(Le Mars)–Development of a public fishing area near Akron is slower than Plymouth County officials had expected.
The County Board of Supervisors Tuesday discussed the progress of a pond development south of Akron. The project began in 2004 with a land and gravel swap agreement with Higman Sand and Gravel of Akron. None of the current members of the Board of Supervisors were in office when the agreement was made.
Plymouth County Conservation Board member Clark Goodchild, speaking personally during the open public forum, expressed his frustration with the project’s slow progress.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/goodchild0422.mp3{/audio}
Supervisor Mark Loutsch agreed with Goodchild.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/loutsch0422.mp3{/audio}
Plymouth County Auditor Stacey Feldman has requested that Justin Higman from Higman Sand and
Gravel in Akron update the supervisors at their meeting next Tuesday. (News report by Dave Ruden)
(LE MARS)–Donations to the Le Mars Community School District Foundation continue the education of Bulldog graduates.
Todd Lancaster of the School’s Foundation says scholarships totalling more than 400-thousand dollars have been funded 1993.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/scholarship1.mp3{/audio}
At the Foundation Awards banquet, Foundation President Larry Petersen announced plans for the Class of 2010.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/scholarship2.mp3{/audio}
The foundation also provides the Employee of the Month award, treats for staff on the first day of school and the annual banquet to honor the top five percent of the graduating class, the Teacher of the Year, and 25-year employees.
(LE MARS)–Patients of Le Mars Area Dialysis Services in downtown Le Mars will have weather protection and handicap parking.
The Le Mars Board of Zoning Adjustment and the City Council this week approved requests for the dialysis center from the project architect, W-T- A Architects of Milwaukee.
A variance was approved for a canopy to be built on the south side of the building along First Street Southwest. Architect James Daul requested the awning variance to provide a weather protected area for visiting patients of the dialysis services as they wait for transportation.
Daul also asked for three handicap accessible parking spaces on First Street Southwest which is the front entrance for Le Mars Area Dialysis Services. City staff recommended adding three additional handicap parking stalls as requested by the architect.
The Council approved the designations Tuesday.
(LE MARS)–A Plymouth County sheriff’s deputy is reminding county residents that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
The advice is chief sheriff’s deputy Craig Bartolozzi’s response to reports of sweepstakes fraud.
The sheriff’s office was contacted by a citizen reporting they received two letters telling them they had won two different sweepstakes.
Both sweepstakes letters asked the person to deposit the checks and return a certain amount by money order and keep the remainder for themselves.
If someone is asked for money in this way, Bartolozzi says NEVER give out your personal information.
(HULL)–A Hull teen was injured when he fell from a car in Hull Monday afternoon.
According to the Sioux County sheriff’s office report, 17-year-old Andrew Doty of Hull was driving west on a city street when 18-year-old Kyle McAlpine of Hull held onto the car from the outside. Doty was not aware that McAlpine was holding onto the car.
Authorities say when Doty got to a speed that McAlpine could no longer hold on, he let go and dropped to the pavement. Hull Ambulance took McAlpine to the hospital in Sioux Center.
(SAC CITY)–Sac County authorities expect more arrests in an investigation of a burglary at a Sac City Park.
Sac City police executed a search warrant in Sac City Tuesday. Items reported stolen from Haggie Park and a farm place in Buena Vista County were recovered.
The Sac County Sheriff’s office charged 26-year-old Mandi Brenner and 28-year-old Travis Lenz, both of Sac City, with burglary in the third degree and two theft charges. They are being held in the Sac County Jail.
CROFTON, Neb. (AP) Authorities in northeast Nebraska say a teenage driver was killed in a rollover accident on a county road south of Crofton.
The Cedar County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that the body of 17-year-old Shawn Potts of Crofton was discovered around 7:15 Wednesday morning.
Potts was alone in his vehicle when it rolled about four miles south of Crofton.
The sheriff’s office says Potts was not wearing a seat belt or other restraint and that alcohol use apparently was not a factor in the accident, which remains under investigation.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Listen to the newscast
{audio}images/stories/mp3/am0422.mp3{/audio}
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) New Federal Election Commission reports show Iowa congressional incumbents hold fund-raising edges over their challengers, but the money race is competitive in some districts.
In central Iowa’s 3rd District, home to Des Moines, Democratic Rep. Leonard Boswell raised about $750,000 in the first three months of the year. Among his seven Republican challengers, businessman Jim Gibbons has raised the most money, at nearly $370,000.
