(LE MARS)–Parishioners of a Le Mars church describe the groundbreaking for a new worship center in Le Mars Sunday afternoon as exciting and emotional.
Hundreds of families and friends of St. Joseph’s Catholic church joined community members who stood on an outline of the new Catholic Church building to use their own shovels, forks, or spades to join the mass groundbreaking.
Reverend Kevin Richter of St. Joseph’s describes the building to be built beginning today.
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Shirley Traufler, a member of the parish committee that supports St Joseph’s and works to involves parishioners reacted to the groundbreaking.
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Bishop Walker Nickless of the Diocese of Sioux City says the St. Joseph project is an opportunity to put into practice an example of how the liturgy has changed.
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Daryl Friedenbach chairs the Parish Finance Council. Friedenbach heard of the heritage as gifts to the nine-point-two-million dollar project were given or pledged.
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Margie Moir is a Parish Director who notes the people aspect of the work to replace the three-century old structure.
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Kathy Nilles is also a pastoral council member who helped the Rev. Richter plan the groundbreaking. Nilles describes the emotion.
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Wiltgen Construction of Le Mars is the contractor.
Photos from the groundbreaking are on klem1410.com. The construction progress will be photographed daily from the steeple and updated on this web site: www.saintjosephlemars.org
(REMSEN) A first-ever “Men in Dress” style show and fundraiser for the American Heart Association is being described as a huge success.
Lisa Hodgson is a member of the Plymouth/Sioux American Heart Association Committee. Hodgson reports 322 people attended the fundraiser Saturday night at the Avalon Ballroom in Remsen.
Twenty-seven male models strutted their stuff by putting on what organizers described as “a good show” for the Heart Association audience. The men were supported in their struts with music by Dave Ruden, KLEM Operations Director and Master of Ceremonies Dave Grosenheider of KLEM Radio/Powell Broadcasting Director of Sales.
According to Hodgson, the event was a huge success and totally exceeded the committee’s expectations.
Registrations are being accepted now for the Heart Walk Saturday, April 30th beginning at 10 a-m at Gehlen Catholic’s track.
The Heart Walk princes and princesses are Micah Loutsch; Taya Grace Delperdang; Mitchell Michael Roling; and Allie Lenz.
Walkers may register by contacting Hodgson at 546-9264
(LE MARS)–The latest report on recycling in Le Mars shows new records.
Le Mars residents placed 111-thousand 910 pounds of throwaways for recycling in blue totes and blue bags in March.
The recycling report from Assistant City Administrator Bill Cole states March was a new record. The pounds of recycling exceeded January’s record by more than 500 pounds.
Cole also reports the first quarter of this year was marked by more than a doubling of recycling compared to a year ago at this time. This is a 700 percent increase from the first three months of 2006 when the recycling push was started by the city.
Waste collection in Le Mars now rotates weekly between recycling and trash. Today through Friday is a recycling collection week in Le Mars.
If you’d like information about getting a free blue tote for recycling, stop at city hall, call or email the city. Information is available at www.lemarsiowa.com
Le Mars residents will have a landfill amnesty June 2,3, 4th and 18th, an electronics recycling option June 3 and 4 and a household hazardous waste cleanup May 11th.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Gov. Terry Branstad says he will sign an executive order easing environmental regulations for utilities.
Branstad says he will sign the order on Monday as the first in a series of such moves to ease regulations on businesses.
He says those regulations increase costs for consumers and make it harder for businesses to create jobs.
Branstad and Republican legislators have just completed a tour around the state where the governor says business leaders called for eliminating regulations.
The order Branstad is signing will rescind a requirement that utilities install converters on backup diesel generators to limit air pollution. Branstad says the generators are rarely used and the converters are expensive. He says forcing the installation isn’t worth the cost.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Farmers are bracing for what they expect could be widespread criticism as corn prices are rising rapidly and other food costs are following.
They weathered a similar storm five years ago when many in the food industry blamed them for high prices then. Critics faulted the ethanol industry for buying up corn that could be used for food and farmers for capitalizing on the increased demand.
Rick Tolman of the National Corn Growers Association says he’s been hearing similar complaints lately as corn has nearly doubled in price from last summer.
But he and others say farmers aren’t at fault.
Iowa State University economist Chad Hart says the cost of oil, gas, diesel and unrest overseas affect food prices as much or more than grain prices.
EAGLE GROVE, Iowa (AP) Firefighters found the body of a 50-year-old woman after a home fire in north-central Iowa.
Eagle Grove firefighters say they were dispatched to the home about 6:45 a.m. on Sunday.
Authorities say it took about 10 minutes to bring the fire under control. The body of Kay Jessen was found inside the house.
An autopsy has been ordered. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
There were no injuries to firefighters.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) Police say a 37-year-old Council Bluffs man was arrested after crashing his van into a car and then into a living room.
Authorities say Doyle Lacefield lost control of his van around 1:45 a.m. Sunday. The van first hit a car in the home’s driveway, then the house.
No one in the home was injured.
Police say Lacefield faces several charges, including one for drunken driving.
A jailer said Monday that Lacefield has bonded out of custody. Court records don’t list the name of his attorney. A public listing of his phone number could not be found.
Damage to the house was estimated at about $20,000.
CLINTON, Iowa (AP) Flavor Flav and the local operator of Flavor Flav’s Chicken in Clinton deny that some of the restaurant’s paychecks are bouncing.
Television station WQAD says some current and former workers came forward Friday to complain as the restaurant held its grand opening.
Flav, whose real name is William Drayton Jr., and Nick Cimino acknowledge some startup problems. But the two deny that workers hadn’t been paid properly. In response to the allegations, Flav says the restaurant has money in its accounts.
Cimino says he fired 15 to 20 workers recently for a variety of reasons and says the complaints are merely disgruntled former employees trying to get revenge.
Flav was a founding member of the hip-hop group Public Enemy and has since found new fame on reality shows.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The Diocese of Des Moines says Bishop Emeritus William Bullock has died at age 83 in Wisconsin.
Bullock was the seventh bishop of the Des Moines Diocese, serving central and southwest Iowa from 1987 to 1993.
He died Sunday. The diocese says Bullock had been diagnosed recently with lung cancer and had been staying at a pastoral center in Madison, Wis.
Bullock left Des Moines in 1993, when he was appointed bishop of the Madison Diocese, where he served until he retired.
Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines says Bullock was a dedicated churchman oversaw creation of St. Joseph Emergency Family Shelter and St. Mary Family Center for the Des Moines Diocese.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Inventor and philanthropist Ray Townsend has died.
Townsend was a lifelong Des Moines resident who known for inventions in the meat industry. He was 97 when he died on Saturday.
The Des Moines Register reports that Townsend founded Townsend Engineering in the 1940s.
His first major invention was a device that stripped skin from pork. His second major invention was a machine that produced linked-hot dogs. At one point up to 95 percent of hot dogs made in the U.S. were made with Townsend’s invention.
Townsend’s son says his father had 127 patents. He says his father remained alert despite losing his memory due to dementia
After he sold his company in 2005, Townsend and his son focused on philanthropic projects, such as the Great Ape Trust of Iowa, an education and conservation center.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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