Home News Thursday Afternoon News, July 2nd

Thursday Afternoon News, July 2nd

Unity Point/St. Lukes Donates Life Preserver Vests To Municipal Park

(Le Mars) — Willow Creek and the Le Mars Municipal Park swimming area has just been made a bit safer, thanks to the Unity Point-St. Lukes Health Center and the Children’s Miracle Network. A total of 50 life preserver vests have been donated to the city for anybody to use while swimming or fishing. A small ceremony was held Thursday morning at the Le Mars Municipal Park.
Amanda Monroe-Rubendall is the Trauma Prevention Coordinator with Unity Point St. Lukes of Sioux City. She says drownings rank among the highest percentage of deaths with children and teenagers. But she adds the life preserver vests are for everyone to use.

The donated life jackets range in sizes to accommodate everyone from infants, to young children, teens, and adults. Monroe-Rubendall says Unity Point/St. Lukes has made similar donations in the past to other regional swimming areas, including Hillview Recreation Area near Hinton and Brown’s Lake near
Salix.

Today’s donation has been funded by grants through the Children’s Miracle Network as part of the pediatric program, but Monroe-Rubndall says it is the goal of Unity Point/St. Lukes to prevent all trauma related injuries.

Stacie Selk is the regional director with the Children’s Miracle Network, and explains the purpose of the organization.

The donated life preserver vests are free to use. Officials only ask that you return the vest back to the rack so others can also enjoy using them.

 

 

Wells Visitor Center And Ice Cream Parlor To Again Open Dining Area

Le Mars — The Wells Visitor Center & Ice Cream Parlor is welcoming the July 4th holiday with a menu perfect for summer. The dining area will reopen today, July 2nd (Thursday) with continued protective measures in place as recommended by Governor Reynolds.

New menu highlights include non-dairy selections, featuring shakes crafted with the Halo Top dairy-free line of products and summery, sorbet slushies.
Additional new items are sure to bring out the sweet tooth in everyone, with desserts like the Bubble (Boba) Tea Float, Cold Brew Donut Shake, Psychedelic Cereal Sundae, expanded cone options, and more.

The dining space will reopen to the public, following a temporary closure of the indoor seating last month, with the same restrictions and safety measures put into place mid-May. Employees are still required to wear face masks,
gloves, and undergo health screenings before each shift. Floor markings, temporary layout adjustments, and seating changes remain to follow CDC social distancing recommendations. Hand sanitizer is available for visitors upon entrance and a dedicated “sanitizer” employee will routinely sanitize high-touch areas and dining tables.

Shannon Rodenburg, senior manager says, “The well-being of guests and staff has been and will remain our number one priority. We are doing everything we can to ensure safety without compromising the fun, ice cream experience we’re
known to deliver.”

Summer hours at the visitor center will be Monday-Saturday 11am-9pm, and Sunday 12pm-8pm. July 4 hours will be 11am-6pm. Curbside pickup orders remain available by calling ahead or ordering online. The second-floor interactive area and rooftop patio will remain closed.

 

 

Clay County Fair To Be Postponed Until 2021

(Spencer) — The Clay County Fair at Spencer is one of northwest Iowa’s largest county fairs, and they are joining the list of casualties from coronavirus.
The Clay County Fair Association announced on Thursday they would post-pone this year’s fair that was scheduled for September. Jeremy Parsons is the C- E-O for the Clay County fair and talks about the factors that led to the decision.

Parsons says most of the entertainment that was booked for this year, has committed to return to next year’s fair.

The Clay County Fair has one of the largest displays of farm equipment, and Parsons was asked since the Farm Progress Show in Boone was cancelled, if that had any bearing on the Clay County Fair decision?

Despite the postponement of the fair, 4-H/FFA livestock competitions will be held this fall.

Parsons says by not having the fair it will certainly have a negative impact upon the community’s financial position.

The 2021 Clay County Fair will be held September 11th through the 19th.

 

 

Northwestern College To Award Honorary Doctorate Degree

ORANGE CITY, Iowa—Northwestern College will award an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree to Arlene Schuiteman of Sioux Center, a missionary nurse who served more than 30 years in Africa, during graduation on Saturday, July 18. The commencement ceremony will begin at 8 p.m. in De Valois Stadium.

(photo contributed.)

After eight years as an Iowa country school teacher, Schuiteman earned a nursing degree and served in South Sudan from 1955 until 1963, when she was expelled from the country at the start of a civil war. Schuiteman returned to the U.S. and earned a bachelor’s degree in public health nursing from the University of Iowa. She traveled next to Ethiopia, where she helped open a nursing school and taught wound care and other medical skills for more than a decade. She concluded her missionary service in Zambia in the 1970s and ’80s.

“Arlene is exemplary in her service to the church as well as humankind in general,” says Jeff Barker, a recently retired Northwestern theatre professor who wrote two books and several plays based on Schuiteman’s daily journals. “Her goal in life has been to honor God and celebrate his work in the world. She followed God’s call to obedience even in the face of great personal sacrifice.”

Barker says Schuiteman served patients creatively, improvising ways to provide treatments in environments that often had serious limitations. Over the years, she advanced from nurse to clinic leader, nurse educator and, eventually, a national medical leader in Zambia.

“When she wasn’t in front of a class, working at the clinic or assisting in surgery, she might be found folding hospital laundry,” says Barker. “There was never a task that was beneath her. At the same time, she was known to be calculating how to reorganize and reinvent so a task might be made safer and more efficient.”

Northwestern students have performed Barker’s plays about Schuiteman throughout North America and in Ethiopia and Japan.

 

 

Iowa Unemployment Claims Continue to Decline

(Des Moines, IA) — Iowa Workforce Development is reporting another decline in the number of initial unemployment claims in the state. Eight-thousand-300 laid off workers filed first-time claims between June 21st and 27th.
That’s 242 fewer than the previous week. The number of continuing claims was 143-thousand-488 last week – a drop of more than nine-thousand from mid-June.
The state paid out 34-point-four-million dollars in unemployment insurance benefits last week. Manufacturing and self-employed had the highest number of jobless claims.

 

 

Family of Man Killed by Polk County Deputy Files Federal Lawsuit

(Altoona, IA) — The family of a man shot and killed by a Polk County sheriff’s deputy in July of 2018 filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit.
Deputy Ryan Phillips fatally shot 25-year-old Isaiah Hayes after a car chase that ended in Altoona. Investigators said Hayes got out of his car with a gun, refused drop it and was shot by Phillips. His family says in the lawsuit that Hayes had a B-B gun and there was nothing to indicate he threatened the deputy with it. They also claim that Hayes was shot in the back twice while trying to run away. A grand jury declined to indict Phillips for the shooting.

 

 

Emerald Ash Borer Found in Cerro Gordo and Webster Counties

(Des Moines, IA) — The Iowa Department of Agricultural and Land Stewardship is confirming emerald ash borer for the first time in Cerro Gordo and Webster counties. Officials say E-A-B larvae was collected from trees in Mason City and Fort Dodge. The pest feeds under the bark of ash trees which damages and eventually kills the trees. They usually die within two to four
years. E-A-B is now confirmed in 73 Iowa counties. E-A-B and gypsy moth coordinator Mike Kinter said, “knowing the whereabouts of this pest helps with treatment recommendations in immediate and surrounding areas.”