(LE MARS)–Voters will consider a question on the ballot for the November 2nd election.
Scott Moats of Westfield is a volunteer providing information about Question 1 which is Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/Oct2010/question1100210.mp3{/audio}
If voters approve the measure, Moats says funds would be provided for projects including flood mitigation.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/Oct2010/question2100210.mp3{/audio}
The funding source is tied to state sales tax.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/Oct2010/question3100210.mp3{/audio}
The Iowa Legislature would need to act, before the sales tax could be increased. More information is available from a website www.iowaswaterandlandlegacy.org
(LE MARS)–Plymouth County’s auditor and the election staff will offer three locations for voting before the November 2nd Election.
Absentee ballots may be cast at the Courthouse week days from eight in the morning until five in the afternoon and on the two Saturdays before the election.
Auditor and Election Commissioner Stacey Feldman says Satellite Absentee Voting is planned at two locations.
On October 13th, voters may cast absentee ballots in Hinton and Remsen. Hours on Wednesday, October 13th are from 4-8 p-m. The locations are the Hinton Community Center and Remsen Public Library.
According to Feldman, all Plymouth County precinct ballots will be available at both the Hinton and Remsen locations; all registered voters will be able to vote at either location.
Voter registration forms will be available for new registrations or for current registered voters who need to make registration changes.
Homeowners remodel or add to their housing
(LE MARS)–September was a month to begin additions to homes in Le Mars.
Code Enforcement Officer Jason Vacura issued 17 permits with about half the permits for house additions or remodeling. The value of the remodeling and additions was estimated at more than 73 thousand dollars.
The largest project is an addition at the Le Mars Bible Church with estimated construction of one-point-five-million dollars .
There were four permits for new signs, including a new business Northwest Iowa Laundry, locating in the Oak Tree Plaza on Business Highway 75 at 121 Fifth Avenue Northwest.
Building activity in Le Mars was estimated at one-point-six-million dollars.
Saturday is paper recycling and can donation day
(LE MARS)–Today is a day to recycle paper for school projects in Le Mars and Remsen.
The Le Mars Community Elementary Schools paper recycling project is this morning. Paper may be dropped off at O’Toole Park in Le Mars from 8-10 a-m. Other pickup sites are at the Struble and Craig Banks, the Brunsville Bank corners from 8-9 a-m.
The Remsen-Union Family Connection and St. Mary’s School Board collect paper from 8-11 a-m at the Marion Street location.
The Gehlen Catholic Can Drive is this morning from 8 am to 10 a-m at the Elementary Building.
Union Pacific repairs rail near Seney
(SENEY)–Union Pacific crews are repairing rail in the Seney area, along Highway 75. Crews have been working through the night, according to the Plymouth County Sheriff’s office. The area is near the Plymouth/Sioux County line.
Tri-State College Fair is Sunday
(SOUTH SIOUX CITY)–Education after high school is the focus of a weekend event in South Sioux City.
The 24th annual Tri-State College Fair College is for high school students and their parents or anyone considering going back to school.
About 100 representatives from colleges, universities and vocational institutions throughout the Midwest and nation will offer information. Vocational-technical schools from four states will be represented along with the military.
Financial Aid meetings will be offered Sunday afternoon during the event at the Marina Center in South Sioux City. The fair is from 12:30 to three in the afternoon.
Students from 85 high schools in an 18-county area in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota have been invited to the fair which is the largest in this area.
The fair is coordinated by Northwest Area Education Agency and promoted by area high school counselors.
Iowa war veteran found not guilty of murder
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Jurors in Des Moines have found an Iraq war veteran from Altoona not guilty of murder in the 2005 hit-and-run death of a woman.
The verdict was announced Friday afternoon in Polk County court. Pollard’s defense attorney had criticized evidence in the case. Jurors began deliberations Wednesday afternoon after closing arguments in the case.
