PHEASANTS FOREVER ANNUAL BANQUET AT LE MARS CONVENTION CENTER
(Le Mars) — The Plymouth County Chapter of Pheasants Forever will hold its annual banquet Saturday evening at the Le Mars Convention Center. Kevin Gengler is the local chapter’s president. He says the evening’s event will begin at 5:00 p.m.
Gengler says tickets sell for $60 which also pays for a year’s membership to Pheasants Forever. He says the annual banquet will feature several games, as well as raffles for shotguns, and both a silent auction and live auction.
With over 400 members and more than 200 sponsors, the Plymouth County Pheasants Forever chapter has been recognized as being one of the largest and more active chapters through the nation. Gengler tells of one of the latest projects for the local chapter.
Pheasants Forever recently held its national trade show and convention at Sioux Falls. Gengler says there was good representation from Plymouth County at the annual Pheasants Fest.
According to Gengler, the Plymouth County Pheasants Forever chapter is one of the oldest established chapters within the nation. He says Plymouth County is number 37 out of 700 plus chapters.
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PLYMOUTH COUNTY HISTORICAL MUSEUM TO HOST AG PROGRAM ON MARCH 11TH
To celebrate another season of farming, the Plymouth County Historical Museum will host two agricultural exhibits and programs at 2 p.m., Sunday, March 11.
The Le Mars Area Chamber Agricultural Committee has installed an exhibit about soybeans and their uses, all in the 1905 Study Hall.
KLEM News Director Dennis Morrice will speak in the Study Hall March 11 on the theme of “Stand Proud, Speak Loud” in an effort to keep agriculture in the forefront.
Also teaming up to raise the awareness of agriculture will be the Plymouth County Farm Bureau, which is marking its 100th anniversary. Mark Bohner, regional manager, and Betty Neisius, office assistant, have set up a Farm Bureau exhibit in a room adjacent to the Study Hall.
All of this is now open to those visiting the Museum. Bohner will speak about the 100th anniversary of Plymouth County Farm Bureau.
National Agriculture Week will be March 18 to 24. Ag Day is celebrated on March 20.
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SIOUX CITY COUNCIL TO CONSIDER MEDICAL CANNABIS COMPANY PROPOSAL
On Monday the Sioux City Council will consider approving a letter of support for a business that wants to distribute medical cannabis in Sioux City.
Sioux City Council member Rhonda Capron says she was contacted by Med Pharm, who was licensed to manufacture Medical Cannabis in Iowa in December and is applying for dispensary licenses in Iowa:
The Iowa Department of Public Health will issue licenses for five locations within Iowa, and Sioux City could be a dispensary site for western Iowa.
Capron says the cannabis products would be used by patients suffering from a medical condition:
The Department of Public Health is requiring the applicants to identify their locations of choice and provide an indication that the city would be supportive of having a dispensary in their community.
Capron hopes her fellow council members will support the proposal:
The Iowa Department of Public Health has made it clear they will not approve a license for a dispensary if a community doesn’t want it.
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SIX IOWA RESIDENTS SENTENCED FOR RELATIVE-IN-JAIL PHONE SCAM
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) – Six people from Dubuque have been sentenced for participation in a phone call scam that victimized more than 250 elderly victims across the country.
The six were sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. All six pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
Prosecutors say the scheme consisted of phone calls to elderly people across the country, telling victims that relatives were jailed and that money should be wired to free them. The six handled the wire transfers.
Prosecutors say 33-year-old Tobey Hines was given 33 months; 33-year-old Tiffany Reynolds was given 19 months; Joshua Willis was given 23 months; 23-year-old Payton McCarville was given eight months; 21-year-old Morgan Cornell was given 14 months; and 34-year-old Paul Chase was given 15 months.
They also were ordered to pay restitution.
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OMAHA MAN SENTENCED IN IOWA IN FENTANYL TRAFFICKING CASE
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A 35-year-old Omaha man has been sentenced to 15 years in federal prison for conspiracy to distribute a powerful synthetic opioid that led to the 2015 death of a Council Bluffs man.
Federal prosecutors say Walter O’Donohue III was sentenced Tuesday in Council Bluffs. Besides his prison sentence, he was fined $50,000 and ordered to serve five years’ supervised release once he’s out of prison.
Prosecutors say O’Donohue was part of a drug trafficking ring responsible for obtained fentanyl from a source in China and selling it western Iowa and eastern Nebraska.
The investigation into the group began in June 2015, when police were called to a Carter Lake home and found the body of 20-year-old Diego Lemus. Police learned a second man had been hospitalized for a fentanyl overdose.
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POLICE INVESTIGATE STABBING DEATH OF IOWA COLLEGE STUDENT
OSKALOOSA, Iowa (AP) – Police in southeastern Iowa are investigating the stabbing death of a college basketball player.
William Penn University student Marquis Todd died late Thursday.
The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation says Oskaloosa police were called to a home there for reports of a fight. Officers found Todd at a nearby Jiffy Mart with stab wounds. He later died at a local hospital.
Oskaloosa police officials said they believe there was as minor vehicle accident that happened about a half-hour earlier that resulted in the stabbing.
There had been no arrests reported by Friday evening in the case.
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O’BRIEN COUNTY MAN AWARDED $1-2 MILLION IN HOG BARN LAWSUIT
A man felled by toxic gas inside a northwest Iowa hog confinement barn has won nearly $1.2 million for his injuries.
An O’Brien County jury hearing the lawsuit trial found property owner Patrick Probst negligent for the 2014 incident and awarded Thomas Mook the money.
Probst had been pumping manure from a pit under the barn Mook was power washing October 16th of 2014.
The pumping caused hydrogen sulfide to be released.
Mook contended the barn had not been adequately ventilated before he arrived the next morning to continue the work.
He was overcome when he entered the barn office and subsequently hospitalized and underwent two years of physical therapy.
His attorney says Mook suffered two strokes resulting in brain damage that left him with partial short-term memory loss.
