LE MARS – A Le Mars woman knows egg-actly how to make a contest-winning dessert.
The Iowa Egg Council announced that Ruth Marie Faber of Le Mars was one of ten finalists selected to whip, scramble, bake or simmer their way through a competition at the Des Moines Botanical Center.
Nearly 200 original recipes were submitted this spring for the Egg Council’s annual cooking contest.
First place went to Faber’s “Egg-zotic Almond Pineapple Torte.”
Nearly 300 spectators attended the contest earlier this month.
For recipes and photos from the Iowa Egg Council’s 26th annual cooking contest, visit www.iowaegg.org or call 1-877-IOWAEGG.
Summer theatre opens in Okoboji in June
(OKOBOJI) From drama at the hair salon to riots in Argentina, the 2011 season at the Okoboji Summer Theater in Spirit Lake has nine different shows, sure to please almost every theater fancy.
Beth Leonard is in her 14th season as the Artistic Director for the group, which is in their 54th season. She says the company is combination of Stephens College students and professionals.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/April2011/Okaboji 1.mp3{/audio}
The Okoboji Summer Theater debuts an impressive nine shows over a ten week period. From June 14th to August 14th Leonard says a new production opens every Tuesday.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/April2011/Okaboji 2.mp3{/audio}
She adds that the season kicks off with a recognizable show and a recognizable guest actress…Dawn Wells.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/April2011/Okaboji 3.mp3{/audio}
In addition to “Steel Magnolias,” the Okoboji Summer Theater will be staging: a mystery thriller called “Wait Until Dark,” “Bedroom Farce,” “Nunset Boulevard,” Neil Simon’s “The Sunshine Boys,” “The Ladies Man,” “The Glass Menagerie,” and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s hit musical “Evita.”
The box office opens at the Okoboji Summer Theater on June 6th. Additional details for advance tickets can be found here: www.stephens.edu/news/stephensevents/okoboji (News report by Angela Drake of KLEM)
Five northwest Iowa counties are among 23 awarded funds
DES MOINES – Plymouth County and four other northwest Iowa counties will receive federal funds to reduce binge drinking and underage drinking.
The funds are part of a state plan for the highest need related to underage alcohol use and youth and adult binge drinking.
Among the 23 counties selected through the Iowa Department of Health include Plymouth, Woodbury, Dickinson, Buena Vista and Sac.
The project director for the state’s prevention grant, Julie Hibben, says alcohol is the substance most frequently used by adults and youth in Iowa and across the nation.
Museum grand opening ceremony welcomes Vilsack
SIOUX CITY – A new Sioux City Public Museum opens today in downtown Sioux City.
The grand opening will showcase permanent and temporary exhibits at the new location at 607 Fourth Street.
Formerly headquartered in the Peirce Mansion, the former J-C Penney building location offers more than 55-thousand square feet of floor space on the first floor. “Our New Museum” has been a campaign to consolidate collections and archives and provide space for larger exhibits.
The south exterior wall features glass to view events and artifacts.
Former Governor Tom Vilsack who is now U-S Ag Secretary initiated the Vision Iowa program which awarded two-million dollars to the new museum project. Vilsack and lead donor Ted Waitt of the Waitt Foundation will speak at the grand opening ceremony at ten this morning.
Honorary co-chairs for the “Our New Museum” capital campaign are Joan Waitt and Irving F. Jensen Junior.
Museum hours today are until five this afternoon. Due to the Easter holiday, the Museum is closed tomorrow but will have special hours Monday from 10 in the morning until 5 in the afternoon. New regular hours will be Tuesday through Saturday from 10 in the morning until five in the afternoon and Sunday afternoons from one until five.
City offers options for waste
LE MARS – Spring cleaning for Le Mars residents will offer recycling or a way to get rid of everything from equipment in your home office to the garage and furniture and appliances.
