(LE MARS)–New picnic tables are at the Le Mars Municipal Park Shelterhouse.
City of Le Mars Assistant Public Works superintendent Brad Eppling says the city received an 18-hundred dollar grant from the Iowa Grocery Industry Association. The grant and another $400 in city funds paid for four handicap-accessible picnic tables .
Eppling says the Association grant is from the Build with Bags program. The picnic tables are made with recycled grocery shopping bags and recycled plastic.
He thanks the citizens of Le Mars for what he describes as a fine job in recycling.Eppling says that effort made the grant possible.
He explains in the last two years, recycling by Le Mars residents has increased from 200-thousand to 600-thousand pounds through the blue bag and blue tote recycling program.
The grant award was announced on Earth Day, April 22nd. The new picnic tables were placed at the Municipal Park Shelterhouse last week.
(LE MARS)–A symbol of the tragedy of war and renewal after World War I is portrayed on winning posters for the American Legion Auxiliary Poppy Poster contest in Le Mars.
The auxiliary of Wasmer Post 241 of Le Mars sponsors the Poppy Poster contest. Since 1921, the poppy has been the memorial flower of the American Legion Auxiliary.
Legion Auxiliary members judged the sixth grad posters following a unit on good poster design in art class at Gehlen Catholic. The posters are displayed in windows in the Le Mars business district.
The first place winners are David Puhl who is the son of Nick and Deb Puhl; Megan Kellen who is the daughter of Tom and Laurie Kellen; and Jovanny Vera whose parents are Hugo Vera and Maria Sanchez.
Second place winners are Carly Bunkers and Jill Kessenich. Third place winners are Roman Freking and Megan MCCarty.
The posters by Puhl, Kellen and Vera advance to the district level.
(DES MOINES)–A group of Iowa farmers and ag leaders leave for Mississippi today (Thursday) to study efforts to curb the effects of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico. The so-called dead zone is believed to be the result of chemicals that washed off farm fields across the Midwest. According to Iowa Ag Secretary Bill Northey’s office, the participants include Bill Tentinger of Remsen from the Iowa Pork Producers Association.
Northey is leading the delegation and says they’re touring conservation sites to learn more about hypoxia.
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“What we’re doing, what they’re doing, what the impact of water quality is as far as the nitrogen and phosphorus going down the Mississippi River,” Northey says. “We’re taking a group of farmers down there to talk to some of their farmers and actually get out into the Gulf as well.” This trip has been in the planning stages for some time, long before the recent oil rig explosion and spill in the Gulf. Northey says he’s not sure how the B-P disaster will impact the Iowa group’s fact-finding mission.
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“The plan was to see hypoxic areas in the Gulf,” Northey says. “We’ll see whether we see that or we’ll see oil or what. Then also, bringing some of those folks up to Iowa to show them what we’re doing on water quality wetlands and other water quality techniques back here.” Northey says the goal of the Farmer to Farmer Exchange is to share information and promote conservation practices that help address hypoxia in the Gulf. The Iowa delegation will be in Mississippi through Sunday. A group of Mississippi farmers and ag leaders will visit Iowa in July. (News report by Radio Iowa)
(STORM LAKE)–A Laurens man died when a car struck a bicycle three-and-a-half miles east of Marathon last night.
According to the Buena Vista County Sheriff’s office, 18-year-old Kelsey Fredricks of Marathon was driving a car west on Highway 10.
Authorities say both Fredricks and the man on the bicycle were traveling west into the sun as it was setting and Fredricks was unable to see the bicycle that she struck.
The bicyclist was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Pocahontas where he later was pronounced dead.
His name is expected to be released late this afternoon after his relatives have been contacted.
(PETERSON)–An A-T-V accident has claimed the life of a rural Peterson man.
The Clay County sheriff’s office reports 56-year-old Ricky Duane Anderson was driving the four-wheeler pulling a sprayer about 1:30 Sunday afternoon.
Authorities report Anderson lost control when the sprayer jackknifed and then threw Anderson off. he was taken to the hospital in Spencer and later lifeflighted to McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls.
Anderson died Tuesday evening.
YANKTON, S.D. (AP) South Dakota Lottery officials say a winning Hot Lotto ticket worth about $10 million was sold in Yankton.
