Big Game Wrestling Head Coach Dylan Carew and businessman and former high school wrestling coach Tom Lepic. CREDIT THE PREDICAMENT
A former Iowa City West and University of Iowa wrestler-turned-coach has opened a 10,000-square-foot wrestling complex in North Liberty named after a beloved local champion of the sport.
The Tom Lepic Wrestling Complex, named after longtime West High wrestling coach and local businessman Tom Lepic, held its grand opening earlier this month at the 2905 W. Penn St. location it shares with Head Coach Dylan Carew's family business, Carew Landscaping.
"Today is a monumental day for our club," Mr. Carew said at a Nov. 3 grand opening celebration. "This is a dream come true. Since I was 4 years old, this is what I've wanted for me and my family. Partnering with the Lepics on this has been an absolutely amazing experience."
After his collegiate wrestling career ended, Mr. Carew launched
Big Game Wrestling Club in 2013 and spent several years beginning a branch in Bozeman, Montana, that produced several Division I wrestlers, including 2019 All-American Jarrett Degen. Though the Montana location is still up and running, Mr. Carew moved back to Iowa in 2017 and established a second branch in the Iowa City area.
Before launching the North Liberty location, the club worked out in several locations including Iowa City West and Iowa City Regina high schools. The club currently coaches about 45 beginners once a week and between 40-60 older wrestlers, including nine who will be wrestling at Division I colleges in the fall.
The new complex features enough space for three and a half wrestling mats, and a 30-by-80-foot area dedicated to weight and cardio training. The facility will have locker rooms for both men and women. Mr. Carew also envisions the complex eventually featuring a sauna, steam and training rooms, as well as outdoor training space. He also plans to devote first-floor space to offices and an apparel outlet.
"The main objective of this complex is to provide our wrestlers and parents with world-class facilities to help them achieve their competitive and life goals." Mr. Carew said. "We are extremely lucky to have the ability to house and train our athletes in such an elite space. We have a strong belief in cross training and intend to deliver more then just wrestling out of the facility including boxing, jiu jitsu, MMA, and more."
Mr. Carew, whose club coaches kids as young as 4-years-old through high school, called Mr. Lepic a "true ambassador for the sport."
"It's become a dream to have this," Mr. Lepic said at the grand opening. "Dylan came to me and asked if I wanted to be a part of it. He can tell you how long it took me to say yes. He didn't have to do a whole lot of salesmanship."
In the CBJ: Disruptive launch fueled Hames Homes' success
Curt and Norma Hames founded what is now known as Hames Homes in 1969. The company is now in its third generation and employees 25 people. PHOTO HAMES
"It was quite a culture shock," remembers Barbara Hames-Bryant, of her family's move in 1969 to Marion to open a mobile home dealership, after stops in Bangkok, Thailand, and southwest Missouri. "We had never been through an Iowa winter."
Fortunately, her parents, Curt and Norma Hames, weren't easily daunted, either by harsh weather or a chilly reception from the area's 20 existing "trailer dealers," as they were known at the time. The Hames set about delivering a culture shock of their own, both to competitors and the state's manufactured home industry, with effects that are still felt 50 years later.
"Mobile home dealers were considered disreputable. My parents had never been business owners, never lived in Iowa, had never sold homes. We were in a perfect place to challenge the common wisdom of the industry," said Ms. Hames-Bryant, who now serves as president of the three-generation company her military-retiree parents founded.
Using $25,000 they had saved in the service, the couple launched Homestead Mobile Homes at 640 Marion Blvd., and quickly contested the Iowa Department of Transportation's restriction on Sunday sales of manufactured homes.
IDOT at the time regulated the state's manufactured housing industry, controlling not only the movement of large structures down the highways, but also the retailers who sold the homes, much as the agency regulates car dealers.
"Since auto dealers couldn't sell homes on Sunday (and didn't want to), mobile/manufactured housing dealers couldn't sell homes on Sunday either," said Iowa Manufactured Housing Association (IMHA) Executive Director Joe Kelly.
Read the full members-only story in this week's print or digital editions of the CBJ.
Pop-up market returns to Iowa City Ped Mall for the holiday
Portable, heated pop-up units are back in downtown Iowa City for the holidays. CREDIT IC DOWNTOWN DISTRICT
After taking a break last year due to construction, the Downtown Holiday Pop-Up Market has returned to Iowa City's Ped Mall.
The portable, heated pop-up units, located in the north end of the Ped Mall, will feature dozens of different vendors during the holiday season.
