Dave Jones and Mike Thondike from Grinnell State Bank are aboard the train — Dave emailed from Newton to say they were headed back.  The President and Owner of Iowa Interstate RR is aboard and is chatting with all.

I’ve asked Dave for more details.  Maybe he’s hanging out in the caboose!!

Details are still sketchy, but an Iowa Interstate passenger train was stopped in Grinnell for a short while this afternoon.

One passenger car, the Abraham Lincon, and the other, the Hawkeye, were positioned just west of the Depot Crossing Restaurant.

My first thought — it’s something to mark the re-opening of the Depot tomorrow evening.  Then my mind began racing!  What if it’s a scouting expedition to find possible depot sites if Iowa Interstate ever gets the Amtrak line across Iowa?

I have asked contacts at the railroad for an answer.  Will send along their answer!!

It’s been a year since the College opened its Pioneer Bookshop in what was once the Cunningham Drug building.  That was a good day in Grinnell!

The space had been vacant since Hy-Vee bought out Cunninghams and shut it down.  A Grinnell College alum, Dick Knapp, bought Cunninghams and fixed it up.  Knapp, who has since bought two more buildings in Grinnell and is improving them both, is a Washington DC real estate developer who loves Grinnell and wants to give something back.

The College had mulled moving its on-campus bookstore downtown a few years earlier but decided against that concept.  However, when the space in the newly-named Merchants Row building became available, the College moved to develop an annex to the main bookstore on campus.

The Pioneer Bookshop specializes in book titles and gifts central to Iowa, Midwest and Prairie themes. It also offers music by Iowa artists and framed prints of Grinnell College and the local community.  In a word, it celebrates the College’s "place" — on the prairie, in a small Midwestern town, next to the Louis Sullivan bank.

The bookshop, like the Strand Theatre, marked a milestone for Downtown Grinnell.  There is more work underway (note the pounding on Main Street in the former Downunder Pub building).  And there are more milestones to come.

Dick Knapp and Grinnell College are responsible for several of those milestones.

The NSSF (National Shooting Sports Foundation) and Poweshiek Iowa Development are partnering to offer $7500 in financial assistance for gunsmithing students who wanted to attend Brownells Gunsmith Job Fair (www.gunsmithjobfair.com) this week at The Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa.

 Dave Nolan, head of the Trinidad State Junior College Gunsmithing Program said, “It is extremely hard for most students to complete an education because of high tuition costs, much less take a trip half way across the country to take advantage of an opportunity such as the Brownells Job Fair. The monies provided by NSSF and Poweshiek Iowa Development is allowing several of our TSJC Gunsmithing Students, who may not of been able to afford to attend, to take part in Brownells’ 2008 Gunsmith Job Fair.” 

The $7500 fund ($5000 from NSSF and $2500 from PowI80) was distributed based on recommendations from the instructors at the gunsmithing schools attending the event.

According to Brownells President, Pete Brownell, “To have these groups step up and provide this kind of support is just incredible. Our goal is for every student find a job in the gunsmithing field, getting them to the Job Fair is an important step, and the scholarships will help us reach the goal.”

Brownells Gunsmith Job Fair will see more than 35 employers and 140 job seekers gather to participate in seminars on the industry from successful business owners, matters of regulation with representatives from NRA and BATF, a session on starting a small business, and, of course, time to find jobs and fill jobs.” 

PowI-80 is hosting a business development workshop at the job fair, aimed at start-ups and small businesses.

The NSSF is the trade association for the shooting, hunting and firearms industry. It was formed in 1961 to publicize the members’ commitment to the safe and responsible use of their products, and promote a political climate supportive of America’s traditional firearms rights. To find out more about them, visit www.nssf.org/index.cfm

Brownells is the world’s largest supplier of firearm parts, tools, equipment and accessories.  Stocking more than 30,000 items, the company services gunsmiths, armorers and shooters worldwide.  For more information call Larry Weeks at the number above, or visit the company website www.brownells.com .

We sent spies inside the new Brooklyn Community Center to get some interior shots.  It’s definitely a showplace!!

The best-looking community center in Iowa hosted its first events this past weekend.

Photo by Sky Eilers, Brooklyn Chronicle

The Michael J. Manatt Community Center opened its doors after about a year of site preparation and construction.  The facility will host meetings, receptions, events, reunions and more.

In this photo, Dan Talbert of Deep River, a Bushong Construction employee, does some finishing detail work outside the Community Center last Friday. The new building, near the intersection of Jackson and Front Streets in downtown Brooklyn, was the site of wedding reception for Cliff and Joey Rhoads on Saturday. The public is invited to an activity hosted by the Brooklyn Ruritan Club on Friday, April 25 from 5-8 p.m. Live music will be performed by local bands, and proceeds from a BBQ dinner will help furnish the center’s patio area

This is something we preach every day.  Political boundaries are invisible.  What’s good for Grinnell is good for Montezuma and vice versa.  But what’s good for Poweshiek County is also good for Jasper, Marshall, Marion and Mahaska counties.  We live in a world where global competition requires regional cooperation.

I just stumbled across an outstanding op-ed from the Toldeo (OH) Blade by the president emeritus of the University of Toledo on the subject of regionalism.  It’s pretty good and I thought worth sharing.  Enjoy!

http://www.toledofreepress.com/?id=7332

From the Des Moines Register…

The Indy Racing League’s reunification with the Champ Car World Series has led to speculation about future schedules.

With more venue options available than in split years past, where does Iowa Speedway fit in?

The answer, it seems, is pretty well.

Iowa Speedway director of media relations Mike Beecher said track officials have met with league officials in Indianapolis within the past month in hopes of solidifying their partnership.

The Newton track and the IRL signed a two-year extension after last season’s inaugural Iowa Corn Indy 250 drew more than 35,000 fans.

“We’re looking forward to a long and lasting relationship,” Beecher said.

Indy Racing League founder Tony George sketched out future scheduling possibilities Saturday before the IndyCar Series’ season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

George said a more balanced schedule with fewer oval tracks and more street courses could be considered, but there’s a chance more ovals will be added as well.

Iowa Speedway plans to add temporary bleachers for the June 22 Iowa Corn Indy 250 and hopes to provide seating capacity between 40,000 and 50,000, Beecher said.

While it is widely accepted that new firms are critical to economic growth, little data exists to support the development of policies to encourage entrepreneurial businesses.

A new report by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation aims to fill that gap. As the largest longitudinal study of new businesses ever conducted, the Kauffman Firm Survey (KFS) follows nearly 5,000 businesses founded in 2004 and tracks them over their early years of operation. Data are being collected annually from the same firms, centering on the topics of debt and equity financing, employee benefits, business innovations and outcomes such as sales and profits.

The study found that while about 80 percent of businesses had some positive equity investment in their business in the first year, the vast majority came from the business owners themselves—just 10 percent of the businesses used external equity sources in their first year.

Other highlights include: More than a third of businesses (37 percent) had no revenue in their first year of operation while about 17 percent of businesses had profits in excess of $100,000; Just under 9 percent of firms closed in one year and the survival rates vary by owner demographics; and Nearly 60 percent of the businesses had no employees in their first year while very few businesses (less than 4 percent) had more than 10 employees. Access a copy of the Kauffman Firm Survey at http://www.kauffman.org/item.cfm?item=1021.