(LE MARS) Voting for the November general election begins today.
Plymouth County auditor Stacey Feldman says absentee voting at the auditor’s office is from eight in the morning until five in the afternoon Monday through Friday. Written requests for an absentee ballots may be mailed to the auditor’s office using forms available on the county’s website www.co.plymouth.ia.us and selecting Online forms or by making a request for an absentee ballot.
Absentee voting continues through November first. You’ll find more information under the Election Information portion of the KLEM web site–choose KLEM Stuff. www.klem1410.com
Tulip Court balloting underway
(ORANGE CITY)–Twelve young women are vying for the 2011 Tulip Festival Court.
Voting is today by Orange City residents and students in seventh through 12th grade at Orange City and Unity Christian and M-O-C Floyd Valley Schools. Those voting need to choose five candidates for the Court in order to have their ballot counted.
One of the five young women will be chosen as the 2011 Tulip Queen in November. She’ll succeed 2010 Festival Queen Amy Hulst.
Consent order issued in Magnuson case
(WASHINGTON, DC)–A former Le Mars bank president has agreed to settle a charge with the Comptroller of the Currency.
Richard Magnuson, former president of American Bank of Le Mars, was accused in a notice from the Comptroller in February of 2010.
The charges stated the bank in September of 2008 bought a car for Magnuson’s use as bank president. As part of the same transaction he was accused of making an unauthorized purchase of another vehicle for his personal use, titled in his name, at a loss to the bank and concealed from the bank. The vehicle was returned to the bank when he resigned in February of last year.
Magnuson filed an answer in March of this year denying the claims from the Comptroller of the Currency.
A consent order has been filed resolving the allegations that Magnuson violated the law. Magnuson neither admits nor denies the Comptroller’s findings.
He agreed to pay a 54-hundred dollar civil penalty. Magnuson also consented to prohibitions which do not allow him to conduct affairs or vote on matters involving banking and similar businesses such as credit unions. He is not allowed to make any public statements about the charges alleged by the Comptroller.
C-16 bridge construction continues
(LE MARS)–Road closed signs were scheduled to come down tomorrow (Friday) eight miles east of Akron. There’s a change in the original plans made when construction started a few months ago.
According to Plymouth County engineer Tom Rohe, County Road C-16, between Fir and Granite Avenue will reopen in about four weeks.
The county road is closed while a bridge is replaced. (NOTE: this is a change in earlier information)
Iowan among troops killed in crash
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (AP) The military says five members of the 101st Airborne Division, including an Iowan, are among the nine American troops killed in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan.
A spokesman for Fort Campbell in Kentucky says the five were assigned to the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, which deployed in March. Four members of the Navy also were killed.
Tuesday’s crash was the worst coalition helicopter crash in Afghanistan in four years.
Among those killed from the 101st were 39-year-old Maj. Robert F. Baldwin, of Muscatine.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. NATO says there were no reports of enemy fire at the time, but the Taliban have claimed that insurgents shot down the helicopter.
Hail storm damages eastern Iowa
MARION, Iowa (AP) Hail damage is adding up in some neighborhoods in eastern Iowa.
In Marion, near Cedar Rapids, storms on Tuesday dropped hail the size of golf balls.
The Gazette says one homeowner, Michelle Chayer, stashed some of them in her freezer.
The hail hit nearly every home on several blocks in Chayer’s neighborhoods and left many cars parked on the street with dents.
One Marion insurance agency report 67 claims for homes and 10 claims for auto damage in a 12-hour period after the storm.
FEMA supports Cedar Rapids’ library plans
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Federal disaster officials are on board with Cedar Rapids’ plans to replace its flood-ruined library with a new library away from the Cedar River.
The downtown library, which is on the banks of the river, was damaged in the 2008 flood.
The city wants to build a new library about four blocks away. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said the least expensive plan was to tear down the library and rebuild on the same location, but on higher ground.
That led to a meeting between the city and FEMA on Wednesday.
Mayor Ron Corbett told the Gazette that FEMA has agreed to support the city’s plans for building a new library near a park, and will provide $19.5 million for the construction.
Mystery photos found in floodwaters in Colfax
COLFAX, Iowa (AP) Delores Parvi of Colfax is trying to find the owner of a treasure trove of memories found floating in a rubber tub after the Skunk River flooded the town last month.
According to KCCI-TV, Parvi’s son spotted the tub and grabbed it.
Inside were photographs, including a boy in a plaid collared shirt, a great grandpa in an oval frame and a rotating picture cub.
Parvi says in all the pictures of anniversaries and first days of school, there is no way to identify them. The closest is a military photograph with what looks like the name “Witke” on the man’s uniform.
No one knows where the tub came from.
Parvi says it could have started its journey anywhere along the Skunk River and floated into Colfax from Ames or Story City.
Oskaloosa rejects bid to extend snow ordinance
OSKALOOSA, Iowa (AP) Oskaloosa is getting ready for winter, and once the snow starts falling, residents must still clear their sidewalks within 24 hours.
The Oskaloosa Herald reports that the City Council voted against a proposal to extend the ordinance to 48 hours. Monday’s vote was 4 to 3.
Councilman Aaron Ver Steeg, who opposed the extension, says it would mean another 24 hours of snow getting packed down and turning to ice, which is harder to clear.
Councilwoman Scottie Moore, who favored the extension, says it would give “latitude” to those who couldn’t clear the sidewalks within 24 hours.
Iowa gets nearly $1.8M to fight drunken driving
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Iowa is to receive nearly 1.8 million in federal money that is to be spent on programs to deter drunken and impaired driving in the state.
Both Iowa senators, Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin, on Wednesday announced the funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The money will go to the Iowa Traffic Safety Bureau.
Harkin says the money will help Iowa’s “efforts to keep Iowa’s roads safe.”
Man pleads guilty to Iowa duck killing
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A second man has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of livestock abuse for stoning 50 ducks to death at a petting zoo in Cedar Rapids.
The Gazette reports that Shayne Smalling, of Twentynine Palms, Calif. made his guilty plea in writing on Wednesday in Linn County District Court. He was ordered to pay a $625 fine.
Smalling is in the Marines and stationed in California.
Smalling and Zachary Kanellis, of Cedar Rapids, were accused of killing the ducks at Bever Park Children’s Zoo in June 2008. Police said the ducks were stoned to death.
Kanellis pleaded guilty earlier this month to third-degree criminal mischief and injury to livestock, both misdemeanors. He received a deferred sentence of unsupervised probation for two years and was fined $625 on each count.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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