Iowa Civil Rights Commission Annual Report, 1984

Annual report for the Iowa Civil Rights Commission

Executive Order Number Eight, January 27, 1984

Eastablish the Iowa Refugee Service Center.

Executive Order Number Nine, February 8, 1984

Appoint all present and future members of the District Export Council to the Governor's Export Advisory Council.

Executive Order Number Ten, March 22, 1984

Order a procedure to be used to allocate the total prinipal amount of bonds which can be issued by political subdivision of the state.

Executive Order Number Eleven, March 30, 1984

Amend Executive Order #15 establishing a code of fair pratices.

Executive Order Number Twelve, September 6, 1984

To establish the iowa Literacy council.

Executive Order Number Thirteen, September 21, 1984

Order that each department in the Executive branch undertake a comprehensive review of its supervisory span of control and report to the Inspector General.

Executive Order Number Fourteen, September 21, 1984

Set the maximum percentage of federal funds allotted to Iowa that may be spent on municipal Wastewater treatment works at 20%.

Executive Order Number Fifteen, January 29, 1984

Create an Iowa Economic Development Coordinating Committee.

One hundred topics in Iowa history, 1914.

Dr. Dan Elbert Clark compiled and Benjamin F. Shambaugh edited this edition of a list of Iowa history topics, which originally was suggested by Miss Alice Tyler, Secretary of the Iowa Library Commission in 1907. It is also called Bulletin of Information Series, no. 7 published by the State Historical Society of Iowa. The subjects presented will give the reader a general knowledge of the more important facts and phases of Iowa's commonwealth history. Also included in this document are lists of authors of the articles sited, suggested courses of study or reading in Iowa history, the Governor's of Iowa, United State Senators from Iowa and a list of some of the important dates in early Iowa history.

Iowa "50 States Project": A Review of the 1983 Code for Sexuality Discrimination, February 1984

The "50 States Project" is the name given to President Ronald D. Reagan;s 1981 pledge to encourage the fifty governors to initiate individual state projects to review their state Codes for unequal treatment of persons based upon sex. We believe that Iowa is the first state to complete this project. Project efforts in Iowa began in June of 1981, when the Governor Robert D. ray appointed Dr. Patricia L. Geadelmann, Chairperson on the Iowa commission on the Status of Women, as Iowa's 50 State Project representative. A 50 States planning committee was formed consisting of members from the Governor Ray's staff, the Iowa Commission on the Status of Women, and the Iowa Legislature. Various alternatives for reviewing the Iowa code and the Iowa Administrative Rules were studied and recommendations of the group were reported to Governor Terry E. Branstad prior to his inauguration.

First in the Nation in Education : Final Report,1984.

This report is one step in an ongoing process of change and is a plea for commitment for high standards in education in Iowa. Contains the final reports of the six subcommittees as adopted by the Excellence in Education Task Force, and the five recommendations made by the Task Force.

U.S. 61 dedication, December 13, 1984

Program from the dedication ceremony of the new U.S. 61 Muscatine Bypass.

Iowa Registered Highway Route 1914-1925

There were few guides for travelers crossing Iowa in 1838 when it was organzied as a teritory, and traveler often becaome lost or wandered for out of their way. The 1838 Territorial Government authorized the first state roads and the federal government appropriated money to expedite the movement of soldiers. The Territorial governement ued the federal money for layin gout a road from Dubuque to Keokuk vis Iowa City and this was the beginning of what was to becaome a 112,000 mile system of roads and streets in Iowa. The original roads followed the high ground of the state and were known as ride roads; but as the state was settled, roads befan to follow section line to accomodate landowners.

Effect of Wildlife Highway Warning Reflectors on Deer-Vehicle Accident, December 1984

he number of deer-vehicle accidents in Iowa and around the country has steadily increased during the past 30 years. This i s basically due to: ( 1 ) increased volume of traffic; 12) an expanding network of hard surface roads, especially 4 lane interstates; and (3) a general increase in deer populations. Initidtion of a 55 MPH speed limit in 1974 and gasoline shortages in 1975 reduced deer-vehicle accident rates briefly, but since 1975, rates have continued to climb. Various methods of reducinq these accidents have been attempted in other states. These include: instal lation of rc?flective devlres, deer crossing signs, fencing, underpasses, clearing right--of--waysa,n d controlled hunting to reduce deer population s i z e . These methods have met with varying degrees of success, depending on animal behavior, deet- population fluctuations, method used, topoyr-aphy, road-side vegetation, traffic patterns, and highway configuration. This project was designed to evaluate a new ntethod of reducing deer-vehicle accidents. There are qenerally 4 important aspects of deer-vehicle accidents: danger to human l i f e , vehicle damage, loss of a valuable wildlife resource, and cost of processing accident reports. In !owe, during 1983, there were over 15,OOC) reported deer--vehicle accidents and probably many more that were not reported (Gladfelter 1984). The extent of human injury or death in Iowa i s not known, but studies in southern Michigan show that human injur ies occurred in about 4% of the deer-vehicle accidents (A1 lcn and MrCullough 1976). T h i s would indicate that in Iowa there could have been 200 human injury cases from deer-vehicle accidents i n 1983. These injuries usual 1 occur from secondary collisions when motorists try to avoid a deer on the highway, and hit some other object Vehicle darnaye from these accidents can into thousands of dollars because of the high speed involved and the size of the animal. The total amount of vehicle damage occurring in Iowa is unknown, but if the average vehicle damage was between $500-$800 per accident, estimated property damage would be between $2 1/2--$4 million annually. The value of deer lost in these accidents cannot be estimated, but recreational potential of this natural resource is surely diminished for hunters and wildlife enthusiasts. Also, there ir a great deal of money spent by governmental agencies for manpower to process accident reports and remove dead animals from highways.