Nilles and Kneip Crowned As Gehlen Catholic Homecoming Royalty
(Le Mars) — Gehlen Catholic celebrated its Homecoming this week, and this year’s King and Queen are Caden Kneip and Aubree Nilles. Nilles is the daughter of Lee and Angela Nilles, and she looked very surprised when her name was read out loud during the coronation ceremonies.
Where Nilles was clearly surprised, Kniep, the son of Rick and Mary Kneip seemed to take the honor all in stride. Kneip says he was tipped off moments earlier.
Kneip explains what it means to be selected as the Gehlen Catholic Homecoming king.
Kniep is involved with football and basketball, C-L-T, and the honor society, while Nilles is involved with volleyball and golf. Nilles is also active with large group speech competition, and like Kniep, she too, is involved with C-L-T. Both Gehlen Catholic royalty members plan to pursue a higher education following their high school graduation.
Gehlen Catholic lost their football game to rival Akron-Westfield by the score of 34-0.
Police Make Two Arrests Following Drug Investigation
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Police Department and the Drug Task Force conducted an investigation over the last few months on subjects distributing illegal drugs over the last several months. Two subjects were arrested. They include: 24 year old Andrew Storlie of 435 2nd Avenue Southeast in Le Mars, and 22 year old Jayden Harms of 415 4th Street Northwest of Le Mars.
Storlie and Harms were both charged with two counts of delivery of marijuana – a class D felony. Both were booked into the Plymouth County Jail for those charges.
Plymouth County Roads Department To Close Roads For Culvert Installations
(Le Mars) — The Plymouth County Secondary Roads Department has announced the closing of three roads for the replacement of a bridge with a box culvert. The first road is 230th Street from county road K-64 going east two miles to Polk Avenue. In the same area, Pioneer Avenue will be closed
from 220th Street to 240th Street. Construction is expected to be completed on October 26th. The other construction project scheduled to begin on Monday involves the closure of 200th Street from county road K-22 heading west one mile to Granite Avenue. County road crews will again be replacing a bridge with a culvert pipe at that location. Construction is expected to
be finished by October 19th.
Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor To Close For Renovation
(Le Mars) — The Wells Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor, located in Le Mars will close its doors beginning on Monday, October 1st to begin a $4 million upgrade. The ice cream parlor will re-open on November 19th for the holiday season, then close again from February through early June to complete the remodeling project. When completed, the ice cream parlor will expand its seating area, include an interactive display entitled “From Farm to Spoon.” It will have a small theater to showcase the history of Wells Enterprises and the making of ice cream. Included with the ice cream parlor will be a rooftop seating area. According to Adam Baumgartner, Vice President of Retail Sales, Wells wants to bring joy to everyone and make eating ice cream
fun.
Ice Cream Parlor To Donate Sales To Le Mars Little League
(Le Mars) — Before Wells closes the ice cream parlor for the scheduled renovation project, customers are encouraged to visit the ice cream parlor this weekend, eat some ice cream and help the Le Mars Little League. The Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor plans to donate 50% of sales on Sunday, September 30, to the Le Mars Little League to help with expenses due to recent flood damage.
Brett Susemihl, General Manager of the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor says, “We know how important Little League is to Le Mars and the surrounding communities. We thought it would be a great way to support their efforts as they work to get the complex back in shape before next spring,” Susemihl
says “We close October 1 to start the remodel of the Parlor, but we want everyone to know that we’re still here supporting the community in any way we can. We hope residents of Le Mars and Siouxland come enjoy a sweet treat on Sunday to help support Le Mars Little League.”
The Parlor hours for Sunday, September 30 are 12 noon to 9pm, and it is located in downtown Le Mars at 115 Central Ave NW.
Five Candidates Seek Positions For Extension Council
Le Mars – Voters will have the opportunity to elect five members of the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Plymouth County Extension Council from a slate of five candidates at the Nov. 6 general election.
Janelle Johnson, Program Coordinator says, “The council members elected this year will be involved in bringing educational opportunities to Plymouth County for the next four years,” ISU Extension and Outreach Plymouth County
educational programming is a cooperative effort involving local citizens, Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Extension council members are elected at large, and all voters in the county are eligible to vote for five candidates. Candidates on this year’s ballot include: Karen Harrington of Le Mars, Julie Madden of Akron, Tanya Riemenschneider of Kingsley, Steve Tonsfeldt of Remsen, and Cynthia Wolff of Akron.
Council members whose terms expire this year are Chad Banks of Westfield, Jim Jauer of Hinton, Nicole Lindgren of Kingsley, Julie Madden of Akron, and Steve Tonsfeldt of Remsen. Carryover council members whose terms continue beyond the end of 2018 are Rebecca Easton of Remsen, Doug Martin of Le Mars, Alex Popken of Orange City and Ronald Rohlena of Sioux City.
Successful candidates will take office in January 2019. Extension council members make policy, programming and budget decisions for ISU Extension and Outreach Plymouth County.
Scholten Would Like To Debate King
(Le Mars) — Democratic Congressional candidate J.D. Scholten held a town hall meeting in Le Mars on Thursday evening. Following that town hall, Scholten sat down with KLEM news. Debates are often times common with political opponents, with each candidate wanting to share their thoughts and views on the issues. However, Republican Congressman Steve King of Iowa’s 4th District has historically refused to engage in debates. The one-time exception was when First Lady of Iowa Christy Vilsack ran against King for a Congressional position. Scholten says he would like to face King in a debate, but doubts that it will happen.
Scholten says he would like to ask Steve King about his many travels, and absences, and how they have helped Iowans.
Scholten says the people of Iowa’s 4th District deserve to hear from both candidates.
Reynolds Appeals FEMA’s Decision Not To Provide Disaster Funds
(DES MOINES) – Gov. Kim Reynolds submitted an appeal letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Friday asking it to reconsider its denial of her request for federal assistance to homeowners, renters and businesses
affected by tornadoes on July 19, 2018.
Reynolds says, “We have provided FEMA with additional information that more clearly outlines the tremendous impact this disaster has had on citizens and communities,” Gov. Reynolds said. she is asking that they grant my request
to make this assistance available to Iowans who are in need.”
On September 14, 2018, the governor received notification from FEMA that it had denied her request to activate the federal Individual Assistance Program in Marshall and Polk counties. Individual Assistance funding provides disaster survivors with programs and services to maximize recovery, including assistance with housing, personal property replacement, medical
expenses and legal services. In its denial letter, FEMA said it had
determined the impact to individuals and households was not of such severity and magnitude to warrant a designation of Individual Assistance.
Following FEMA’s denial, the governor directed the Iowa Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to work closely with local emergency management agencies to determine if there were additional impacts caused by the tornadoes.