In eastern Iowa’s 2nd District, incumbent Democrat Rep. Dave Loebsack raised about $475,000. Republican opponent Robert Gettemy says he raised nearly $130,000, followed by Steve Rathje’s total of about $100,000 and the roughly $92,000 raised by Mariannette Miller-Meeks. GASOLINE LEAK
Gasoline leak at service station in Centerville
CENTERVILLE, Iowa (AP) The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says a leaking gas tank has been discovered at a service station in Centerville.
Officials say workers at the Kum N Go station on N. Street in Centerville discovered the leak from one of their tanks Wednesday.
Although local officials had not detected any gasoline or gasoline vapor in city sewer systems, residents near the station were warned to call 911 if they smell gasoline in their basements.
The DNR says an estimated 3,000 gallons of gasoline appeared to have leaked from the tank.
AMES, Iowa (AP) Under a preliminary budget proposal, Iowa State University could lose more than two dozen full-time faculty positions beginning as early as this summer.
The proposal will be presented to the regents next week.
Each of the university’s seven colleges was asked to make budget cuts of up to 6.75 percent to compensate for a more than 8 percent, or $20.4 million, reduction in state funding for the next school year.
University president Gregory Geoffroy says each of the colleges plan to eliminate faculty and instructor positions, including seven full-time faculty apiece in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Veterinary Medicine.
The exact number of administrative jobs eliminated in each college through layoffs, retirements and unfilled open positions has not been finalized.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Authorities in Des Moines say a 3-year-old boy who was bouncing on a bed fell to the ground through a third-floor window but survived.
Des Moines Police Officer Martin Seibert says the boy was crying after the mishap late Wednesday morning, but was able to stand up on his own and reply to questions from fire department medics.
The boy’s name was not immediately released. He bounced through the window screen and brought the screen down with him as he fell along with the window blinds.
Authorities on the scene said the boy did not appear to have any broken bones, but he was taken to Mercy Medical Center as a precaution.
Seibert says the boy’s mother was at home at the time of the fall.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) Iowa City Police say they have arrested one Coralville man and are searching for another in a robbery and assault at a downtown tavern.
Officers say one of the men grabbed the doorman at the tavern early Wednesday morning and threw him down a long flight of stairs before his accomplice allegedly grabbed a cash box containing less than $500 dollars.
The doorman received minor injuries to his hip.
Iowa City Police Sgt. Denise Brotherton says the two fled after the robbery at the Yacht Club tavern, but officers captured one of them later Wednesday.
The arrested man, 23-year-old Robbie Taylor, was charged with first-degree robbery and assault with intent to cause serious injury. It was not known if Taylor had an attorney. Brotherton says a 19-year-old remained at large Wednesday afternoon.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Cedar Rapids police chief Greg Graham says his city is “on the verge of a gang problem.”
In response, the Cedar Rapids police department announced Wednesday it would form a task force with federal agencies to fight a recent influx of gang members from as far away as California.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun says the aim of the task force will be to investigate and undermine the leadership of criminal organizations in Cedar Rapids and Linn County.
Dun says about six people will work full-time on the task force, with more officers and agents ready for larger operations.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) A group of Waterloo community activists say they have a plan to work with the city’s youth to curb violence.
Iowa Commission on the Status of African-Americans director the Rev. Abraham Funchess says civic leaders are very aware of the violence that has racked Waterloo recently. He says he and others intend to play a pivotal role in trying to end it.
Funchess was joined Wednesday by representatives of several organizations, including the Black Hawk County NAACP and the Waterloo Neighborhood Coalition.
Funchess says a disturbance last week where 10 people were arrested and two police officers injured, served as “a brutal reminder this could be a long summer.”
According to Funchess, the plan to combat violence in part emphasizes instilling in young people a sense of history and cultural pride, and respect for all individuals.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Elected officials in Linn County are looking into reports that some county employees may not be taking enough time off.
County Auditor Joel Miller recently wrote an e-mail to Supervisor Linda Langston questioning the wisdom of letting county employees take little or no vacation in a year, and then run up giant vacation time accounts.
Miller says employees who don’t take vacation can earn more than their annual salary because of year-end payouts for unused vacation, and may be setting a bad example.
Langston says County Human Resources Director Lisa Powell is looking into the matter and the supervisors will address it in mid-May. Powell says the handful of employees with giant vacation or paid leave accounts are managers who have worked at the county for a long time.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Submit your news release, confidential news tip or news idea by email klemnews@lemarscomm.net, by calling 712.546.4121 or 712.546.9672 fax.
