12th Street Railroad Crossing To Close For Upgrades
(Le Mars) — The city of Le Mars will be closing 12th St. S.W. between Business
Highway 75 and Lincoln St. S.W. where the railroad crosses 12th St. The road will
be closed starting Wednesday, Sept. 7th and continuing through Sept.8th so the
railroad can do some upgrades on the North side of 12th St. railroad crossing
which will include a new cat walk, warning signals and cross arms. The South side
will be done at a later date.
Le Mars Area Betterment Foundation Receives Additional Contributions
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Area Betterment Foundation has received additional
contributions for the community betterment program. Officials with Nor-Am Cold
Storage were on hand for today’s city council meeting to present a $25,000 check
to the Le Mars Area Betterment Foundation and have committed a total of $175,000
over a seven-year period. In addition, Papa Murphy’s Pizza of Le Mars recently
has donated $3,327 to the Le Mars Community Betterment program. Le Mars Area
Betterment Foundation president, Mike Donlin talks about the latest donations.
Standing from left to right are: Le Mars mayor Dick Kirchoff, Marissa Brandt and Bernie Thomas representing Nor-Am Cold Storage, and Le Mars Area Betterment Foundation president, Mike Donlin.
Donlin says with regards to Papa Murphy’s Pizza, they had been running a fund
raising campaign since their open house last May.
Donlin says Pappa Murphy’s will continue to offer a percentage of sales per pizza for those pizzassold on Friday evenings with the proceeds to go towards the Le Mars Area
Betterment Foundation. Donlin says members of the Well’s family have also made a
significant contributions to the community betterment program.
Donlin says the community betterment program is now at about 80 percent of the
matching pledge of the $2 and a half million dollars pledge made by Wells
Enterprises.
Peggy Sitzmann To Serve On City Planning And Zoning Commission
(Le Mars) — During the city council meeting held Tuesday, the city council
approved the nomination of Peggy Sitzmann to serve on the city’s Planning and
Zoning Commission for a five-year term. Sitzmann will be replacing Angie Erdmann.
Iowa Farm Bureau President Speaks At Plymouth County Farm Bureau Annual Meeting
(Le Mars) — Iowa Farm Bureau President Craig Hill was the featured speaker at
last evening’s Plymouth County Farm Bureau’s annual meeting. Hill had a simple
message. He focused on the life of a woman from Ames, Iowa, born in 1895, and who
was a farm wife, and who lived to be 114 years old before passing away. Hill gave
the audience a quick history lesson by reminding them of the many different
inventions that occured during the lifetime of the featured woman including the
first automobile, the first tractor, the first airplane, and even the first
washing machine. But the under-lying message that Hill shared was today, there is
only one percent of the people involved with production agriculture, yet capable
of producing enough food on fewer available acres for a fast-growing world
population.
Hill says the people of the world needs to embrace new agricultural technologies
in order to have enough food for everyone.
Water quality has been discussed in great detail among agricultural organizations,
especially due to the pending lawsuit that has been filed by the Des Moines Water
Works against three northwest Iowa counties. Hill shared with KLEM news his
thoughts and views as to how Iowa may be able to solve its water quality concerns.
During the annual meeting, the Plymouth County Farm Bureau awarded certificates to
those members that have belonged to the farm organization for 50 years. They
include Mary Caskey, Donald Graves, Daryl and Margaret Klemme, Gerald and Susan
Klemme, JoAnne Klohs, and Dale and Sally Moritz.
Knights Of Columbus Phone-A-Thon Scheduled For Today
(Le Mars) — Today, marks the 36th annual Knights of Columbus annual phone-a-thon
for Life Skills Training Center. Shelly Thomson, Marketing and Development
Manager with Life Skills says during the past eleven years, the K-C’s have been
able to raise more than a half a million dollars for the mentally handicapped
center. Thomson says a goal of Life Skills is to find suitable employment
opportunities for mentally handicapped citizens.
Thomson says Life Skills clients also do laundry duties by cleaning more than 2500
pounds of linens from area hospitals and nursing care facilities each day.
Life Skills traditionally have three different fund raising activities each year,
with two occuring during the Plymouth County Fair. They include the quilt auction
and the cow-pie bossy bingo. However, Thomson says the phone-a-thon serves as the
major fundraiser.
The Life Skills official talks about the amount of money that is hoped to be
raised during this year’s phone-a-thon.
The phone-a-thon is a county-wide event with Knights of Columbus members from Le
Mars, Remsen, Akron, and Kingsley participating. Thomson says the phone-a-thon
requires the help from many volunteers and contributors.
The Le Mars Knights of Columbus members will be coordinating the phone-a-thon
activities from the K-C hall located on 1st Avenue Northeast. Thomson says Life
Skills is fortunate by the generosity of all Plymouth County residents who
contribute time and money to the annual event.
The hours of the annual Knights of Columbus phone-a-thon are from 9:00 a.m. to
9:00 p.m. A portion of the funds raised will also go to help Plymouth County
special olympic athletes. KLEM radio will feature updates throughout the entire
day of the phone-a-thon.
