(LE MARS)–Property adjacent to the Le Mars Community High School will be owned by the school district.
The Board of Education has voted to buy property owned by Arlene Urban of Le Mars for $83,000 with one-thousand dollars authorized as what Superintendent Dr. Todd Wendt called ‘earnest money.’
Wendt said Urban approached him when she was ready to sell her property and wanted to know if the district was interested.
School Board members Mark Hemmingson and Cris Collins met with Urban.
Hemmingson, at this week’s board meeting, said the assessed valuation was about 93,000 dollars or about 10-thousand dollars more than the district’s purchase price.
The board had closed a portion of its meetings to the public recently to discuss the purchase of real estate.
The purchase decision was made in open session as an agenda item for the meeting this week.
Bridge repairs complete by Thursday afternoon
(LE MARS)–A gravel road west of Le Mars will open again to travel at one this (Thursday) afternoon.
According to Plymouth County Engineer Tom Rohe, Iris Avenue, from County Road C-38 to 200th Street, was closed as of Tuesday morning for repairs to a bridge abutment.
Federal money flows to water project
YANKTON, S.D. (AP) The executive director of the Lewis and Clark Regional Water System says the three-state project is getting an additional $4.5 million in federal money.
Troy Larson says much of the money is through the federal stimulus program. The funds are designated for the main water treatment plant being built just north of Vermillion, S.D.
Larson says the additional federal funding will free up state and local money to be used elsewhere, likely for a pipeline connecting Rock Rapids, Iowa.
The $537 million system will bring treated Missouri River water to more than 300,000 people in South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. Construction began in 2006. The system is expected to be operational in the summer of 2012.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
L Radiator plans expansion
YANKTON, S.D. (AP) A Yankton manufacturing firm plans to double the size of its plant and add more than 50 jobs.
L Radiator makes cooling systems for industrial uses. The Associated Press reports the company plans a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for the 40,000-square-foot expansion to its 42,000-square-foot facility.
Plant manager Tony Carey says the company has seen an increase in orders. He says employment has grown over the past year from 17 workers to 50.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Vander Plaats responds to clergy group
(SIOUX CITY)–A group of clergy Wednesday called on Iowa for Freedom executive director Bob Vander Plaats to denounce a national group that has provided funding for the effort. Iowa for Freedom is leading the effort to vote out three Supreme Court justices involved in the gay marriage decision. The Interfaith Alliance says the Iowa group is merely a state arm of the American Family Association of Mississippi. Vander Plaats told Radio Iowa that is not so.
Vander Plaats says his group is not an Iowa subsidiary of A-F-A, and says A-F-A is merely a supporter of the Iowa group’s effort. Vander Plaats says Interfaith Alliance’s call for him to denounce the A-F-A “really shows the strength of our campaign.” Vander Plaats says he is sticking with his message.
“The only thing I’m going to denounce is activists judges on the supreme court that’s used to make law, govern law and amend the constitution, and usurp the will of the people, and the will be the message today all the way until November two,” Vander Plaats says. He says he believes the people of Iowa will have their voice be heard and will vote “No” on the three justices. The Interfaith Alliance says the A-F-A is an “extremist group, with a radical agenda, and a record of hate.” Vander Plaats says the group is one of many supporters of Iowa for Freedom.
He says Newt Gingrich supports the effort, Iowa Congressman Steve King supports the group and Vander Plaats says he’s not going to take credit or responsibility or accountability for any of their comments, nor should they take credit or responsibility or accountability for any of his comments. Vander Plaats says he just wants to bring people along that are “very supportive of our effort to hold a supreme court in check that is activist by nature, and that is inserting politics into the judicial arena and is usurping the will of the people.” Vander Plaats says the Interfaith Alliance and the chief justice of the court can see the poll numbers and that’s why they are trying to attack his group.
“We’re still a government of the people, by the people and for the people, not of the courts, but the courts and for the courts,” Vander Plaats says, “and I think the people of Iowa are very disturbed at this supreme court that’s become activist in nature. They redefined the fundamental institution of marriage without the voice of the people and I think they are going to hold them in check on November two. And I think that’s why supreme court justice Marsha Ternus at least has decided to come out and enter the campaign fray.” Ternus gave a speech in Ames Tuesday in which she was critical of the effort to vote out the judges, saying they made their decision based on the constitution. (News report by Radio Iowa)
2-year-old dies in buggy accident in Iowa
CRESCO, Iowa (AP) Authorities say a 2-year-old Mennonite girl died in a buggy accident when the horse bolted at her family’s home near Alta Vista in northeast Iowa.
