(HULL)–A Minnesota man was injured in a one-vehicle accident two miles northwest of Hull Friday night.
According to the Sioux County Sheriff’s office, 53-year-old Robert Gustafson of Luverne, Minnesota was driving a car north on Highway 75 when he lost control. The car went into the ditch, traveled into a field and crossed a creek before striking a large tree.
Hull Ambulance took Gustafson to the hospital in Sioux Center to be treated for injuries reported by the sheriff’s office as serious. He was later taken to Avera McKennan in Sioux Falls by air ambulance.
The sheriff’s office continues to investigate the accident and was assisted Friday night by Hull Fire and Ambulance.
(LE MARS)–City of Le Mars officials are fine tuning information federal officials need to determine disaster funding from severe winter weather.
The city of Le Mars submitted financial information to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) staff.
City administrator Scott Langel says there’s been feedback about some of the city’s expenses.
Listen
{audio}images/stories/mp3/femamoney0510.MP3{/audio}
“But, the good news is on a portion of what we submitted which is primarily the snow removal from that four-day event in December we’re going to get roughly speaking 31-thousand dollars,” Langel says. “The unresolved issue, because the party from FEMA wanted more information so we’re providing that in the next few days but that is the snow caved in, at least yielded a portion of the roof on Fire Station Number One and so we’re going to get that additional information to them so they that they can make a final determination as to what award we’re going to get for that roof.”
There are two FEMA approvals needed beyond the community and negotiation phase approval city of Le Mars officials have already received.
(SIOUX CENTER)–Environmental questions are the focus of a meeting in Sioux Center this month.
Questions from producers about N-P-D-E-S permits, the Clean Water Act and state and federal regulations will be answered. Tamara McCann Thies who is chief environmental counsel for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association in Washington, D-C and a Des Moines attorney, Eldon McAfee are the featured speakers.
Thies deals with E-P-A issues on the federal level and McAfee represents the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association on legal matters that affect Iowa cattle producers.
There is no charge to attend the meeting May 20th at 7:30 p-m at the Corporate Center in Sioux Center.
(ORANGE CITY)–A four-year faculty member at Northwestern College is the “Teaching Excellence” award winner for 2010.
Dr. Elizabeth Heeg-Truesdell was chosen from nominations for 23 Northwestern College professors. Dr. Heeg-Truesdell is an assistant professor of biology.
She is described by students as extremely knowledgeable, but able to relate well with students and excite them about the subject matter.
She is a 2001 Northwestern graduate who earned a doctorate degree at Northwestern University where she received the Teaching Assistant of the Year award in 2003.
Heeg-Truesdell receives a 15-hundred dollar check for the teaching excellence honor.
(ALTON)–The 140th anniversary of the settlement of 14 Luxembourg families near Alton will be observed with a mass this month.
According to Luxembourg Heritage Society of Northwest Iowa president Rick Roder, the sixth annual outdoor Luxembourg Heritage Mass will begin at 6 p-m May 20th. The mass commemorates the arrival of the first Luxembourger farming families in the area in 1870.
The mass will be said for a dedicated member, Vernon Reistoffer of Granville, who died last month.
Roder, a deacon, will assist Rev. Ed Girres who is pastor of Algona St. Cecilia parish. He is of Luxembourg lineage and a native of West Bend.
The memorial site is one miles west of county blacktop L-14, between state Highways 10 and 3 at intersection of Kingbird and 480th. The mass will be followed by a meal at the O-K Cafe in Alton.
(LE MARS)–Members of a Le Mars area group of growers will dig into their own gardens and flower beds to raise money for scholarships, tree plantings and an exhibit area at the Plymouth County Fair.
Floyd Valley Federated Garden Club hosts a spring plant sale Saturday morning from 8-10 at the American Bank parking lot.
This year’s plant sale has a new feature. People can request certain plants and garden club members will try to fill that request. Contacts may be made with plant sale chair Lynn Bohnenkamp.
Members sell their own bulbs, biennials, ground covers, heirloom tomatoes, herbs, ornamental grasses, perennials, pepper plants, shrubs and tubers.
The garden club fund raiser also will feature fresh asparagus, spinach, chicken eggs and baked goods. Members of the club, which meets monthly at the Presbyterian United Church of Christ in Le Mars, are available to offer advice to gardeners.
