(LE MARS)–Medal of Honor Recipients are honored during the Avenue of Flags Memorial Day program today in Le Mars.
The traditional display of Stars and Stripes honoring veterans is coordinated by Wasmer Post 241 of the American Legion in Le Mars. More than 11-hundred flags will be displayed.
According to Post Adjutant Tom Baack, the Parade Marshal is Jim Rolfes of Le Mars. He is the outgoing American Legion Ninth District Commander. The district includes 94 American Legion Posts in Plymouth, Sioux, Cherokee, Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson, Ida, O’Brien, Lyon, Monona, Osceola, Sac and Woodbury Counties. Rolfes was chosen as parade marshal as a show of appreciation for “Come Visit My Grave,” a poem he has written and recites annually.
The 9:30 parade route begins at the intersection of Central Avenue and Second Street Northeast. The parade travels south on Central Avenue to Third Street South and then east on Third Street Southeast to Fourth Avenue Southeast and the courthouse parking lot.
The Avenue of Flags Memorial Day Program begins at 10 a-m at the courthouse.
The F-16 “Sound of Freedom ” by the 132nd Fighter Wing of Des Moines is expected at about 10:38 this morning.
The Post welcomes volunteers to help retire the flags at 4 p-m.
(OYENS)–Three black granite tablets honor those who’ve sacrified to serve their country in Oyens.
The listing of Oyens area veterans is an addition to the Oyens Veterans Memorial completed a year ago. Bob Gengler and a committee worked to complete the addition of two stones to be dedicated this Memorial Day at 11 a-m in the southeast corner of St. Catherine’s Cemetery.
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Gengler explains the importance of the memorial.
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In addition to Gengler, the project was a volunteer effort by Jerry Rand, Bill Evans, Dan Pick, Randy Kellen, Steve Swalve, Marcel Konz, Mike Delperdang and Steve Smith. Gengler says the committee is proud of the memorial and hopes everyone else is just as proud of the honor for veterans. KLEM operations director Dave Ruden has provided the photograph of the memorial which is on the Home Page of the KLEM web page.
(Sioux City)–A new survey show seat belt use in Sioux City remains unchanged from two years ago.
Members of the Sioux City Police Department’s Volunteers in Policing Program conducted seat belt surveys in the Morningside area, and downtown Sioux City. The work is a requirement for grant funds from the Governor’s Traffic Safety Bureau.
A little over three-thousand front seat occupants were observed. The report shows passenger cars totaled 88 percent seat belt use, pickup trucks 77 percent and sport utility vehicles 89 percent.
Total use for all types of vehicles was 86 percent. This was unchanged from surveys conducted in the spring of 2008 and 2009. Fines for failing to use seat belts will increase to $200 on July 1st. (News report by Dave Ruden)
SALIX, Iowa (AP) The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says it and other agencies are searching for a 26-year-old Nebraska man who fell overboard while boating on the Missouri River.
A DNR statement Sunday says Dustin Pearce of Homer, Neb., was in a boat operated by another man near the Port Neal area when Pearce fell. An emergency call about the incident was made at 9 p.m. on Saturday.
Nebraska Fish and Game and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary are taking part in the search.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
(LE MARS)–The KLEM business office is closed today and will reopen at 8 am Tuesday, June 1, 2010. Happy Memorial Day from the staff and managment of KLEM/Powell Broadcasting)
WASHINGTON (AP) Senator Tom Harkin is asking Iowans to join him in honoring fallen members of the U.S. military.
Harkin’s comments came Saturday in a statement released by his Washington office.
In it, the Iowa democrat says everyone should “remember and thank the men and women of the armed forces who served and sacrificed on the field of battle.”
Harkin says Iowans are “united” in their respect for those who lost their lives in war.
And that residents of the state also “respect the profound loss” that families of the fallen had to endure.
VICTOR, Iowa (AP) Police have arrested a Nebraska man in the murder a rest area employee who was founded shot in an Interstate 80 restroom.
A truck driver found 46-year-old Jeffrey D. McAdam on Saturday night in the men’s restroom at the westbound stop near Victor, about 70 miles east of Des Moines. The trucker called 911 and crews pronounced McAdam dead.
The Iowa County sheriff’s office says he was an employee of the rest area.
Police in Johnson County later arrested 31-year-old Peter Riggs of Columbus, Neb. He was charged with first-degree murder and returned to Iowa County.
DAVENPORT, Iowa (AP) An Iowa man has been sentenced to more than 21 years in prison after he was found guilty of making methamphetamines.
Ronald Theodore Coleman will also have to spend 10 years of supervised release after his jail time is done and pay nearly $7,400 in restitution.
Prosecutors say the 47-year-old Danville man manufactured the illegal stimulant for more than three years in six Iowa counties.
Investigators say he also taught a minor to manufacture the drug, which he also injected into the youth on “numerous occassions.”
United States Attorney Nicholas Klinefeldt says Coleman was sentenced Friday.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) A City High student is facing weapons charges after authorities say the teenager brought a gun to school.
The 16-year-old was arrested Friday at a bus stop, where the teen had a gun tucked into his waistband. The student faces a charge for carrying a weapon on school grounds and another charge for carrying a weapon.
Sgt. David Droll says police were called after a student says the teen showed her a gun while demanding she give him a cigarette.
School officials say the teenager is a sophomore at the high school, but did not attend classes on Friday.
BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) St. John’s Catholic Church has always been a beacon of hope for many in the southeastern Iowa city of Burlington.
Thanks to denotations that helped buy eight high-powered lights, its 150-foot- steeple this weekend became an actual beacon of light for the entire community.
More than 100 people stood on nearby sidewalks Saturday night to see the new lights switched on. People cheered as the front of the church was drenched in light.
A memorial fund started by former church member John Kelso to honor his parents paid for the lights.
Dozens of Kelso family members came from across the country to attend the lighting ceremonies. John Kelso’s 87-year-old mother, Lorraine Kelso, was among those in attendance.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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