(ORANGE CITY)–The Sioux County Sheriff’s Office and Iowa State Patrol make a final “saturation” effort to reduce the number of traffic accidents and deaths in Sioux County today (Thursday).
Four projects were set to make the traffic safety change due to the high number of traffic deaths on Sioux County roads. Another priority has been to focus on “distracted driving habits.”
The final day of the four projects is today on Iowa Highway 10 from Hawarden to Granville. Law enforcement will have extra officers assigned to the area, including the use of the Iowa State Patrol speed enforcement aircraft.
Knights of Columbus raise nearly 51-thousand dollars
(LE MARS)–Knights of Columbus in Plymouth County exceeded both the regular and challenge goals in fundraising Wednesday.
The total from the 31st annual Plymouth County Knights of Columbus Phonothon for Persons with Disabilities is nearly 51-thousand dollars.
Becky Scheitler of Life Skills Training Center reported results from around the county by Knights of Columbus members and volunteers included:
*Le Mars $32,373
*Remsen $8,890
*Kingsley $4,000
*Akron $3,673
*Hinton $1,892
Ninety-percent of the proceeds from the phonothon are used to support Life Skills Training Center in Le Mars which provides services to individuals with disabilities and 10 percent is donated to Iowa Special Olympics.
Dave Grosenheider, KLEM Radio/Powell Broadcasting Director of Sales filed this final report from the Phonothon headquarters at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Le Mars.
Listen here
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Donations may be mailed to PO Box 1506, Le Mars, Iowa 51031.
Fall clean up days, household hazards materials collection set
(LE MARS)–Le Mars residents will have five days this month for the city’s Fall Clean Up which features a landfill amnesty.
The Clean Up days are September 9th and 10th and September 16-18th. A household may take up to one-thousand pounds of throwaway materials to the rural Le Mars Plymouth County Solid Waste Agency. The landfill fee will be paid by the city.
Items included are furniture, construction and demolition materials such as wooden fence posts and scrap lumber, and metal such as bed frames, bikes and mowers. White goods such as appliances may be taken, but the customer must pay a $10 per item demanufacturing charge.
Weekday landfill hours are from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with Saturday hours from 8 a.m. to noon.
Next month, Le Mars and Oyens residents may take household hazardous materials to a mobile unit. The Plymouth County Solid Waste Agency will collect household cleaners, home improvement supplies, pesticides, automotive products and other items such as batteries, pool and photo chemicals and artists paints.
There is no charge for the service but appointments will be needed by calling 548-4958. The mobile collection will be ONLY on October sixth from 10 am to noon and from 1-5 pm at the City of Le Mars Street Department.
NWC: Fall enrollment shows high retention rate for freshmen
(ORANGE CITY)–Fall enrollment is up at a Siouxland college by nearly 40 students.
Northwestern College announced fall enrollment of 1,243 students. According to the dean of enrollment services, Ron De Jong, this year’s entering freshman class totals 351 students which is the largest since 2006. Total enrollment is up 37 students.
The retention rate of freshmen returning for their sophomore year was 80 percent which is the second best in school history.
De Jong says that shows Northwestern provides the kind of experience students anticipated they would receive.
This year’s enrollment includes the highest percentage of American ethnic minorities Northwestern has ever had which is six-point-eight percent.
College officials say the increase in ethnic minorities is partly due to the special effort to recruit students from the Southwest. That resulted in enrolling 23 students from California in the freshman class and 59 overall. The state is the fifth most represented state on campus.
Blood bank has urgent need; will collect in Le Mars today
(SIOUX CITY)-Donors who choose to give the gift of life in Le Mars today (Thursday) will help the Siouxland Community Blood Bank fill an urgent need.
The blood bank is asking donors with types O Negative and B Negative Blood to donate as soon as possible.
The blood bank, a subsidiary of LifeServe Blood Center, will collect blood donations today (Thursday) from 9 a-m to 3 p-m at Floyd Valley Hospital in Le Mars.
The blood bank typically has a five-day supply of all blood types, but a steady decline in donations has left the blood bank with less than a two-day supply for some blood types.
Singer is new sergeant
(LE MARS)–A Plymouth County Sheriff’s deputy with specialized training in illegal drugs, firearms, and clandestine labs is the new sergeant.
Rick Singer of rural Le Mars was promoted to the position left vacant by the retirement of Sergeant Lynn Steckelberg.
Singer began his law enforcement career at the Le Mars Police Department in 1997 and joined the sheriff’s office in 2000.
