Community

SOLON– Bill Mattaliano brushed it off as a joke when asked to travel to Romania to help run a robotics competition.
“Yeah, sure, right,” he recalled saying.
“Next thing I know, I’m in Romania, helping run a 96-team tournament.”
The tournament, held March 24-25, was only the country’s second of its kind.
Mattaliano, who said his “real job” is a prison guard at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville, has been coaching the Solon Robotics Club since 2009.
That first year, he said, just three students participated in the after-school program.

NORTH LIBERTY– On the morning of Wednesday, April 25, five students huddled around a table, immersed in a science experiment. In the theme of invention, learning specialist Elizabeth Drewelow led the group as they pierced lemons with pennies and nails in attempt to conduct electricity. But this was not your everyday science class.
Located on Jordon Street in North Liberty, Enrichment Therapy & Learning Center, P.C. offers an alternative path to learning for students struggling with academic and communication skill development.

NORTH LIBERTY– Junge Ford, located at 525 N. Madison Ave. in North Liberty, welcomes the public to their grand opening celebration on Friday, May 18, from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, May 19, from 8:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Hy-Vee will provide a lunch hour grill-out, and Jimmy Jack’s Rib Shack will cater an evening meal with a live band to close out the day.
Saturday will feature a chance to win prizes and discounts on vehicles, an F-series truck pull and a raffle for a Harley Davidson motorcycle, with all proceeds going to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital.

NORTH LIBERTY– The City of North Liberty may soon consider a pair of rezonings, and the public is invited to an open house-style meeting being held to explain the proposals. The properties are east of Ranshaw Way (Highway 965), one south of Lions Drive and the other south of Hawkeye Drive. The proposals are for mixed use development buildings with ground floor commercial space and upper floors residential, and the zoning being requested is C-2-B. A location map is shown on the right. This memo is being sent to property owners within 200 feet of the proposed development.

SOLON– If you’re somewhere in Solon where you can’t smoke a real cigarette, you now can’t use an e-cigarette either.
At a May 4 meeting, Solon City Council members passed the third and final reading of an ordinance banning alternative nicotine and vapor products from use in areas defined as smoke-free by the state.
The ordinance, introduced at an April 4 session, adopts Chapter 142D of the Code of Iowa, known as the “Smokefree Air Act,” and amended the law to include newer nicotine delivery systems.