Winners

Fifteen-year-old gymnast Shawn Johnson and her coach, Liang Qiao (Chow), can add another trophy to their case as the winners of West Des Moines’ 2007 Citizen(s) of the Year Award. Their success in the international field of competition this year has made them two of the suburb’s most recognized citizens, and they will be honored Jan. 24 at a West Des Moines Chamber dinner. Johnson volunteers what little spare time she has in support of women’s cancer initiatives and juvenile diabetes, to name a few.

Though smokers probably aren’t ready to embrace him, kudos to Gov. Chet Culver for nixing talk of a gasoline tax increase. The tax would have helped pay for construction and road repairs, but the governor said he would consider other options to help pay for the work if Republican and Democrat lawmakers can find another solution. Then again, chances are better that gas prices will drop on their own before that kind of bi-partisanship takes place in an election year.

Parody is the name of the game this year in Iowa collegiate sports, which makes fans and pundits the real winners when sorting out bragging rights. Should the streaking Drake Bulldogs beat the Iowa Hawkeyes this week in men’s basketball, they will be in the driver’s seat to win the Big Four Men’s showdown for the second straight year, barring losses to UNI in Missouri Valley play [so far, Iowa beat UNI, Drake beat ISU and ISU beat Iowa]. Already, Iowa State has won the Cy-Hawk Trophy, winning a number of head-to-head match ups with the rival Hawks in several sports, including men’s basketball and football.

Losers

We’re glad that Adam Nagourney, the chief political correspondent for The New York Times, wrote in a Dec. 2 New York Times travel article that Des Moines “has most certainly become cool,” when discussing his plans to spend New Year’s Eve here to cover the Iowa caucuses. We’re also happy for the restaurants and cultural attractions that he pimped in his story, though Des Moines Register political columnist David Yepsen’s comments about the changes in the East Village [“It was a classic grimy neighborhood, with a couple of lofts and gay bars. And now it’s wonderful and funky.”] might ruffle a few feathers. But we were surprised by how many naïve people sent us links to the story, as though it anointed Des Moines as the “Coolest Place on Earth.” We would expect such frivolity from The Register [the bow-tied Biz Buzz hipsters took the bait, hook, line and sinker — and by the way, Christopher Plummer, who played Captain Von Trap in “The Sound of Music,” turns 79 today], the Partnership and the other cheerleaders who will quote the story for months. Ok, fine. We love Des Moines, too. But what’s wrong with showing a little pride along the way? Let’s say “thanks” for the story and stop acting so unsophisticated before Nagourney changes his mind about the haughty East Coast stereotype of our fair city.

On Sunday, the No. 3 Hawkeye wrestling team upset the top-ranked Cyclones on the mat, despite Iowa State’s limp dick effort at staging a sell-out crowd, which was an embarrassment to the university, the sport, the athletes and the fans.

Our leaders tout Iowa’s youth and education system among the state’s greatest assets, but few are actually doing anything to protect those resources when you consider that during the last seven years tuition at state universities has increased a whopping 85 percent. At its worst, one lawmaker said, annual increases averaged 17 to 18 percent for both the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 school years, times when state appropriations to state universities were either stagnant or in decline. If you wonder why young people leave Iowa, it isn’t just a lack of cultural attractions, it’s for good paying jobs to pay off the debt occurred at Iowa public colleges. That’s why we support the Iowa Plan for Prosperity — hell, anything — that calls for limiting public university tuition increases to no higher than the rate of inflation, while also controlling the growth of community college tuition. The 2007 Legislature raised overall state funding to state universities by $66 million more than last year for general budget and salary expenses and the Board of Regents recommended a 3.2 percent tuition increase for the 2008-2009 academic year — the lowest increase since 1980. Both actions are appreciated, though they don’t solve the long-term crisis of making college more affordable to middle- and lower-class Iowans. It’s time that the Legislature, Regents and colleges learn to work together within a budget that won’t continue to make college education the financial burden it has become for most Iowans.

Robert A. Hawkins is the troubled 19-year-old who killed eight and injured five other shoppers at the Omaha Westroads Mall last week in a shooting rampage before turning the gun on himself. Coward. CV

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