Justin Pollard, a 27-year-old U.S. Army reservist, was arrested last October in New Jersey after returning from a second tour of duty in Iraq. Pollard was accused in the death of 46-year-old Annamarie Rittman of Altoona. She was hit in the parking lot of a home improvement store in Altoona.
Prosecutors dropped the charge in 2007 after a judge ruled a surveillance tape could not be used. Prosecutors refiled a first-degree murder charge in October 2009.
Dubuque man found guilty of stealing, selling meat
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Federal prosecutors say a jury found a 66-year-old Dubuque man guilty of buying meat and meat products that had been stolen from interstate shipments.
Prosecutors said the jury convicted Donald Herbst Sr. on Friday in federal court in Cedar Rapids after a more than four-day trial. Authorities say he was found guilty on nine counts of buying and possessing the meat products and one count of conspiring to buy and possess the meat. He was acquitted on one count.
Authorities accuse Herbst of reselling the Farmland Inc. meat products that were stolen from shipments that originated from the Americold Freezer Services warehouse in East Dubuque, Ill. Prosecutors say Farmland lost more than $187,000 of meat products.
Sentencing for Herbst has yet to be set.
Fort Dodge will increase police protection
FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) More police officers are headed to the city of Fort Dodge in central Iowa.
Officials said Friday that three new officers will be added to law enforcement agencies in Webster County and Fort Dodge. The Messenger newspaper in Fort Dodge reports the officers will arrive in the coming months thanks to more than $600,000 in grants.
The Fort Dodge Police Department received nearly $392,000 to add two officers and the Webster County sheriff will add one officer with more than $200,000.
Fort Dodge police chief Tim Carmody calls the funding “a blessing” that will help the agency “be more effective and more efficient.” With the two new officers the agency will have 40 officers.
The money comes from the Community Oriented Policing Services program.
Camanche schools dealing with whooping cough
CAMANCHE, Iowa (AP) About ten cases of whooping cough have been diagnosed in the Camanche school district and officials say they want parents to make sure their students’ immunizations are up to date.
Camanche school nurse Kathy Hullinger says she suspects there are more cases of whooping cough that haven’t been confirmed. She tells the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier that these are the first cases of whooping cough that she’s seen in six years.
School officials say there are cases of the disease in students at all grade levels but most are concentrated in upper elementary and middle school.
Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, starts with cold-like symptoms, but within a week or two, patients develop uncontrollable coughing spells. These coughs are accompanied by the telltale whooping sound as the patient gasps for air.
Culver casts early vote in Iowa general election
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Gov. Chet Culver has cast his ballot in the general election.
The Democratic incumbent cast his early vote Friday at the Polk County auditor’s office in Des Moines. The Gazette newspaper reports that he said it’s “a winning ballot.” Culver faces Republican candidate and former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad in the Nov. 2 general election. Early voting started Sept. 23 in Iowa.
Culver urged Iowans to vote and said early voting is “a great option.” A spokesman for Branstad said the former governor would vote on Election Day.
A poll published last month by The Des Moines Register showed Culver trailing Branstad by 19 percentage points. Fifty-two percent of those surveyed said they supported Branstad, while 33 percent preferred Culver.
Iowa town of Hampton wants Winfrey visit
HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) Residents in one town in north central Iowa are responding to a call from Oprah Winfrey to tell the talk show host why their city is special.
That response includes an effort from Iowa native and opera singer Simon Estes.
Winfrey posted on her Facebook page last month that she was looking to send her camera crews to a “one-of-a-kind small town.” She asked towns to submit a short video and leaders in Hampton decided to film one. The Globe Gazette in Mason City reports that Hampton Chamber of Commerce member Deb Brown says the city wants to “show Oprah what we’re made of.”
The video features Estes along with efforts to reopen Hampton’s Windsor Theatre for live performances.
Brown wants the community to contact Winfrey and encourage her to pick Hampton.
(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.