"We have a jam-packed schedule of different shops and makers joining us over the next several weeks that will add even more to the already terrific shopping experience that we have downtown in Iowa City," said Betsy Potter, Iowa City Downtown District's director of creative services, in a news release.
"We constantly aim to offer what people are looking for downtown and this type of market is something we know there is demand for."
Iowa City's downtown pop-up shops offer a custom and unique experience. Rather than the typical tent or vendor market, the downtown holiday pop-up market was designed with retail in mind, offering large windows for natural light, LED lighting tracks and customizable shelving areas.
To view the full calendar of shops for the 2019 Holiday Market, click
here.
Student entrepreneurs take home $10K in prizes at Coe event
Coe College students won $10,000 in prizes and learned about the entrepreneurial process at the college's second-annual Kohawk Startup event last week. CREDIT COE COLLEGE
Young Coe College entrepreneurs won $10,000 in prize money last week at the second-annual Kohawk Startup,
a 24-hour entrepreneurship and innovation event aimed at teaching students to network, generate ideas and work in teams to turn ideas into action.
The event attracted 35 aspiring innovators, with Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Coe alum David Tominsky leading the group through the entrepreneurial process, from idea generation and business modeling to pitching and presenting.
Mr. Tominsky is chief relationship officer at the New Bohemian Innovation Collaborative (NewBoCo).
On Friday, Nov. 8, ideas were pitched, teams were formed and research ensued. Throughout the day Saturday, teams received guidance from Cedar Rapids area leaders and worked through customer discovery and problem identification.
First place and $5,000 was awarded to team Nodey, which pitched the idea of remote monitoring technology enabling the ag industry to make optimal decisions using real-time data about field conditions.
Second place and $2,500 was awarded to team FullFilled and their concept of a data-driven social and gamified app connecting volunteers to nonprofits and nonprofits to donors.
Team Charlie's Community Garden was the third-place and audience choice winner, receiving $2,500. They pitched the idea of installing a hoop house to provide a direct supply of fresh produce to "The Nest," Coe's on-campus food and necessities pantry.
The top three teams will continue to meet with Mr. Tominsky for follow-up consultations. He will also maintain a dedicated space on Coe's campus for one-on-one entrepreneurial coaching - a service available to all current Coe students.
If you or your business sells products on Amazon using the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service, you are well into the multi-state sales tax mess ... even if you are not aware of it. You may be asking yourself:
Do I now need to register my business with every state and collect tax on their behalf?
Do I really have physical nexus? What about economic nexus? What is nexus?
Background
The old sales tax standard required you to collect and remit sales tax only in states that you have a physical presence (also known as physical nexus). The recent South Dakota vs. Wayfair decision by the Supreme Court then legitimized the concept of economic nexus. This means your business could be required to collect and remit sales tax based on where you ship a product and not whether you ever set foot in a particular state (economic nexus).
The bigger mess
States were quick to jump on the bandwagon and actively identify Amazon, eBay and Walmart sellers to demand sales tax for website sales. Some states, like California, got even more aggressive and decided that FBA sellers do have physical presence because Amazon may put your product in a warehouse in their state.
Marketplace facilitator to the rescue?
To help address this mess and alleviate the need for small businesses to collect and remit sales tax forms to 50 states, many states acknowledged the problem and have passed what is called Marketplace Facilitator laws. In short, it's on the facilitator, not you. States with these laws require Amazon, eBay and similar companies that facilitate sales for resellers to collect and remit sales tax on reseller Amazon activity. There are more than 30 states that have adapted these laws.
You do not need to register your business to collect sales tax in states that have Market Facilitator legislation unless you are otherwise required to do so (such as having a physical presence in the state).
What you need to know
Know the states. Know which states have Marketplace Facilitator laws. If you do not, you could unwittingly register your business with a state when you do not have to do so. Of our surrounding states, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Nebraska, the Dakotas and Minnesota have adopted a Marketplace Facilitator sales tax policy. Missouri and Kansas have not.
Forward the FREE, weekly CBJ on Small Business newsletter to your friends and colleagues, and share the feeling of being informed! Use our fast, one-minute subscription to the CBJ's newsletters
here, or check out our other subscription options
here.
See something we missed? Send tips, leads, corrections, etc. to [email protected].
Note: The CBJ is now observing summer hours through Aug. 30. The CBJ offices will be open Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., and Fridays, 8 a.m.-noon.
Corridor Stocks
Short-Term Event Planner
Nov. 18
Coralville Roundtable, by Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, noon-1 p.m., Wig & Pen Pizza Pub, 1220 Highway 6 W., Iowa City. Members are invited to network and keep up to date with chamber and community events. Free. For information, call (319) 337-9637.