He is a certified firearms instructor, certified clandestine lab tech, Iowa certified chemical munitions instructor, dive team member, drug task force member, and a Master Sergeant in the Iowa Army National Guard.
Sheriff Mike Van Otterloo announced the promotion Wednesday.
U-S attorney announces drug probe
MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa (AP) A drug sweep in central Iowa has resulted in several arrests in the Marshall County area.
U.S. Attorney Nicholas Klinefeldt announced the early morning arrests Wednesday.
Authorities say eight people from Marshalltown, Liscomb and Steamboat Rock are charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. A ninth person, who’s from Marshalltown, is charged with aiding and abetting a felon in possession of a firearm.
Law officers executed four search warrants. More than 50 officers from local, state and federal agencies collaborated in the arrests.
The nine defendants were being held without bond pending an appearance before a federal magistrate in Des Moines.
Minnesota couple to sue over tainted eggs
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) A southern Minnesota couple has notified a pair of Iowa egg companies at the center of a salmonella outbreak and massive egg recall that they intend to sue.
Attorney Ryan Osterholm of Minneapolis-based PritzkerOlsen says the lawsuit will be filed in Beltrami County in the next few days.
The Star Tribune reports it’s apparently the first lawsuit in Minnesota connected to the nationwide recall of more than a half a billion eggs.
Robin Shaffer of Mantorville claims she was sickened with salmonella poisoning after eating at a Bemidji restaurant in May.
Minnesota regulators have linked tainted eggs served there to Hillandale Farms of New Hampton, Iowa. The lawsuit alleges Hillandale’s eggs were contaminated because Wright County Egg sold Hillandale contaminated feed or young hens.
Shaffer’s husband joined the lawsuit due to loss of his wife’s companionship.
A spokeswoman for the farms, Hinda Mitchell, had no comment.
Funeral director: County misinterprets burial code
BURLINGTON, Iowa (AP) A funeral director believes Des Moines County officials are misinterpreting an old state law requiring bodies to be offered to medical schools.
Supervisors are considering updating the county handbook to require offering bodies of poor or indigent people to medical science before they are eligible for burial at county expense.
The supervisors met Tuesday with three Burlington funeral directors to discuss the new policy.
Funeral director Burton Prugh (proo) says the 1873 law was originally set up not for poor families but for indigent people who had been abandoned by their families.
Assistant County Attorney Amy Beavers says the county should begin making a good-faith effort to comply with the law.
The supervisors meet in the next couple of weeks to formally approve the updated handbook.
3 teens accused in Iowa City library vandalism
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) Iowa City police say tips from the public have led to charges against three teenagers in spray-paint vandalism at the public library last April.
Surveillance video shows three young men riding skateboards in the alley behind the library, then spray-painting the side of the library on April 25.
In July, police asked for the public’s help in identifying the three caught on video. A CrimeStoppers tip line received 17 tips.
The Press-Citizen reports as a result of the tips, police have charged three juveniles in the library vandalism.
The three boys are all 16 years and from Cedar Rapids. Police say the teens have been charged with fifth-degree criminal mischief a simple misdemeanor and referred to juvenile court.
Iowa library director explains any books discarded
MASON CITY, Iowa (AP) The director of Mason City’s public library says some library books were mistakenly tossed into a trash bin.
But she says most of the discarded books were part of the library’s normal “weeding out” process.
Dozens of books were discovered Tuesday thrown into a trash bin at the Madison Early Childhood Center temporary quarters of the library’s archives. Discarded items included city directories and recently published books.
Director Mary Markwalter tells the Globe Gazette that all libraries go through a weeding-out process.
Markwalter says normally the library finds a home for the books or puts them up for sale or gives them away. But this time, there was no place to do that.
The library has been in temporary quarters for a year and will reopen in October.
Climatologist: Summer ’93 remains Iowa’s wettest
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The summer of 2010 was a rainy one for Iowa, but the summer of 1993 remains Iowa’s wettest on record.
Summer 1993 saw a statewide average of 26.83 inches of rain.
State climatologist Harry Hillaker of the Iowa Department of Agriculture says rainfall this summer averaged 23.23 inches. That covers the months of June, July and August.
Third place goes to the summer of 1902 with 22.57 inches.
But June 2010 is the wettest June on record with a statewide average of 10.38 inches. It beat June 1947, which had 10.33 inches.
Hillaker tells The Des Moines Register that rainfall was unevenly distributed during August. Urbandale had more than 16 inches of rain for the month, while Guttenberg got just over an inch of rain last month.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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