(LE MARS)–The annual Friends of Gehlen Catholic Ball attendance Saturday night reached a level that rivals the Bishop’s Dinner on Catholic Education in the Diocese of Sioux City.
According to Lisa Niebuhr of Gehlen Catholic, the ball raised more money than a year ago, a total of $193,662. Attendance was more than 700 people. Bishop R. Walker Nickless and priests of the diocese were honored at the ball along with retiring Fire-Rescue Chief Wayne Schipper.
The Spirit of Peter Gehlen award, in honor of the citizen-benefactor of Catholic faith and education, was presented to Mark Schlesser. Schlesser is the director of maintenance for Gehlen Catholic and is credited with his early morning to late night effort to keep things running in the physical plant and duties such as snow and ice removal which presented a true challenge for maintenance this winter. He is an active volunteer at Gehlen Catholic with groups such as the J-Club and Kids Against Hunger.
(LE MARS)–Many motions to approve will be considered Tuesday at the Plymouth County Board of SUpervisors meeting in the lower level of the Plymouth County Courthouse.
The board has been asked by Recorder Jolynn Goodchild to approve the appointment of a vital statistics deputy recorder position. A public hearing will be held at 10 a.m. on plans to issue general obligation Local Option Sales Tax Refunding Bonds of not more than $3.5-million.
At 10:15, there is time for comments during two public hearings for approval of economic development agreements with Plymouth Oil and Plymouth Energy, both of rural Merrill.
Action on the courthouse window replacement project is scheduled for 10:30 Tuesday. The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. (News report by Dave Ruden)
(SIOUX CITY)–A street in Sioux City will be closed for about two months when a new energy plant is built for Mercy Medical Center.
Fifth Street, from just east of Jones Street to just east of Jennings Street, will be closed to traffic. According to Mercy Medical Center, contractors will build a tunnel under the intersection of Fifth and Jennings Streets. The tunnel will connect the hospital’s new heating and cooling systems inside a new structure on the former site of Hatfield Hardware to Mercy’s main campus.
Jennings Street will be closed from Fifth to Sixth along the east side of Mercy’s main hospital building.
According to present construction plans, Fifth Street and Jennings Street should reopen to traffic by early July, if not sooner.
(ORANGE CITY)–Next fall, a private college in northwest Iowa plans to offer a new major in Spanish translation and interpretation. Northwestern College, in Orange City, will be among only four colleges in the nation to have such a bachelor’s degree program. Northwestern professor Piet Koene (PEET COON-ah) will direct the program, which he says will help meet a growing demand.
“This major is targeted at bilingual students who are high school graduates and are interested in the fields of interpretation and/or translation,” Koene says. “They’ll come here, study here for four years, will receive a B.A. in translation and interpretation, Spanish/English, and it will be a liberal arts degree so they’ll also have many courses in many different subject areas.” The state of Iowa’s court system only has 11 class-A-certified interpreters, and Koene is one of them. He says the major will also provide interpreters and translators for church work, as many U-S churches seek to extend their ministries to the Spanish-speaking population. Koene says there’s great demand in this field.
“It’s a changing demographic situation here in Iowa, especially in northwest Iowa, but also on the national level, it’s more and more important,” Koene says. “The census this year will tell us exactly how many Hispanics are living in the states and many of them do speak Spanish. There are many first-generation Hispanics so interpretation and translation is just becoming a fact of life here in the U.S.” Only three other institutions offer this type of program — the University of Arizona, California State University/Long Beach and the University of Texas/Brownsville. Koene says the new program will raise Northwestern’s visibility as it will be the only college outside the southwestern U-S to offer this major, and it’s the only Christian college in the nation to do so.
“There are many students, or the families of students, who are not that interested in having students go to a large university,” Koene says. “They want the attention, the care, of a smaller college and then, their only choice would be Northwestern if they’re interested in this field.” To learn more, visit: www.nwciowa.edu. (News report by Radio Iowa)
INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (AP) The Iowa family of a soldier injured in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan says he’s expected to return to duty soon.