Cell phones, telephones, comptuers, computer equipment, can openers, camcorders and fax machines may be recycled as Assistant City Administrator Bill Cole explains.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/April2011/recycle.mp3{/audio}
The items may be left at a drop off site in the parking lot of city hall.
If you have Spring Cleaning fever, appointments are being accepted for Le Mars and Oyens residents to get rid of household hazardous waste May 11th.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/April2011/hhw.mp3{/audio}
The landfill amnesty for Le Mars Residents in June 2,3 and 4th as well as June 18th. Items must be taken to the rural Le Mars landfill and there’s a one-thousand pound limit
Historic Tour of Homes is May 7
LE MARS — A mystery may be solved for four homeowners in Le Mars next month.
The Le Mars Historic Preservation Commission and the Plymouth County Historical Museum offer a May 7th tour of homes to promote preservation of buildings and homes.
Linda Mayrose and Iris Hemmingson planned and organized the tours. The 12th Historic House Tour in Le Mars includes homes such as one with only four families living in the house during its 110 year-history. Hemmingson says another home is also more than a century-old.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/April2011/historictour1.mp3{/audio}
You can help a homeowner know more about the reason for a feature of their residence.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/April2011/historicttour2.mp3{/audio}
A new feature this year is a luncheon offered at the Art Center from 11 a-m to 1 p.m. Tickets for the “Berry Best Luncheon” are available now.
The tours are from 10 a-m to 5 p.m. The tours start at the Plymouth County Historical Museum.
Rock Valley man convicted by Sioux County jury
ORANGE CITY – A Rock Valley man faces up to five years in prison when he’s sentenced for felony domestic assault next month.
Sioux County Attorney Coleman McAllister released written information about the conviction of 34-year-old Chad Kooiker of Rock Valley.
A jury Thursday found Kooiker guilty of domestic assault causing bodily injury for a third time. He was charged after a woman reported she had been choked and was struck at a home in Rock Valley in November of last year.
After the jury verdict, Kooiker was taken to the Sioux County Jail where he’s being held until sentencing which is set for May 9th.
Hundreds gather for Iowa soldier’s funeral
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) Hundreds of people have gathered for the funeral of an Iowa Army National Guard soldier killed in Afghanistan.
Thirty-one-year-old Sgt. Brent Maher of Honey Creek was killed in a roadside bombing on April 11. Three other soldiers were injured.
Maher’s funeral was held Friday morning at Thomas Jefferson High School in Council Bluffs.
KETV-TV in Omaha, Neb. says people lined the streets leading up the school, waving American flags. They say they are celebrating Maher’s life and his sacrifice for freedom.
Maher is one of two Iowa National Guard soldiers who died in Afghanistan last week.
Twenty-one-year-old Spc. Donald Nichols of Shell Rock was killed April 13 in a roadside bombing that injured another Iowa soldier.
Nichols’ funeral is Saturday at Waverly-Shell Rock High School in Waverly.
Trial reset for Iowa man charged in deadly crash
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The trial of a man charged in a collision that killed two children in Ankeny has been delayed.
Kevin Dalasta (duh-LAS’-tuh) of Ankeny is charged with two counts of vehicular homicide and two counts of serious injury by vehicle.
He’s accused in the deaths of 5-year-old Carson DeJoode (DUH’-joh-dee) and his 5-month-old sister, Claire, and injuries to their mother and 3-year-old brother.
The Des Moines Register says Dalasta’s trial, which had been set for May 16, was postponed until Oct. 17 during a hearing on Thursday in Polk County District Court.
Police say Dalasta ran a stop sign at high speed and hit the DeJoodes’ vehicle and another car in May 2010.
No distress call in fatal Colo. air crash in Jan.
DENVER (AP) An Iowa man who was piloting a small plane over the Colorado mountains apparently didn’t make a distress call before the plane crashed, killing him and a passenger.
The National Transportation Safety Board released recordings this week of conversations between ground controllers and pilot Michael O. Welton.
