The Ballard Way
Originally broadcast 04/15/2015
Listen here now
Co-hosts Paul Wierson and Susan Franzen, along with reporter Sarah Hegland, explored "The Ballard Way" with residents of the towns on Ballard Creek (the Ballard School District) including Merle Olberding, Ron and Jean Finch, John Ronca, Howard Hammond, Scott De Young, Michael Macki, and Anthony Rosing. The interview with Taylor Stichka included a couple of songs from his CD of children's songs, "The Floor is Lava," winner of the Parents' Choice Award.
Co-hosts Greta Anderson and Ursula Ruedenberg welcome Heidi Thompson, a nurse in Quality Improvement at Mary Greeley, and Dr. Anthony Jones, associate principal of Ames Middle School--both members of this year's Leadership Ames class, a training program of Ames Chamber of Commerce. The occasion is a Poverty Simulation that Leadership Ames organized for members of the community, including city and county administration and elected representatives. Joining them was one of those participants Brian Phillips, who works as an analyst in the Ames City Manager's office. The simulation, an elaborate role-playing exercise, allows people to experience some of the challenges of finding their way through poverty and provided our guests many interesting insights. Then we speak with Mark Edwards, a writer and retired DNR trailblazer, on the subject of ticks. Mark has a literary essay on ticks in the latest Wapsipinicon Almanac, from which he reads a few choice bites.
Ames High School teacher Joe Brekke, creator of the "Story County Stories" project explains how he and other Ames High teachers are leading the production of audio stories for podcast and broadcast, made by students after they recorded interviews with people important to their lives. Students Jonah Glenn and Will Weber describe their experiences while participating in this project. The students' stories can be heard on line at 
County Reporters Paul Wierson and Susan Franzen explored how "Road Trip" programs have developed on Local Talk since Susan's April Fool worthy blooper in January 2013 to picking up a walker on 282nd St. near Kelley in March 2015. Voices we heard from our past road trips included Mildred Brendeland, Fenner Stevenson, Sandra Huemann-Kelley and Ed Fallon.
In the wake of Governor Branstad’s decision to close two of the state’s four mental health institutions, both in southern Iowa, Deb Schildroth, Director of Story County Community Services and Kathy Johnson, Story County Mental Health Coordinator, discuss concerns for providing community mental health services and outlooks on funding mental health services. They give local contact information for knowing what services are available and finding help for mental health problems. Call Central Iowa Commnity Services at (515) 663-2930 or go to 
We start the hour with wildlife correspondent Pat Schlarbaum's discussion of the prairie chicken, and two events on April 4 celebrating the wild splendour of their mating dance. Then host Greta Anderson shares an interview she had with Ames resident Peter Novotorov about Boris Nemtsov, the most prominent critic of the Kremlin who was assassinated February 27. Peter shared a long history with Nemtsov, and participated in Nemtsov's path-breaking work to bring democracy to Nizhny Novgorod in the early 1990s when Nemtsov was Governor of that state. We conclude with correspondent Susan Franzen's reflections on the monarch butterfly, and all species, with guests Mark Harris, a long-time observer of the monarch, Brian Meyer, part of a new statewide initiative to restore monarch habitat, and Molly Nagel, artist working with children in making costumes for the All Species Parade to be held April 25 in Ames.