Worth County presents big presence during gambling debate

The smallest of the six counties that’s approved a gambling referendum had the biggest presence at the statehouse this year. Worth County residents were very visible at the statehouse in their brightly-colored t-shirts with “Worth County” in huge block letters on the front. Worth County has a population of just over four-thousand, and about 100 of those folks showed up at the statehouse the day the Senate debated the gambling bill. Kim Miller — the executive director of the Worth County Development Authority — is their ringleader. She’s been at the statehouse, Monday through Thursday, for the past 14 weeks. Miller says “it’s been an interesting and eye-opening experience.” She got Worth County residents to send legislators e-mail, she got many of them to travel all the way to Des Moines to lobby lawmakers in person, and she had the county’s newspaper — the Northwood Anchor — print a “Special Gaming Edition” that was distributed throughout the statehouse.Miller says they did “anything and everything they can to get (their) message across.” A year and a half ago, Miller didn’t even live in Iowa. She was a schoolteacher in the Twin Cities, but her husband was offered a job at the community college in Mason City. The two drove around the area, looking for a place to settle. Miller says they looked all around and couldn’t find anyplace they liked and were on their way back home when Miller says she suggested they drive through Northwood. “We drove by the school, the elementary and I said ‘This is it. This is right for us.'”