(LE MARS)–Le Mars Community School Board of Education members review the way district property is leased, sold or disposed of tonight (Monday).
Two board members, Dan Smith and Scott Kommes, and Superintendent Dr. Todd Wendt are serving on a committee for the Kissinger Elementary Building.
The Board closed the Merrill school building at the end of the last school year to cut costs. Smith was approached about City of Merrill interest in the closed Kissinger School.
Dr. Wendt will review the board policy on leasing, selling or disposing of school district buildings and sites tonight.
Other agenda items for the 7:30 p-m meeting include a sharing agreement with Remsen-Union Community Schools for students to attend trades and industry and vocational agriculture classes at Le Mars Community. The board will review proposed goals and activities for the school year that begins Thursday.
The public meeting is at the Education Service Center.
NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING
You are hereby notified that the Board of Education of the LeMars Community School District will meet on August 23, 2010, 7:30 p.m. in the Education Service Center, 940 Lincoln St. SW, LeMars, Iowa. Agenda is as follows:
1. Call to Order
2. Approval of Minutes (August 9, 2010 – Regular Meeting)
3. Consent Grouping (Claims and Accounts)
4. Reports and Information (Unscheduled Audience; New Teacher Introduction; IASB Employee Relations Conference; Board Policy 903.3)
5. Action Items (Resignations; Contracts; Level I & II Abuse Investigator; 500 Series Board Policy Review; 2010-11 District Goals; Open Enrollments; Remsen-Union Sharing Agreement)
6. Other Business
7. Unfinished Business
8. Adjournment
NEXT REGULAR MEETING SEPTEMBER 13, 2010, 7:30 PM
LeMars Community School District
940 Lincoln St. SW
LeMars, Iowa 51031
(712) 546-4155
BY: Lisa Boehm, Secretary, Board of Education
Back to school safety tips-Part 1
(LE MARS)–Traffic is increasing with classes beginning for a new school year.
Chris Rich of the Iowa State Patrol expects some of those behind the wheel to be inexperienced.
Listen here
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Rich says those new drivers need plenty of time to get to their destination.
Listen here
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Rich asks all drivers to remember the basic traffic laws
Listen here
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According to the state patrol officer, the safest thing you can do for yourself once you are inside a vehicle is to wear a seat belt.
Southbound I-29 in Sioux City travel pattern changes
(SIOUX CITY)–Drivers who are on Interstate 29 in Sioux City will see lane closures on southbound I-29 starting today (Monday).
According to Dean Herbst of the Iowa Department of Transportation, grading and retaining wall construction on the west side of southbound I-29, between exit 144 and 147A, will require intermittent lane closures. The areas are between the I-29 and Highway 20 exit and the Floyd Boulevard and Fourth Street exit.
The intermittent lane closures are to be completed by December first, weather permitting.
Alorica adding 50 jobs at N. Sioux City location
NORTH SIOUX CITY, S.D. (AP) A customer-service management firm in North Sioux City is adding 50 positions.
Alorica Incorporated spokeswoman Danel Kuhlmann says more employees are needed to provide customer service for data devices. The firm already has about 1,000 workers, and officials said earlier this year that it would like to expand to 1,400.
Most of the jobs Alorica’s North Sioux City location are customer-service positions, primarily for new phone technology.
The California-based company has U.S. operations in a dozen locations.
(Copyright 2010 by Associated Press. All rights reserved)
New casino in Lyon County seen as a boost to some, problem for others
While the state gambling treatment program has seen an increase this year in the number of people served, some in the state are looking at a new casino as a boost to their community. Jeff Gallagher’s family has operated a True Value hardware store in the northwest Iowa town of Larchwood for nearly six decades, and he says he pushed to get the Grand Falls Casino Resort approved by local voters and state regulators out of concern for the community’s future.
“And our hope is that this money is gonna make life better in small towns. We all like living in small towns but we all know we give up some things when we live in small towns,” Gallagher explains, “And we’re hoping that this money will help (alleviate) some of those things we have to give up so the standard of living will go up in all the cities of Lyon County.” Gallagher, is president of the Lyon County Riverboat Foundation, and says the casino will create jobs and bring some two-point-five ($2.5) million dollars to the county each year for schools, parks and other projects. The casino site is about a 20-minute drive from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Gallagher says the location was chosen strategically.
“Sioux Falls in South Dakota…is a metro area of probably 250,000 people..that’s what makes this resort possible, is that it’s that close to that population base,” Gallagher say, “and you see that a lot in Iowa. Most of the casinos are on the borders.” Gallagher says the people the casino brings into the area will help in many other ways.
