Reminder: Rep. Rod Blum town hall meetings begin Monday

U.S. Rep. Rod Blum is hoping 'Iowa nice” prevails this week at town hall meetings scheduled in Dubuque, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls and Marshalltown.

'It's Iowa,” Blum said last week following a committee meeting in Washington, D.C. 'And, we're going to have Iowans there. I think in Iowa we respect each other's opinions, at least enough to listen to each other. I expect people to be respectful, but who knows?”

In an attempt to prevent his town hall meetings from falling into the 'raucous, contentious” category, Blum said he is limiting participation to residents of the 20-county northeast Iowa 1st Congressional District.

Residents must RSVP and attendees must provide a valid ID verifying they live in the district. No backpacks, signs, banners or artificial noisemakers will be allowed.

To register, go to blum.house.gov/townhall, or call (202) 225-2911.

The town hall schedule is as follows:

- 7 p.m. Monday at Dubuque Senior High School's Nora Gym, 1800 Clarke Drive.

- 7 p.m. Tuesday at Kirkwood Community College Johnson Hall Gym, 6301 Kirkwood Blvd. SW, Cedar Rapids.

- 7 p.m. Wednesday at Cedar Falls High School gym, 1015 Division St.

- Noon Thursday at Marshalltown Community College Babe Harder Gym, 3700 S. Center St.

Doors open at 6 p.m. for the evening events and 11 a.m. for the afternoon event.

Blum hopes people come ready to civilly discuss the issues that are important to them.

'If half the time is just yelling, then we're not accomplishing too much,” he said. 'That just cuts down the amount of time I can listen to people, what their thoughts are, and I can give them what my thoughts are.”