Welton and Roswitha Marold were killed Jan. 9 when the single-engine Piper Malibu crashed in the southern Colorado mountains. Both were from Waterloo, Iowa, and were en route from the Phoenix area to Pueblo, Colo.
In the last transmission from Welton on the recording, he confirms a controller’s instruction to descend to 17,000 feet.
The Associated Press obtained the recording through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The investigator in the case didn’t immediately return phone calls. The cause hasn’t been released.
Agriculture Department facing more budget cuts
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The Iowa Department of Agriculture is facing more budget cuts that could further reduce services to farmers and limit inspections.
The agency’s budget has fallen from $45 million in the 2010 fiscal year to $34 million now. The situation likely won’t improve next year, as the House has approved a $32 million budget for the agency and the Senate has backed $33 million in spending.
Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey says because of salary increases coupled with higher insurance and transportation costs, the current budget plans would mean the loss of another 15 to 20 positions. That follows the loss of 59 workers since 2009, when the agency employed 391 people.
Northey said the reductions have reduced staff working on soil conservation and inspections of gasoline pumps and commercial scales.
Iowa farmer gets probation for illegal immigrants
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A 62-year-old man who had employed illegal immigrants at his Vinton dairy farm has been given a year of probation.
A Friday news release from the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Iowa says Kenneth Birker’s business was ordered to pay $150,000 in penalties.
The release says Birker had pleaded guilty to knowingly employing illegal immigrants. He also pleaded guilty for Birker, Inc., to harboring illegal immigrants for financial gain.
Prosecutors say that in 2001, Birker hired a husband and wife from Mexico who had entered the U.S. illegally. In 2004 Birker hired a relative of the couple who also was an illegal immigrant. The release says Birker later talked to an attorney and said Birker, Inc., would help the couple try to gain legal status.
Man charged in beating death found not competent
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) Trial for a Waterloo man charged in the beating death of his girlfriend has been put on hold after a psychologist found he wasn’t competent to stand trial.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier is reporting that 50-year-old Glen Jackson was evaluated by a psychologist on April 9.
Jackson is charged in the Jan. 31 slaying of 57-year-old Sandra Jo Nash. He also is accused of setting fire to the home where they lived. An autopsy shows Nash died of head injuries before the fire was set.
Jackson is charged with first-degree murder and first-degree arson. His trial was to begin this week but was delayed after his attorney sought the psychological evaluation.
District Court Judge Todd Greer has suspended the case and on Friday ordered a second opinion.
Teens freed after being charged with Anamosa arson
ANAMOSA, Iowa (AP) Two 16-year-olds boys facing arson charges after a house fire in Anamosa have been set free.
The boys were arrested Monday and appeared in court on Thursday. They’re being charged as adults in connection with the fire early Sunday morning.
Two adults and a 7-month-old baby got out of the house without injury after a passer-by alerted them and called 911.
Waterloo television station KWWL says police used a fire extinguisher to slow the spread of the flames. Firefighters soon arrived to put out the fire..
Sentencing delayed for ex-Hawkeye in assault case
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) The attorney for former Iowa football player Cedric Everson says the sentencing on a charge stemming from a 2007 assault of a female athlete has been delayed for a second time.
Attorney Leon Spies says that Everson was unable to return to Iowa from his Georgia home for Friday’s sentencing because of “family health and financial issues.” Spies said a new date for the hearing hasn’t been set.
Everson went on trial in January on accusations that he and ex-teammate Abe Satterfield sexually assaulted the freshman athlete one night in a vacant Hillcrest Residence Hall room.
The jury found him guilty of the least serious charge, misdemeanor nonsexual assault. He faces a maximum sentence of 30 days in jail.
Spies says Everson hopes to play college football somewhere next fall.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Submit your news release, photo, confidential news tip or news idea by email klemnews@lemarscomm or by calling 712.546.4121 or 712.546.9672 fax.
