(LE MARS)–Is contracting for fuel a way to trim Plymouth County’s budget?
Kenny Hoefling represents Gasrite which was started in 2006 in Omaha and is now new in the Sioux City area.
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Hoefling offered information about Gasrite when he met with Plymouth County Supervisors this week. Contracts range from three months to a year and are a minimum of 50 gallons a month.
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Hoefling explained the fuel use requirements.
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Supervisors asked County Attorney Darin Raymond about potential risks from a contracted fuel. Supervisors also plan to review information Hoefling provided to Sheriff Mike Van Otterloo. The sheriff’s department uses 17-thousand to 18-thousand gallons of fuel a year.
(LE MARS)–The court administrator expects the Plymouth County Courthouse Annex Building to enhance the ability to do additional programming for youth and families. Juvenile Court staff will be housed in the Annex to be built on the southeast corner of the Courthouse block.
The 637-thousand dollar building will have offices and meeting room space.
Juvenile Court staff work from the main floor of the Courthouse in an area Court Administrator Leesa McNeil said is really designed for one person.
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According to McNeil, Juvenile Court staff and the Court system staff are looking forward to having the new facility next to the Courthouse.
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Courthouse Annex building construction is slated to begin Monday.
Airport snow removal equipment is grant-funded
(LE MARS)–The city of Le Mars is gearing up for a season that’s the opposite of this week’s sweltering heat and humidity. Bids will be opened Monday for snow removal equipment for the Le Mars Airport. The City Council considers the bids Tuesday.
The city was awarded a Federal Aviation Administration( FAA) grant of about $111,000 for the equipment .
City officials say the single axle dump truck with a plow, blade, and attachments for salt and sand, if needed, will look just like the newer vehicles public works staff uses to plow the streets.
The only differences will be the color due to federal requirements and limitations on where the equipment can be used.
City officials say the equipment is limited to any route serving the airport such as Highway 75, the street from the highway into the airport as well as the runway, taxi ways, and aprons.
The grant is to provide 95 percent of the cost of the equipment with the city picking up five percent.
Vehicles damaged at Le Mars businesses
(LE MARS)–A Le Mars teen is charged with burglary and criminal mischief after damage to vehicles at two Le Mars businesses.
Police report vehicles at Motor Inn and Cars Inc. on Business Highway 75 were damaged when someone tried to break into them and steal them. The damage was reported last Saturday.
Seventeen-year-old Anthony Peterson faces two charges of criminal mischief in the second degree and three charges of burglary in the third degree and possession of stolen property.
He was taken to the juvenile detention at the Youth Emergency Services (YES) facility in Cherokee.
Hare sentenced for drug conviction
(SIOUX CITY)–A judge has ordered a Cherokee County man to serve more than 10 years in prison for a drug conviction.
The U-S attorney’s office issued written information about the sentence in Federal Court in Sioux City for 29-year-old Scott Alan Hare of Cleghorn.
Hare pled guilty to making and distributing meth within one-thousand feet of the Marcus-Meridan-Cleghorn Elementary and High School. The crime occurred from October of 2005 through February of last year and involved others.
Hare was ordered to serve more than 11 years in federal prison. He is being held for the U-S Marshal’s Service until he is taken to a federal prison .
Jurors are not reporting Tuesday
LE MARS)–Plymouth County jurors do not need to report for jury duty on Tuesday, August 17th. Jurors are asked to call the Clerk of Court’s office after 3 p.m. on Monday, August 23 to find out whether to report on Tuesday, August 24.
The newest Excellence in the Media winners will be honored at USD next month
VERMILLION, S.D. (AP) Media executives Cathie Black and Frank Vega are this year’s winners of the Al Neuharth Award for Excellence in the Media.
Black is chairwoman of Hearst Magazines, and Vega is chairman and publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle.
The annual lifetime achievement award is named for USA Today founder Al Neuharth, a South Dakota native and 1950 University of South Dakota graduate.
The presentation is scheduled Sept. 30 at USD’s Warren M. Lee Center for the Fine Arts.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Warning system hit by lightning
NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa (AP) A civil defense siren in the eastern Iowa town of North Liberty is out of commission after being hit by lightning.
Lightning struck the outdoor siren about 2:30 p.m. Friday. Johnson County Emergency Management says the lightning caused a malfunction in the siren and set it off.
The siren will be offline until repairs are made next week. The siren is one of six in North Liberty and 51 in Johnson County.
No sirens were intentionally sounded during the storm.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Funeral set for Iowa teen who drowned in flood
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A funeral will be held this weekend for an Iowa teenager who drowned when she was swept away by sudden floodwaters.
Sixteen-year-old Jessica Webb of Altoona was among eleven people caught in the rising waters of Mud Creek early Wednesday. She and her friends were driving from Altoona to Mitchellville when their vehicles were washed away. The other ten clung to logs and branches and were rescued.
Jessica’s funeral is set for 10 a.m. Saturday at Grace Church in Des Moines.
She was a student at Southeast Polk High School.
Two shocked at Des Moines tire plant
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Two workers have survived an electrical jolt at a Des Moines tire plant.
Fire Department Capt. Steve Brown says one of the injured reportedly lost consciousness and stopped breathing for about 30 seconds before coming back.
It happened between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. Friday at Titan Tire on Des Moines’ east side. The two workers were on a catwalk about 20 feet above the floor when they were shocked by 480 volts of electricity.
Names of the injured were not available. Their injuries do not appear to be life-threatening.
AP Interview: Gingrich eager to oust Iowa justices
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says he wants to help remove three Iowa Supreme Court justices who joined a unanimous ruling that legalized gay marriage in the state.
In a telephone interview Friday with The Associated Press, Gingrich accused the justices of “substituting their values for the values of Iowa voters,” when they overturned a law banning same-sex marriage.
Gingrich says last year’s decision was one in a series of cases in which judges exercised “dictatorial” power. He also noted a judge’s ruling last week’s that threw out California’s ban on gay marriage.
Gingrich says he’d like to help a group formed to remove the Iowa justices when they come up for retention votes in the November general election.
Gingrich was in Des Moines to attend the Iowa State Fair.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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