Stellar Women Achieving Greatness (SWAG), by U.S. Small Business Administration, 4-6 p.m., SBA Branch Office, 2750 First Ave. NE, Suite 350, Cedar Rapids. SWAG offers women who are in business, or who are thinking about starting a business, the opportunity to meet, connect with and provide mutual support to each other. Free. For more information, contact Jo Eckert at (319) 362-6535 or
[email protected].
Nov. 19
Women's Entrepreneurship Day, by Iowa City Area Development Group, 8 a.m.-6:30 p.m., MERGE, 136 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City. Enjoy free coworking for women from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., followed by a Women's Entrepreneurship Day Happy Hour event from 5-6:30 p.m. Free. For more information, visit
bit.ly/2WQPTAt.
Iowa City Roundtable, by Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, noon-1 p.m., Mosley's, 525 S. Gilbert St., Iowa City. Members are invited to network and keep up to date with chamber and community events. Free. For information, call (319) 337-9637.
Nov. 20
1 Million Cups, by 1MC Cedar Rapids, 8:15-9:15 a.m., Geonetric, 415 12th Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids. Join for community connections, free coffee and presentations by entrepreneurs, established companies, experts and more. Free. For more information, visit
facebook.com/1MCICR.
1 Million Cups, by 1MC Iowa City, 9-10 a.m., MERGE, 136 S. Dubuque St., Iowa City. Join for community connections, free coffee and presentations by entrepreneurs, established companies, experts and more. Free. For more information, visit
facebook.com/1MillionCupsIC/.
Leading Edge Workshop, by Clickstop, 9-11 a.m., Clickstop, 202 Blue Creek Drive, Urbana.
During this workshop, "Leading Different Personalities: Explore How Your Team Works Best," learn how each individual employee can drive value for your company. Cost: $90. To register, visit
bit.ly/2OQ7Ayr.
Marion YMCA Groundbreaking, by Marion Chamber of Commerce, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Marion YMCA site, 3740 Irish Drive.
Renderings will be available for viewing and a short program will begin at 11:45 a.m. Free. For more information, visit bit.ly/2pM1ncA.
Walgreens Pharmacy Ribbon Cutting, by Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, 4-5 p.m., 1029 S. Riverside Drive, Suite 100, Iowa City. Free. For more information, visit
bit.ly/2BVo4NP.
Investing on Tap, by Hills Bank, 4:30-6 p.m., White Star Ale House, 305 Second Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids. Learn about retirement planning from experts at Hills Bank. Free. To register, visit
bit.ly/2Pfbp0a.
Headlines from CBS2/FOX 28
These news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28
Members and employees of the governing board for Iowa's public universities are now prohibited from gambling on the college teams they help oversee. This includes the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Iowa State Cyclones and the University of Northern Iowa Panthers. The Board of Regents unanimously approved the decision Thursday at a meeting in Cedar Falls. They say the purpose is to remove any potential conflict of interests. The prohibition applies to both in-state and out-of-state casinos. Members are also not allowed to give out any gambling information about their team that is not available to the public. The only exception to the rule is fantasy sports contests. Any employee who violates the policy may be disciplined.
An Iowa City pastor is taking a voluntary leave of absence from the United Methodist Church's Iowa Conference as part of a settlement in their ongoing fight over LGBTQ rights.
In a resolution from the Iowa Conference, Rev. Anna Blaedel refers to the branch of Christianity as "increasingly toxic, traumatic, and abusive" and adds that they (the pronoun Blaedel prefers, according to a report from The Gazette) "do not have what I need to faithfully and healthily continue my participation in it." CBS2/FOX28 spoke with Rev. Blaedel in May 2017 after a complaint was filed against them for performing a same-sex wedding for one of their close friends. Blaedel had been the subject of other complaints since publicly disclosing that they are gay in 2016. "I knew a complaint could cost me my clergy credentials, my job, my employment, my income, my health insurance, and my place of spiritual belonging," they told CBS2/FOX28 at the time, "but I knew that saying 'no' because of fear and self-protection would cost me my integrity." Read the full story here.
These news items are provided by CBS2/FOX 28
CBS2 Weather First Forecast
High pressure will begin to move in and clouds will depart this morning. There will be plenty of sunshine but it will be cold with temperatures near 30. With mostly clear skies tonight temperatures will drop into the low teens.
We'll have a partly cloudy Friday with warmer temperatures in the mid-30s. Temperatures will be near 40 degrees both Saturday and Sunday. There will be more clouds around Sunday and the chance for some light showers in the evening.
Tom Lepic Wrestling Complex opens in North Liberty 
