Home News Thursday Afternoon News, August 16

Thursday Afternoon News, August 16

Legion Building Gets Facelift

(Le Mars) — The American Legion Hall of Wasmer Post #240 of Le Mars is undergoing a facelift.  Legion Trustee Steve Jester says a new entryway is being constructed for the historical building. 

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The local American Legion was able to obtain grants to help with the financing of the project.

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Jester says the building is part of the downtown designation for historical preservation registry.  He says when the project is completed, it will hopefully have a similar glass block appearance as it did when the building was first constructed, although Jester admits that is somewhat disputed.

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Randy Niehus of Le Mars is the designated general contractor. Jester anticipates the project will be completed within a couple of months.  He says the new front, along with the painting of Old Glory on the top hopefully will create interest and attract more people to the Legion Hall.  Jester says the painting was done by Randy Becker, and it has stimulated several compliments from the community.

Congressman Steve King To Hold Northwest Iowa Townhall Meetings 

 (Washington) — Iowa Congressman Steve King has announced he will hold three townhall meetings in northwest Iowa.  King, a republican, will be at the Le Mars Convention Center Upper Level Conference Room on Monday, August 20 between 10:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.  King will then hold a townhall meeting for Sioux County at the Sioux Center Public Library between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. and he will be at the Forster Community Center at Rock Rapids for a Lyon County townhall meeting scheduled for Monday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. and continuing until 3:00 p.m. 

 

Sub Contractor  Penalized $1000 per Day On Highway 3

(Le Mars) —  Yesterday on KLEM we learned about the construction project on Highway 3 was going to take a bit longer to complete since the work did not meet specifications.  Le Mars City Administator Scott Langel reports Barkley Asphalt Company, the sub-contractor, has returned to the work site today and intends to mill off 1 and a half inches of the top layer of the asphalt.  Then, Barkley Asphalt will again re-surface the roadway adding the one and a half inches of asphalt.  The work is expected to take seven work days to complete.  Langel says liquidated damages of $1000 per day started on Tuesday, August 14th, and will be assessed each work day until the project is completed and meets all specifications.

 

Le Mars Fire and Rescue To Hold Drill At Dean Foods

(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Fire and Rescue Unit will be conducting a simulated disaster drill at Dean Foods next Wednesday evening between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.  Fire trucks, police cars, ambulances, and the Sioux City Haz-Mat team will all be participating in the drill. The simulated drill will occur on the south side of Dean Foods next to 12 Street.

 

Sioux City Man Arrested For Making Threats On Facebook

 SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A Sioux City man who prosecutors say asked in a Facebook posting whether he needed to “shoot up a mall before people understand” has been charged with making threats of terrorism.
     22-year-old Gabriel Rodriquez was arrested last week. Prosecutors say in court documents that Rodriguez wrote “suicidal- and homicidal-themed messages” on the social networking site between Aug. 2 and 9.
     Police say the posts on Rodriguez’s Facebook profile couldn’t be seen by the general public, but Sioux City police spokesman Mark Kirkpatrick wouldn’t make any additional comments about the
investigation.
     A Woodbury County jailer said Rodriguez remained in custody on Thursday, pending $10,000 bail.

 

Drought Report Shows Iowa Getting Better–Kansas Getting Worse

ST. LOUIS (AP) – A new report suggests that while recent rains stabilized the devastating drought gripping Iowa and other key farming states, the dry conditions intensified in Kansas and
Nebraska.
     The latest U.S. Drought Monitor map released Thursday shows the overall expanse of land across the contiguous U.S. states weathering some form of drought dropped less than 1 percent to 61.8
percent as of Tuesday.
     In Iowa, the nation’s leader in corn production, the amount of land mired in extreme or exceptional drought – the two worst classifications – dropped 7 percentage points to 62.05 percent over the past week.
     But the amount of Nebraska in exceptional drought spiked 19 percentage points to 22.5 percent, while that number in Kansas rose from 38.6 percent last week to 63.3 percent now.

 

Recall Of Johnsonville Sausage Products

SHEBOYGAN FALLS, Wis. (AP) – Wisconsin-based Johnsonville Sausage is recalling some packages of turkey sausage with cheddar cheese because the product may include pieces of glove. The company
is recalling select 13.5-ounce vacuum packages of Johnsonville “Turkey Sausage with Cheddar Cheese” with a “Best By” date of August 20th, 2012, and the establishment number “EST. P-34224.”