Army Capt. Erick McFerran, an Independence native, escaped serious injury in the April 9 crash of a CV-22 Osprey that killed four others.
McFerran’s mother, Barb McFerran of Independence, says her son should return to duty in a few days. She says he was pinned upside down in the wreckage but was able to “limp away from the crash” and help the others.
The Osprey is the U.S. military’s latest-generation transport aircraft. It has room for up to 24 passengers. IOWA-SUSPICIOUS DEATH
Boy finds grandmother dead in Iowa
BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) Burlington police say the death of a woman found by her 10-year-old grandson is suspicious.
Investigators say the boy found the body of 51-year-old Susan Overton on Friday after he arrived from school at the house where Overton had been staying.
Authorities say Overton’s death is suspicious, but released no other details. An autopsy is pending.
FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) Neighbors are objecting to plans to build townhouses on the property of a former Catholic church in Fort Dodge, citing worries about overflowing sewers.
The City Council on Monday is to take up a rezoning proposal for part of the former Holy Rosary Church property.
The last Mass was held in 2008, after a declining number of priests forced a reduction in the number of Catholic churches. The school attached to the church closed in 2002.
The owners of the property, Envision Fort Dodge LLC, sold some of it to a group that operates a girls program in the church and school.
Envision now wants to build 10 townhouses on the site, but neighbors object to adding that many residences without upgrading the sewer system.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) Talk about an surprise guest!
A 4-foot bull snake crashed a children’s birthday party in Council Bluffs on Saturday.
The snake, mistaken for a timber rattlesnake, crawled out from under James Hanish’s deck and was discovered by his dog. Hanish and a friend held it down with a stick, then grabbed it behind the head and put it in a container.
That’s when the debate started: rattlesnake or bullsnake. Bullsnakes hiss and rattle their tails like rattlesnakes.
Animal Control Officer DeAnn Nelson settled the debate. It was a bullsnake, which eat mice and rats.
Nelson then picked the snake out of the container and allowed the children to touch it. She put it in a pillowcase for a trip to the country where it would be released.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
INDEPENDENCE, Iowa (AP) The Iowa family of a soldier injured in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan says he’s expected to return to duty soon.
Army Capt. Erick McFerran, an Independence native, escaped serious injury in the April 9 crash of a CV-22 Osprey that killed four others.
McFerran’s mother, Barb McFerran of Independence, says her son should return to duty in a few days. She says he was pinned upside down in the wreckage but was able to “limp away from the crash” and help the others.
The Osprey is the U.S. military’s latest-generation transport aircraft. It has room for up to 24 passengers.
BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) Burlington police say the death of a woman found by her 10-year-old grandson is suspicious.
Investigators say the boy found the body of 51-year-old Susan Overton on Friday after he arrived from school at the house where Overton had been staying.
Authorities say Overton’s death is suspicious, but released no other details. An autopsy is pending.
FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) Neighbors are objecting to plans to build townhouses on the property of a former Catholic church in Fort Dodge, citing worries about overflowing sewers.
The City Council on Monday is to take up a rezoning proposal for part of the former Holy Rosary Church property.
The last Mass was held in 2008, after a declining number of priests forced a reduction in the number of Catholic churches. The school attached to the church closed in 2002.
The owners of the property, Envision Fort Dodge LLC, sold some of it to a group that operates a girls program in the church and school.
Envision now wants to build 10 townhouses on the site, but neighbors object to adding that many residences without upgrading the sewer system.
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) Talk about an surprise guest!
A 4-foot bull snake crashed a children’s birthday party in Council Bluffs on Saturday.
The snake, mistaken for a timber rattlesnake, crawled out from under James Hanish’s deck and was discovered by his dog. Hanish and a friend held it down with a stick, then grabbed it behind the head and put it in a container.
That’s when the debate started: rattlesnake or bullsnake. Bullsnakes hiss and rattle their tails like rattlesnakes.
Animal Control Officer DeAnn Nelson settled the debate. It was a bullsnake, which eat mice and rats.
Nelson then picked the snake out of the container and allowed the children to touch it. She put it in a pillowcase for a trip to the country where it would be released.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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