Listen to the newscast
{audio}images/stories/mp3/am051010.MP3{/audio}
ANKENY, Iowa (AP) An Iowa father who lost two children to a car accident says it’s some consolation that other lives might be saved through organ donation.
Troy DeJoode (DUH’-jodee) says he and his wife Heather want to thank everyone who’s reached out to the family as they grieve for their children.
The DeJoodes’ 5-month-old daughter Claire and 5-year-old son Carson died after Thursday’s crash. The family donated their organs.
A third child, 3-year-old Chase, was in fair condition.
Heather DeJoode is in critical but stable condition at Mercy Medical Center. Her husband says she faces multiple surgeries and a long road to recovery.
Troy DeJoode wasn’t in the car when the family was struck by a pickup truck that authorities say blew through a stop sign in Ankeny.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A Cedar Rapids crematorium has been damaged by a fire that started around the building’s cremation stack.
Cedar Rapids firefighters were called to the Cedar Cremation Center just before 10 a.m. Sunday. They say smoke and flames were shooting from the cremation stack.
Officials say the damage was contained to the stack and a stone facade and collar that surround it.
Firefighters were able to get the blaze under control. No injuries were reported.
There doesn’t appear to be any damage to the crematory machine, which cremation center staff said is valued at about $85,000.
WAVERLY, Iowa (AP) Bremer County authorities say they have disinterred the remains of homicide victim buried more than 30 years ago to see if technological advances may yield new evidence in her death.
Bremer County Attorney Kasey Wadding says the body of Marie Lisa Peak was disinterred Friday and sent to the State Medical Examiner’s office in Ankeny for re-examination.
Peak was 20 in September of 1976, when her body was discovered in Bremer County just north of Waverly. An autopsy indicated Peak was a victim of sexual assault and died of a broken neck. At the time of her disappearance, the Knoxville native had been a journalism student at Wartburg College.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Veterans and people serving in the military make up less than 10 percent of Iowa’s population, but they’re drawing lots of attention from the candidates for governor.
Democratic Gov. Chet Culver says issues surrounding veterans and military families are among his top priorities.
Republican Terry Branstad formed a Veterans for Branstad committee and says he’s the only candidate who served in the military.
GOP candidate Bob Vander Plaats notes he named a retired brigadier general in the Iowa Army National Guard as one of the top advisers.
Political analysts say there are several reasons for the emphasis, but one big factor is many veterans are seniors, and older people tend to vote. Voters also value military service, so they appreciate politicians who look out for soldiers.
WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) Former Waterloo police Chief Roger Shook has died. He was 63.
Shook died Friday at Covenant Medical Center. No cause of death has been given.
He joined the police department in 1969 and served as chief from 1985 to 1989. He was appointed captain in 1996 and retired from the force in 2002.
In addition, he taught police science at Hawkeye Community College.
Shook also served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam.
He’s survived by his wife, two daughters, two grandchildren and four sisters.
Visitation will be held Tuesday afternoon, and funeral services are set for Wednesday at St. Edward Catholic Church.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A Revenue Department administrator says state budget cuts are causing delays in processing some tax refunds.
Due to budget cuts, Stuart Vos says his agency hasn’t been able to hire dozens of temporary workers to handle an influx of mailed-in paper returns in late April.
The agency has brought in help from other areas but still has been delayed in processing 2009 returns that were mailed in.
Vos estimated that about 75 percent of returns have been filed electronically. People filing electronically received refunds within a couple of weeks, but people who mailed in returns may not get refunds until late June.
OWENSBORO, Ky. (AP) Owensboro officials were inspired by another city in trying to raise the profile of the International Bluegrass Music Museum in the western Kentucky city.
Mayor Ron Payne tells the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer that he’d like to see Owensboro do with the bluegrass museum what Dubuque, Iowa, has done with its river museum.
The eye-opening trip came when members of a committee planning a convention and events center for Owensboro visited the Iowa city last month to gather information about that city’s convention center.
Payne says Dubuque is working to give its river museum a national profile. The mayor says the trip to Dubuque has him thinking about what can be done to bring an international reputation to Owensboro.
What came to mind, he says, is the bluegrass museum.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Submit your news release, confidential news tip or news idea by email klemnews@lemarscomm.net, by calling 712.546.4121 or 712.546.9672 fax.
