Home News Wednesday News, June 28th

Wednesday News, June 28th

Le Mars Chamber of Commerce To Present Mystery Theater Play

(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Chamber of Commerce will hold a mystery theater play scheduled for September 7th. The setting is a 1950’s elementary classroom and the mystery is trying to figure out what happened to the lunch lady. The play
is being written by Mary Reynolds, Dave Grosenhieder and Rich Ziettlow. Danna Schuster will serve as the director for the 8th year. Donna Rasmussen will choreograph the dance numbers. The mystery theater will consist of a cast of 18 people known to the community. Tickets are on sale for the dinner theater.
They are $40 each with proceeds going to the Le Mars Area Chamber of Commerce.
The event will be held on the upper floor of the Le Mars Convention Center.
Social hour will begin at 6:00 p.m. with the buffet dinner service starting at 7:00 p.m. with the play to follow.

 

 

Voters Approve School District Consolidation for Odebolt-Arthur and Battle Creek-Ida Grove

(Ida Grove) — The third time is a charm for the voters that acted on the merger of the school district Battle Creek-Ida Grove with the Odebolt-Arthur school district. The two school districts had been in a whole grade sharing agreement for eight years. Twice before, voters had voted down the proposed consolidation
of the two school districts. In the two previous votes, the merger of the school districts was approved in the Battle Creek-Ida Grove school district, but had failed in the Odebolt-Arthur school district. The school with the whole grade sharing had been referred to as OA-BCIG. This time the vote count was 540
in favor from Battle Creek and Ida Grove with 70 voters opposed to the school district merger. Odebolt-Arthur voters approved the measure this time around with a vote of 418 yes votes, and 163 no votes.

 

 

Mountain Lion Killed By DNR Near Galva

(Galva) — A mountain lion was shot and killed in northwest Iowa Tuesday morning. Vince Evelsizer (EV-ul-size-ur), with the Department of Natural Resources, says a DNR law enforcement officer took the action after the large cat was spotted on a property near Galva in Ida County.
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[pcLion1] :08 front yard
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The mountain lion weighed 88 pounds and was likely 2 to 3 years old, according to Evelsizer. The animal is suspected of killing three calves late last week. A livestock producer reported the losses about 30 miles south of where the mountain lion was shot on Tuesday morning.
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[pcLion2] :03 pounds
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This marks just the fourth time a mountain lion has been killed in Iowa.
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[pcLion3] :21 it was shot
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The previous most recent shooting of a mountain lion in Iowa involved a four year old male cat in Sioux County in 2013. The mountain lion shot in Ida County was female.
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[pcLion4] :15 our state
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Mountain lions that wander into Iowa generally come from South Dakota and Nebraska, which have natural mountain lion populations.
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[pcLion5] :16 more than that
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Another usual factor in this case is the mountain lion is suspected of killing livestock.
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[pcLion6] :16 rule out anymore
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There is no evidence the Ida County mountain lion produced any young. Evelsizer said the DNR will collect teeth, and examine the stomach contents and tissue samples of the animal.

 

 

Branstad Begins His Service As Chinese Ambassador

BEIJING (AP) – A self-described “farm boy from Iowa” has arrived as the new U.S. ambassador to China at a time of greater unpredictability in American foreign diplomacy under President Donald Trump.
Former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad says he’ll focus on expanding trade between the world’s two biggest economies and neutralizing the threat from North Korea.
Branstad starts off with a major advantage: He’s known China’s president since Xi Jinping visited Iowa as part of a 1985 trade delegation.
Professor Shi Yinhong with Renmin University says that longstanding friendship will be a valuable asset. But Shi says it’s less certain how much influence Branstad wields with Trump, who has sent mixed signals on China since taking office.

 

 

Egg Producers Must Serve Prison Time

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A father and son whose Iowa-based egg production company caused a massive 2010 salmonella outbreak have exhausted their appeals and a federal judge has ordered them to begin serving prison sentences. Peter
DeCoster, 53, must report to the Federal Prison Camp in Yankton, South Dakota after July 30 and his 83-year-old father Austin “Jack” DeCoster must serve his
three-month term at the Federal Correctional Institution in Berlin, New Hampshire, 30 days after Peter is released.

 

 

State Beef Check-off Program Getting Started

(Le Mars) — For the last four months, Iowa cattle producers have contributed an extra fifty cents per head at the time of sale of cattle. The fifty cents check-off is in addition to the dollar per head national check-off program that cattle producers contribute to and has been in effect for the last three decades. Iowa cattle producers elected to start the state check-off program to
help promote Iowa beef. Chris Freland attended last week’s regional cattle meeting held in Le Mars to gage the support of the new state check-off program.
Freland serves as the executive director of the Iowa Beef Industry Council. She explains why cattle producers started the state check-off.

Freland says one major difference between the fifty cent state check-off and the dollar national check-off is that cattle producers have the option to get a refund from the fifty-cent state check-off.

Like the national beef check-off, Freland says the new state beef check-off money can be used for promotion, education, research, and market development.
Freland says the new state beef check-off program is a bit more flexible than the national beef check-off program.

Freland says under the state beef check-off program, the Iowa Beef Industry Council can collaborate with other commodity and agricultural organizations, but they were prevented from doing so under the provisions of the national beef check-off plan.

Freland says the 20-producer leaders that make up the board that supervises the collection of the state beef check-off program need to know what factors will ultimately drive the demand for Iowa beef products. She says it may encompass more than just a label indicating “Iowa Raised Beef.”

Freland says the amount of money to be collected from sold Iowa cattle could be over a million dollars.