CEDAR RAPIDS - Iowa's newest U.S. attorney believes his role is to continue the tradition of civil service established by the country's forefathers and his own parents and grandparents.

Matt Dummermuth, 34, has a degree from Harvard Law School and is among the youngest of 93 attorneys in similar jobs across the country.

He returns to Iowa after living several years in Virginia and Washington, D.C., but his face is still familiar in Elgin and Clermont. Dummermuth graduated from Valley High School in 1991. He is the oldest of Lois and Kim Dummermuth's five children.

"I was well cared for by the community and teachers at Valley," he says.

Dummermuth's first career choice was to play quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. The four-sport athlete at Valley tried out as a walk-on as a catcher with the baseball team at Iowa State University. He didn't make the team and instead pursued a passion for math and science and a degree in agricultural engineering.

Along the way, Dummermuth accepted an internship with U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley in Washington.

"I hadn't really thought about being an attorney at that point, but it exposed me to a lot of national and legal issues," Dummermuth says.

Before his senior year at ISU, Dummermuth spent a semester in the Statehouse as legislative clerk to state Rep. Charles Hurley, chairman of the judiciary committee.

Observing the session so closely was fascinating, particularly because efforts to restore the death penalty in the Iowa was a hot topic.

"It was also the first year the state got involved in regulating hog production in Iowa," Dummermuth says.

With an appreciation for legal issues, Dummermuth enrolled in an ag law course his senior year. His professor, Neil Harl, remembers Dummermuth as a bright student, and it was Harl who suggested the 22-year-old farm boy from Elgin apply to Harvard.

Dummermuth spent nearly four years working for the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and he says assignments as special assistant to a U.S. attorney in Virginia prepared him for the new role. In January, Dummermuth replaced U.S. Attorney Charles Larson Sr., who retired.

As U.S. attorney, Dummermuth oversees 25 attorneys and 30 other staffers in the Northern District of Iowa. His office is in Cedar Rapids, but he also travels to Sioux City. He has never been officially confirmed by the U.S. Senate but will likely serve without appointment until the next presidential election.

Anti-terrorism is a top priority within the U.S. Attorney's office, Dummermuth says.

"It continues to be a threat and is something we're working hard on," he says.

An emerging threat, he adds, is child exploitation, which he describes as a national epidemic. Though he has a limited amount of time to spend on speeches and presentations, Dummermuth visits schools to warn youth about the dangers.

Methamphetamine is still quite prevalent from the southwest and from Mexico, he says. But a change in Iowa law restricting the availability of pseudoephedrine - a key ingredient in the illegal drug - helped bring down the number of home-grown labs, Dummermuth says.

"In that respect, it's still a problem, and we spend the most prosecutorial resources on drug cases."

Other concerns include identity theft and a slight up-tick in gang activity. Dummermuth, though, says legal authorities are well-positioned.

"It's a very experienced office I inherited of both staff and prosecutors. I think we're ready to handle most challenges."

Dummermuth and his wife, Becky, have a son, Caleb, and expect a second child in March. He credits his parents - who served on various boards - and his grandfather - a veteran of World War II - with his own dedication to community service.

His question was simple: Where do I fit in to serve?

"From the common sense I learned on the farm to my other jobs in the Department of Justice - each has helped prepare me in different ways."

Contact Janell Bradley at jbradley@alpinecom.net.