City Water Department Crews Busy With Weekend Water Main Break
(Le Mars) — A water main break reported early Sunday morning kept city water crews active in the southeastern area of Le Mars. The water main break was around the 4th Avenue Southeast and impacted up to 50 residents. Rich Sudtelgte, the city water department superintendent says they are still having to make repairs today (Monday).
Sudtelgte says crews worked up to midnight to be able to restore water services to most of the affect residents. As of Monday morning, only one residence is still without water.
County Roads Department Announces Road Construction Closures
(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Secondary Roads Division is announcing a few road closures that will begin today (Monday). County road C-30 from Noble Avenue to Otter Avenue will be closed due to the replacement of a bridge. The detour for this project will begin at the junction of county roads C-30 and K-49 at Le Mars and will proceed south on K-49 to county road C-38 going east until County Road K-64. The road is expected to remain closed until October 23rd. County road C-38 from K-12 going east to County Road K-22 will be closed beginning today. The roadway will be closed in order to mill the surface and place a concrete overlay. The detour route for this project will begin at the intersection of C-38 and Highway 12 proceeding north on Highway 12 to Akron, then going east on Highway 3 from Akron to county road K-22, then south to C-38. This construction project is expected to be completed on October 23rd.
School Board To Convene This Evening And Will Discuss Goals For Upcoming School Year
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Board of Education will convene for its monthly meeting this evening. The school board will discuss meeting new faculty members on Monday evening, September 14th. The school board will also discuss the new ball diamond upgrade plans. Later in the meeting they will vote whether to approve the plans, and establish a date for a public hearing. As for action items, the school board will discuss the resignation of Jessica Pottebaum as a teacher associate at Clark Elementary. The school board is likely to approve the contracts of Courtney Gerdes as a high school teacher associate, Richelle Pinard with the food services, Ann Harms as a high school teacher associate, Michael Ream as a part-time custodian at Clark Elementary, and Sarah Lewis with food services. The school board will discuss open enrollment applications from Brody Peterson, Jack Peterson, and Nessa Brooks each requesting on-line enrollment. The school board, in conjunction with Superintendent Dr. Steve Webner, will establish goals for the school district for the 2020-2021 school year. The school board will appoint Jolynn Sitzmann and Stephanie Buhman as level I investigators of abuse by school employees.
Sweet Corn Stands Pop Up In Le Mars
(Le Mars) — People now have the opportunity to enjoy the taste of fresh home-grown sweet corn as several road-side stands are located at various locations around Le Mars and the region. One such sweet corn stand is operated by 14-year old Nolan Boehmer of Le Mars. Nolan, along with other assisting family members, have for the last 8 or so years, parked their pickup truck on 1st Street SW near Business Highway 75 between Casey’s General Convenience Store and Bob’s Drive-Inn. According to Nolan, they market at least two pickup loads full of the local golden food each day. Nolan says he is uncertain as to the number of dozens of ears that are picked and sold on a daily basis, but he says his customers have been satisfied with this year’s crop.
Boehmer says his family gets an early start when harvesting the acres of sweet corn ready for sale.
The young farmer says they like to set up their sweet corn stand no later than 9:00 a.m and will remain there all day until either all the sweet corn is sold, or until 6:00 p.m. Boehmer says the proceeds from the sales remain with his family and are used to purchase seed and products for the next year’s crop. Boehmer has been selling the sweet corn for the last three weeks, and he expects the sweet corn supply will last through the entire summer.
Boehmer says they see more than a hundred customers each day. He says the sweet corn is non-GMO and they choose not to use any pesticides when growing the sweet corn. Boehmer says they sell 13 ears, or a baker’s dozen, when customers ask for a dozen ears.
Besides sweet corn, Boehmer says they have available other vegetable produce that includes: tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, and potatoes.
Besides selling sweet corn in Le Mars, Boehmer says his family also markets fresh sweet corn in Hawarden.
ISU Releases First COVID-19 Test Info
(Ames, IA) — Iowa State University has released the results of the first round of COVID-19 tests for students moving back to campus. Sixty-six-students — or two-point-two percent of the three-thousand-37 students tested positive. Two-thousand-971 students tested negative (97.8%). The school is providing isolation rooms for those who test positive and quarantine rooms for those who are notified they’ve been exposed to someone with a positive test. I-S-U reports that about half of those who tested positive returned home to complete their isolation. The school will do more testing next week. I-S-U is the only state university requiring the tests.
Iowa DCI Identifies Woman Killed In Officer-Involved Shooting In Fort Dodge
(Fort Dodge, IA) — The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation has identified the suicidal woman killed last week in an officer-involved shooting. Fort Dodge police and Webster County deputies received the call Tuesday at about 7:00 p-m. A witness says he saw 39-year-old Melissa Halda running toward a deputy with a knife in each hand. Webster County Deputy Brett Knippel has been placed on administrative leave while the shooting incident is investigated.
Stands Come Down At Major League FIeld Near Field Of Dreams Site
(Dyersville, IA) — The stadium seating Major League Baseball set up at the field it built near the Field of Dreams movie site in Dyersville is coming down. Crews began removing the temporary stands that had been installed for an August 13th match-up between the Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals. Major League Baseball announced last week that the game will be postponed until 2021. Murray Cook of BrightView, the company Major League Baseball hired for the stadium work, told the Dubuque Telegraph Herald much of what was used to construct the stadium was rented and it’d be too expensive to keep it all intact until next year.
Life Sentence Handed Out In Matinko Case
(Cedar Rapids, IA) — A Manchester man was sentenced to life in prison without parole Friday in the 1979 murder of Cedar Rapids high schooler Michelle Martinko. Martinko was 18 when she was found stabbed to death in the parking lot of the Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids. New D-N-A technology help lead investigators to Jerry Burns –and he was found guilty of first-degree murder in Martinko’s stabbing last February. Martinko’s brother-in-law, John Stonebraker said the life sentence given Burns will help heal his family. Burns made a brief statement at the sentencing hearing, maintaining his own innocence. He has 30 days to file an appeal.
J.D. Scholten To Hold Political Campaign Rally In Le Mars
(Sioux City) — The Democratic candidate for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District seat will hold a pair of campaign rallies this week within the area.
J.D. Scholten will be driving his Sioux City Sue R-V across the district for a series of appearances.
The rallies will be unique in that you can stay in your car and tune in, or stand outside and listen to the candidate.
Scholten lost narrowly to Republican incumbent Steve King in his first bid for the House in 2018. This year, he faces G-O-P State Senator Randy Feenstra of Hull, who defeated King in the Iowa primary. Scholten says he is hoping to appeal to voters on all sides of the political spectrum.
He says the pandemic has changed everyone’s perspective, and that includes the farmers and producers in the 4th District.
Scholten is scheduled to speak here in Le Mars at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds on Tuesday evening at 6:00 p.m. and then make an appearance Wednesday evening at the Sioux City North High School parking lot at 7:00 p.m. Scholten is also scheduled to visit KLEM Tuesday morning.
