Home News Monday News, August 27th

Monday News, August 27th

School Board To Appoint New Board Member At This Evening’s Meeting

(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Community Board of Education will gather this evening for their regular meeting. Curriculum Director Rachel Leavitt will share with the school board the framework approved by the Teacher Quality Committee that meets the state’s required 36 hours of collaboration time.
Leavitt will also present to the school board the Proposed District Annual Learning Goals for 2018-2019. The learning goals focus on reading, math, and science. School superintendent, Dr. Steve Webner will discuss with the school board the ten-year infrastructure priorities. The school board will discuss the new teacher and administrator introductions to the district.
That is scheduled for Monday, September 10th beginning at 6:00 p.m. at the Le Mars Community Schools Education Service Center. The school board will discuss various seminars that will be hosted by the Iowa Association of School Boards, including a Strategic Budget Reduction Workshop scheduled for October 4th; The Employee Relations Conference scheduled for October 18th and finally, the Iowa Association of School Boards Annual Convention, scheduled for November 14-16th. Dr. Webner will also provide the Le Mars Board of Education with an update regarding the vacant school board position. You may
recall that Chris Collins resigned from the school board at the last meeting.
An individual has been identified to serve the remainder of Collins term, and will take the oath of office. The school board is also scheduled to approve resignations and contracts, and the board will be presented with a list of the Mentor and Mentee teacher contracts according to the district’s Teacher
Leadership and Compensation Plan. The school board will approve the superintendent’s established goals from the August 13th board meeting.

 

 

Seven Fire Departments Compete In Annual Water Fight

(Le Mars) — Seven different community fire departments competed Sunday during the Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department’s annual water fights.
Firefighters from Le Mars, Orange City, Sheldon, Archer, Storm Lake, Early, and Arnold’s Park-Okoboji participated in the agility contests. The competition consisted of two contests. The first was the Leader Line Drill in which two teams would begin from the starting line, carry a hose and connect the hose to the water source, then run a few yards and proceed through a triangular shaped obstacle, then turn on the water with the nozzle
shooting water towards a football that is resting on a pedestral about a foot off the ground. The first team able to complete the obstacle course and knock the football off its stand, is declared as the winner. The second contest is the traditional water fight with a barrel suspended about 15 feet above ground on a cable. The teams would line up on opposite ends of the cable
line, and at the sound of the whistle, turn on their water hose, pointing the pressured water at the barrel, hoping to push the barrel beyond their opponents end. The water fight could be compared to a tug-of-war. Le Mars won the women’s division of the water fights, and Early took top honors in the men’s category. Sheldon won the Leader Line competition. The contests
not only are fun, but help firefighters with perfecting their skills.

 

 

Le Mars Firefighters Respond To Recreational Vehicle Fire

(Le Mars) — The National Old Time Country Music Festival begins today at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds, but one individual just about didn’t make this year’s festival. Walter Pogue of Greeley, Nebraska was driving his
recreational vehicle to Le Mars when it caught on fire. The fire was reported at about 6:26 p.m. Sunday evening approximately a mile out of town near the Highway 75 by-pass and Highway 3 intersection. Apparently, the exhaust pipe had rubbed against some wood of the recreational vehicle. The Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department, along with the Le Mars Police Department
and the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office responded to the fire. Firefighters were able to put the fire out in within a few minutes. Pogue explains what happened.

Pogue says he has missed only one music festival since they started. After firefighters had put out the fire, Pogue was able to drive his recreational vehicle into Le Mars for the music festival.

 

 

Hundreds Attend Lifelight Music Concerts

(Le Mars) — The Rejoice Community Church hosted
a series of concerts Sunday on Central Avenue. The program was referred to as “Lifelight”. Pastor Mike Metten with the Rejoice Community Church explains last night’s program.

 

 

Petitioners Come Up Short For Attorney General Nominee

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – An elections worker with the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office says a petition seeking to add a conservative candidate for attorney general to the November ballot appears to have fallen short of the 1,500 signatures needed.
Elections assistant Wes Hicok says the group turned in pages of
signatures ahead of the 5 p.m. Saturday deadline, with a formal review of the paperwork taking place Monday.
The effort aimed to put attorney Patrick Anderson, of Des Moines, on the ballot as a non-party candidate. The group needed 1,500 signatures coming from at least 10 Iowa counties to get Anderson on the ballot. It only began the effort Wednesday.
George Anderson, an organizer of the effort and Patrick Anderson’s son, had said the arrest of a Mexican man in the killing of missing college student Mollie Tibbetts prompted the whirlwind effort, because the group wanted an attorney general who would be tough on illegal immigration.

 

 

Dody Boswell Passes Away

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The wife of a former Democratic Iowa congressman has died just eight days after her husband.
A spokesman for the family says Darlene “Dody” Boswell died early Saturday morning at a Des Moines hospital following a prolonged illness. She was 82.
Her husband, former Rep. Leonard Boswell, died Aug. 18 following complications from a rare form of cancer.
Dody Boswell was born in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, and attended Graceland College in Lamoni, Iowa, where she met Leonard Boswell. They married in 1955 and had three children. She taught elementary school for 37 years, mostly in Lamoni.
Family spokesman and former chief of staff Grant Woodard says the family held a joint service and burial for the couple on Saturday, when the previously planned funeral for the eight-term congressman had been set.

 

 

Braunger Foods To Close Sioux City Operations

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A longtime Sioux City food distribution facility will be closing next week, affecting the jobs of 30 people.
Braunger Foods is shutting down the facility Sept. 7. The company is a wholesale distributor of meat and other food products to restaurants and has operated in Sioux City for nearly 130 years. Rosemont, Illinois-based US Foods bought Braunger Foods last summer.
US Foods spokeswoman Sara Matheu says 14 employees will be leaving the company or applying for new roles at the company’s Sioux Falls, South Dakota, facility, while 16 others will be added to the Sioux Falls staff.

 

 

Tibbetts’ Father Tells Crowd At Funeral To Live Like Mollie

BROOKLYN, Iowa (AP) – The father of the 20-year-old Iowa woman whose body was found in a cornfield last week wants people to remember her by “celebrating something wonderful.”
Rob Tibbetts urged the hundreds of people at his daughter, Mollie Tibbetts’, funeral on Sunday afternoon to remember her passion for life and her desire to help others.
To highlight his call to celebrate “wonderful” things, Rob Tibbetts recognized a couple who had just married the day before during his eulogy inside the gymnasium at Brooklyn-Guernsey-Malcom High School.
Mollie Tibbetts body was found last Tuesday after a suspect lead police to the cornfield where her body had been since July 18.