Howard County Sheriff Mike Miner says Thursday that Kaylene Nolt died after she was thrown from the buggy.
The accident happened Tuesday afternoon.
Miner says the girl and her father, Joseph Nolt, had returned from a produce auction and he was unhitching the buggy when the horse was spooked. The horse took off and the buggy slid into a tractor with steel wheels.
The child was thrown and pinned between the buggy and a steel wheel.
Miner says the father suffered a leg injury, but didn’t require medical attention.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier first reported the child’s death.
Forest City-based Winnebago posts profit
FOREST CITY, Iowa (AP) Forest City-based motor home maker Winnebago Industries Inc. is posting a profit in the fiscal fourth quarter.
The results announced Thursday mark the company’s second consecutive quarterly profit.
Winnebago says the results were driven by both increased motor home deliveries and improved labor efficiencies.
The company earned $4.9 million, or 17 cents per share in the quarter that ended in August, compared with a year-ago loss of $50.2 million, or $1.73 per share.
Revenue more than doubled to $123.1 million from $59.5 million a year earlier.
Police fire at Des Moines TV photojournalist
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Des Moines police say an officer responding to reports of a man with a gun at the KCCI-TV studios mistakenly fired at a photojournalist.
KCCI says the shot missed and no one was hurt.
The incident happened Wednesday night after the 10 p.m. news.
Police say KCCI employees heard loud bangs and breaking glass and called police. A photojournalist, whom KCCI identifies as Spencer Vaughn, was outside the station on a cell phone to dispatchers.
Police say an officer mistook the phone for a gun and fired at Vaughn.
KCCI says other officers subdued the real suspect, who was allegedly throwing rocks at cars in the parking lot. The man’s name was not immediately released.
Developer wants to save flooded neighborhood in CR
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) A developer is trying a last-ditch effort to save the flood-damaged Czech Village neighborhood in Cedar Rapids.
A survey determined there were 21 of the 150 or so homes damaged in 2008 that could be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places but not the neighborhood as a whole.
The Gazette says developer Charles Jones has proposed re-evaluating the neighborhood to see if it could be eligible. The means dozens of homes would have to be stripped of vinyl siding and porch additions or other changes that altered their architectural significance.
The architectural historian who conducted the survey says it’s possible the changes could make a difference.
About 60 homes are to torn down beginning in about two weeks. Jones wants the City Council to delay demolition.
Foes target Iowa’s greyhound racing industry
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Animal groups, dog lovers and anti-gambling activists are planning a campaign to shut down Iowa’s dwindling greyhound racing industry.
The issue surfaced during the last session of the Legislature, and activists say they will target the industry again in 2011.
The Des Moines Register says Rep. Mary Mascher, an Iowa City Democrat, will introduce a bill in January to halt greyhound racing. The bill would affect tracks in Council Bluffs and Dubuque.
Bob Hardison of Onawa, president of the Iowa Greyhound Association, says his group will fight the effort.
Hardison says the industry supports more than 1,300 jobs and generates millions of dollars. He also says the industry is heavily regulated and the dogs are taken care of.
Trial for former Clinton school employee delayed
CLINTON, Iowa (AP) Trial for a former Clinton school district office manager accused of embezzling $1.2 million from the district has been delayed until next year.
Trial for Denise Babcock, 36, of Camanche, was set for Nov. 1, but her attorney, Leon Spies, requested more time to prepare. Trial is now set for Feb. 7, 2011.
Babcock was indicted on a federal theft charge last month after a state audit uncovered $1.2 million in undeposited collections and improper disbursements.
Babcock was released on $250,000 bond.
$1.3M in grants OK’ed for Iowa projects statewide
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) More than $1.3 million in state grant money has been allocated to help pay for projects like libraries, parks and community centers across Iowa.
Gov. Chet Culver announced the I-JOBS Vision Iowa grant money on Wednesday. So far the effort has funded projects in 94 Iowa counties, including its first in Taylor County where about $131,000 will go to the Lenox Community Center.
The largest award announced Wednesday is $800,000 for park improvements in Hampton, including a new aquatic center, a 6-mile trail, new tennis court surfaces, a skateboard park and sun shelters. The grants also include $300,00 for the second phase of the Guttenberg riverfront development and marina project.
(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.