The ticket matched all five numbers and the Hot Ball in the Wednesday night drawing to win the jackpot.
The winning numbers were 1, 20, 21, 29 and 38; the Hot Ball was 4.
The winner has 180 days to claim the prize, either as an annuity paid over 24 years or a one-time cash payment of about $6.5 million.
It is the second time the Hot Lotto jackpot has been won in South Dakota. In June 2005, Luverne and Shirley Vehle of Sioux Falls won about $9.1 million.
Hot Lotto is played in the District of Columbia, Delaware, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Vermont and West Virginia.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
(PETERSON)–An A-T-V accident has claimed the life of a rural Peterson man.
The Clay County sheriff’s office reports 56-year-old Ricky Duane Anderson was driving the four-wheeler pulling a sprayer about 1:30 Sunday afternoon.
Authorities report Anderson lost control when the sprayer jackknifed and then threw Anderson off. he was taken to the hospital in Spencer and later lifeflighted to McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls.
Anderson died Tuesday evening.
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MAQUOKETA, Iowa (AP) Authorities say rescue crews found a man trapped under his all-terrain vehicle after a three-hour search in eastern Iowa.
The Jackson County sheriff’s office says Kory Kuhlman, of rural Maquoketa (muh-KO’-kih-tuh) was reported missing at 11 p.m. Sunday. Kuhlman had been driving in a heavily wooded area when the ATV hit a rut and landed on its side, trapping him.
Searches, including a medical helicopter crew, found Kuhlman three hours later.
He was taken to Jackson County Regional Health Center in Maquoketa with non-life-threatening injuries. The hospital does not release any patient’s condition reports.
INDIANOLA, Iowa (AP) A judge says a wrongful death verdict against an central Iowa farmer convicted of killing his neighbor will stand.
Rodney Heemstra, of Milo, shot his neighbor Tom Lyon in 2003 following a series of arguments over farmland and cattle-watering equipment. Lyon’s estate has been trying to collect damages ever since a $5.8 million judgment was made against Heemstra in 2008.
Heemstra was also ordered to pay $750,000 in punitive damages, plus $250,000 in legal fees.
District Judge Paul Huscher on Wednesday said Heemstra’s request to overturn the verdict had to be rejected because his lawyers failed to raise key issues during his civil trial.
LONDON (AP) British sugar refiner Tate Lyle PLC says it won’t restart construction of an ethanol plant in Fort Dodge, Iowa in the foreseeable future.
Tate Lyle, which also produces bulk ingredients, said Thursday that it had written off a loss of 217 million pounds ($316 million) on the project.
Work on the plant has been suspended since March of last year.
Tate Lyle says its decision was based on the depressed and volatile outlook for ethanol and uncertain conditions in industrial starch and corn gluten feed markets.
OGDEN, Iowa (AP) Authorities say a man who was shot to death in a standoff with police in Boone County had been suicidal in the past and authorities were worried he had taken prescription drugs.
Sheriff Ron Fehr (fair) says Randall Kimsey was shot by officers after they went into his house in Ogden early Wednesday.
Fehr says Kimsey was behind a door in a second-floor room and fired two shots at the officers.
Four officers fired at Kimsey, who died at the scene.
Authorities were called to Kimsey’s home Tuesday night on a harassment call. Fehr says the decision to go into the house was based on Kimsey’s suicidal past, and their inability to reach him by phone.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines is welcoming more babies.
Zoo officials say they’ve added eight goats, four prairie dogs, a penguin and thousands of jellyfish. They join a recent baby boom that also includes wallaby joeys and a baby camel.
Zoo spokesman Jeff Dier says it’s been about five years since they’ve had baby prairie dogs.
The goats, which include a set of twins and a set of triplets, and the prairie dogs can be seen in their exhibits.
The baby penguin, which hatched about two weeks ago, won’t be ready for visitors until it’s mature, vaccinated and can swim. The new jellyfish also need to grow a bit.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) More than 800 veterans age 55 years and older are competing in the 24th annual National Veterans Golden Age Games in Des Moines.
Competition begins Thursday in what the Department of Veterans Affairs calls the largest competition of its kind in the world with veterans from 41 states taking part.
The veterans will compete in events such as golf, bowling, cycling, swimming, shuffleboard, croquet, table tennis and horseshoes at venues across the city.
The competition continues through Monday.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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