a Dubuque machinist, was arrested for allegedly mailing pipe bombs and threatening letters with religious references to investment firms in Denver and Kansas City with the intent to extort money and drive up stock prices. Authorities say the 42-year-old Iowan signed his letters as “the Bishop” and that he mailed more than 24 of them during an 18-month period. Two of those letters contained pipe bombs that failed to detonate.

Fritz Jünker, founder and embattled former leader of the Des Moines Music Coalition and City of Des Moines Music Commission who abruptly left Iowa “to pursue a career in film,” issued a press release stating that David Arquette [he of the Hollywood Arquettes and husband to actress Courtney Cox] has ripped off his 2002 homemade movie “The Truth About Beef Jerky” with the release of “The Tripper.” In a statement Jünker says the plot and location in which “The Tripper” was made is identical to his film. “My initial reaction was disbelief and doubt, which then moved to anger, and then later to excitement about the opportunity that this presents. … We’ll be contacting Arquette and Cox’s production company to suggest a friendly partnership for our two films.” If anyone knows about ripping off an idea, it’s Jünker. The DMMC and city commission, two groups he “created,” were not original concepts. Jünker stole the idea on how to form and organize the two groups from two identical organizations in Austin, Texas, but repeatedly called them his “brainchild.”

Prisoners like to write us and tell how they were wronged by their family, society and the judicial system with the hopes their tear-jerking story warrants ink and will tug at readers’ heartstrings. A letter from Randy Ruiter — the subject of a 1999 Cityview cover who at the time was imprisoned for 22 counts of identity theft, forgery and resisting arrest in five counties — is a good example. An admitted methamphetamine user, he was arrested in December 2005, again, for identity theft. When police arrested him they found a laminated copy of the Cityview story in his car. Now the narcissistic felon wants another crack at our cover, writing “I had a stroke that put me in a wheelchair and found out I have heart failure. Drugs and meth not only has destroyed my life they took my freedom and my health. Anyway, could you please send me a copy of your paper that was about me? And if you could interview me again I’m now anti-drugs.” Thanks, Randy. I think our readers got the message. CV

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