Le Mars Police Looking For Suspect That Struck Police Vehicle
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Police Department was involved in a chase Saturday evening. According to the Le Mars Police Department’s facebook page, they are asking for assistance from the public to identify a suspect that was driving a red-colored Dodge Charger. The suspect rammed the vehicle on the
passenger side of a police squad car at the Le Mars Walmart parking lot.
The vehicle was later located at the 100 block of 5th Street Northwest, but was abandoned.
LEEP’s MenuMasters Raises Nearly $45,000
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Educational Enhancement Project, or LEEP hosted the seventh annual MenuMasters event Saturday evening at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds. More than 500 people attended the food festival, which provided an evening of entertainment and fun. 24 teams of chefs from various businesses and organizations, competed for the title of “Best Food” and “Best Theme.” Many of the teams decorated their booth space to better illustrate their food item. A check amounting to $44,740 was presented to Le Mars Community School District Superintendent Dr. Steve Webner from the
LEEP organization. To date, LEEP has disbursed $208,774.77 for textbooks, equipment, technology, and teacher requests to enhance the education of students educated at Le Mars Community Schools.
LEEP gave the Legacy Award to both Primebank and American Bank for their consistent sponsorship and participation of MenuMasters. Best Theme was presented to the Le Mars
Ambulance Services with chefs Darrell Kleihauer and John MacGregor – Team Trauma with Blood and Guts. Judges Choice Award was given to Team: “Building For the Future” with chefs Mike Murphy, Joe Sitzmann, and Nick Jalas. Best Food was a tie between Team “Joe’s Crab Shack” and Team Backyard Boys. The
chefs included: Joe Galles, Jeff Mackey, and Steve Van Otterloo, along with Pete Laskie, and Brad Wiltman. Other honors were presented to Kevin Eekhoff and Jason Vande Brake from Team Northwest Bank with Cheeseburger in Paradise Soup for the Best Appetizer. Best entree’ or main dish was prepared by chefs Michael Hargens, Kevin Bolton, and Charlie Mohning, members of the Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department with Backdraft BBQ Firehouse Brisket. Best Dessert Award was presented to chefs representing Primebank. Jordan Sitzmann, Mark Schmidt, and Tommy Conger. The Primebank chefs prepared “The Primebank Dynasty Dish.”
Taiwan Trade Delegation Visits Hinton Farm
(Hinton) — A trade delegation from Taiwan is visiting Iowa, and they made a stop in northwest Iowa on Sunday at the Dennis Bollmeyer farming operation, east of Hinton. The Taiwan people have agreed to making a purchase of $2.8 billion dollars worth of U-S soybeans. The agreement was signed in Washington D.C. a few days ago, and another agreement will be signed in Des
Moines later today. Accompanying the trade delegation is Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King. King says he and members of his staff have visited Taiwan on a number of occasions to help establish trade relations.
King says soybean sales to Taiwan has now increased by about 30 percent, and he predicts even more U-S soybeans will be shipped to Taiwan in the future.
The Republican Congressman says Taiwan now purchases nearly 80 percent of their soybean needs from the United States. King says it used to be divided in half between the United States and Brazil, but lately, the U-S market share has increased, and mostly from Iowa. King says since China has imposed trade tariffs on U-S soybeans, it is important to make up the loss
with other nations.
King says other such trade deals are in the works, but it is too premature to talk about those possible trade deals. King was asked if negotiations with China may be jeopardized since the U-S has set up an agreement with Taiwan?
The Taiwan delegation said they were impressed with the Bollmeyer farming operation, and also are impressed with the quality of soybeans produced in Iowa.