Gallagher says there are some simple things, such as getting more people to buy produce in the grocery store, which turns things over faster and it stays fresher. The site is also just a few miles from a border with Minnesota, and may also draw visitors from northeast Nebraska. That might make economic sense for Iowa, but it also raises some potential concerns for counselors who treat problem gamblers from surrounding states. Amy Bloch supervises the gambling treatment program at Jackson Recovery Centers in Sioux City, about 90 minutes south. Bloch says she’s seen patients from outside Iowa who can’t afford treatment, but aren’t eligible for state funds that can drastically reduce the cost.
“I think that is the most difficult part about having casinos that are right on state lines, because people are gonna cross over. It’s something we run into a lot with being right on the border,” Bloch says. Bloch says insurance rarely covers counseling for problem gambling, so she tries to refer patients to resources across the border. But she says some wind up driving long distances to get help. That’s something Joe Massa, the casino’s C-E-O, says the company is concerned about.
“We’re looking at that and we’re studying it and looking at some possible things that we could do to alleviate that problem. I don’t know exactly what those things are yet, but we are taking a hard look at that,” Massa says. Massa says options could include encouraging counselors in the region to work together to treat patients from outside their own states. He also points out that many surrounding states, including South Dakota, offer their own forms of gambling and funding for addiction treatment. The Grand Falls Casino Resort is scheduled to open near Larchwood sometime next summer. (News report from Radio Iowa)
Listen to the webcast here
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Police investigate fatal accident in Knoxville
KNOXVILLE, Iowa (AP) Police say one man is dead following a single-vehicle accident in Knoxville.
Authorities say officers who arrived at the scene after 9 a.m. on Sunday found a vehicle that had struck a pole.
The driver was unresponsive.
A nurse on the scene who witnessed the accident and Knoxville officers began CPR.
The man was pronounced dead a short time later at Knoxville Hospital. He was identified only as a 50-year-old Chariton man. Authorities say his name was being withheld pending the notification of family.
Police say their investigation is ongoing.
Police: Body of man found in Council Bluffs yard
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) Authorities are investigating the death of a 28-year-old man whose body was found in the yard of a home in Council Bluffs.
Council Bluffs police say the man’s body was discovered after 11:30 p.m. on Saturday. According to a news release on Sunday, police say it appears the man had been beaten with some type of blunt object.
The man’s name has not been released. CHILD DRIVING ARREST
Iowa woman arrested for letting 12-year-old drive
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) Authorities say a woman has been charged for allegedly letting a 12-year-old child drive her and her family from Nichols to Iowa City.
Twenty-one-year-old Melissa Garcia was charged with three counts of child endangerment and operating a vehicle with no consent.
She was in custody Sunday at the Johnson County Jail on a $10,000 cash only bond.
Garcia was arrested Saturday night in Iowa City
Police say investigating officers found that Garcia had allegedly let the 12-year-old drive the car with three other children in the vehicle, which had been weaving all over the road.
It was immediately unclear if Garcia had an attorney. A phone listing for Garcia could not be located on Sunday.
Authorities investigate 3 fires at high school
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Authorities are investigating three small fires on the campus of Dowling Catholic High School.
Investigators have called the third fire suspicious. A person driving by the school in West Des Moines called 911 and reported a shed on fire around 3:30 a.m. on Sunday.
No injuries were reported.
The other two fires were started on campus late Saturday.
Authorities say they’re investigating if there are connections between the fires.
There’s no word on what caused them.
Group wants to restore North Skunk River bridge
GRINNELL, Iowa (AP) A preservation group is working to restore an 1883 bridge on the North Skunk River that’s been mostly washed out by floodwaters.
Julie Bowers has childhood memories of the McDowell Bridge. The 53-year-old celebrated milestones, including birthdays and weddings, at the wrought-iron structure that curved 120 feet across the river.
Bowers’ nonprofit group is called the North Skunk River Greenbelt Association. Its goal is to ensure that what’s left of the bridge will not be sold for scrap metal.
The group is working on a deal to buy the bridge and land around it.
In the past year, the group has received about $34,000 from 100 people. So far this year, a descendant of the McDowell family donated $20,000.
Dozen districts determine legislative control
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Candidates will compete in 125 legislative races this November, but control of the Statehouse will likely boil down to about a dozen contests.
Legislative leaders say the winners of those races should determine which party wins control. Democrats now hold a 56-44 seat majority in the House and 32-18 seat edge in the Senate.
Most attention is on the House, where Republicans seem to have the best shot of gaining control. It would take a Republican tidal wave for the Democrats to lose their majority in the Senate.
In the House, where all 100 seats are on the ballot, the focus is on 16 seats where an incumbent isn’t running. Some of those are in districts dominated by one of the parties, leaving about a dozen in play to both Democrats and Republicans.
(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.
