Letter to the Editor: Reflections on the Iowa Supreme Court’s visit to Charles City

By Mark Cady, Iowa Supreme Court chief justice

On behalf of all of the justices of the Iowa Supreme Court, I would like to thank the Charles City community for the warm welcome we received during our visit to hold court in the North Grand Building on the evening of April 4.

We were pleased so many people attended the court session, and are very appreciative of everything Charles City Community School District Superintendent Dr. Daniel Cox and his staff, especially Jerry Mitchell and Justine DeVore, did to make the evening run so smoothly.

You have such a wonderful historic auditorium and we thought it looked especially nice the evening we were there.

After the oral arguments, we had the opportunity to meet many Charles City residents during a public reception in the cafeteria. The individual conversations were enjoyable and enlightening.

Justice Thomas Waterman particularly enjoyed talking with your mayor about the annual Charles City Whitewater Weekend Challenge. We saw the rapids by Riverfront Park and it looks like a great venue to host the competition.

I arrived in Charles City early Tuesday afternoon and was honored to sit down with Charles City Press Editor Bob Steenson and reporter Kate Hayden. We discussed the court’s visit and the important changes we are making in our court system to better meet the needs of all Iowans. We also talked about some of the issues and concerns in our court system currently being addressed.

Wednesday morning Justice Brent Appel met with junior and senior government students in the Charles City High School library, Justice Edward Mansfield met with students at Dike-New Hartford High School, Justice Daryl Hecht visited Hampton-Dumont High School, Justice Thomas Waterman went to Wapsie Valley High School, Justice David Wiggins visited Iowa Falls-Alden High School, and I went to Aplington Parkersburg High School.

All of us found the students to be very engaged and interested in the law. The students asked questions that displayed a strong understanding of our legal system.

We talked with students about our responsibilities on the supreme court, the Iowa court system, and answered the many questions they had about the judicial branch of government.

The court is very grateful for the contributions of William Baresel, the Floyd County Bar Association, and Floyd County Clerk of Court Julie Kneip for helping to plan the evening and the Charles City Police Department and Floyd County Sheriff’s Department for providing security at the auditorium Tuesday evening.

Everyone was so helpful and welcoming. You are fortunate to live in such a hospitable community, and our visit will long be remembered by the members of the court.