(LE MARS)–Volunteers are needed to answer the call–specifically emergency medical calls.
Supervisor Don Kass expects supervisors to get information from Kevin Rollins of the Plymouth E-M-S group on a statewide shortage of emergency responders.
Listen here
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Kass appealed to county residents to consider training.
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He said one class wasn’t held because there weren’t enough people signed up to train.
Maintenance work underway at Plymouth Oil LLC
(MERRILL)–A spokesperson says a temporary shutdown for maintenance has idled some workers at a rural Merrill business.
According to Rich Magnuson of Plymouth Oil, the layoffs for half of the 23-member workforce began Monday (October 18).
Plymouth Oil is located next to ethanol maker Plymouth Energy along county road K-42, rural Merrill. Plymouth Oil is an extraction plant refining corn germ into food-grade cooking oil and de-oiled germ meal for hogs and dairy. Operations began in February.
Magnuson says the goal of the maintenance work underway by the remaining workers is designed to raise the volume of the plant from 200 tons per day to 300 tons per day.
There are plans are to resume operations at Plymouth Oil in mid-to late November.
Producers who had been buying the de-oiled germ meal are temporarily without the product for hogs and dairy.
Final surface work is underway on Business Highway 75
(LE MARS)–A contractor today (Wednesday) began what’s expected to be a two-day project to chip seal the surface of Business Highway 75
City administrator Scott Langel is asking drivers to stay off Business Highway 75, from Highway Three South to the airport road, as much as possible today and tomorrow.
The chip sealing is the final work to repair and smooth the road surface at a total cost of about a quarter of a million dollars.
Vote, register Saturday at the Courthouse
(LE MARS)–The Plymouth County Auditor’s Office will be open Saturday for voters
According to Auditor and Election Commission Stacey Feldman, hours Saturday are from 8 am until 5 pm to register to vote and to vote absentee for the November 2nd General Election.
Voters are asked to enter through the north lower level entrance of the Courthouse at 215 4th Ave. SE, Le Mars if they plan to vote on Saturday.
Anyone with questions may contact the Plymouth County Auditor’s Office at 712-546-6100.
Sides spar at forum over ousting Iowa justices
WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The leader of a statewide effort to oust three members of the Iowa Supreme Court has sparred at a forum with two former members of the high court.
Iowa for Freedom leader and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob Vander Plaats appeared Tuesday at a forum in West Des Moines with retired Justices Robert Allbee and Mark McCormick. Iowa for Freedom is urging voters not to retain the three justices who joined last year’s unanimous decision that legalized gay marriage.
The Des Moines Register reports that Vander Plaats said at the forum he wants to send a message to judges who overstep their bounds. But Allbee and McCormick called the ruling a courageous decision that keeps with Iowa’s civil rights history.
Cash pouring into effort to unseat Iowa justices
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Disclosure forms show both sides of the debate over the retention of three members of the Iowa Supreme Court have spent tens of thousands of dollars.
The Des Moines Register reports that disclosure forms released Tuesday show the National Organization for Marriage is spending $200,000 on television ads in an effort to unseat the justices joined last year’s unanimous decision that legalized gay marriage.
Meanwhile the group Fair Courts for Us has spent just more than $85,000 on radios ads and a poll. The group is urging Iowans to vote to retain Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices David Baker and Michael Streit.
The newspaper reports total spending to unseat the justices is at nearly $540,000 while pro-retention efforts have spent $117,500.
Iowa police search for family of homicide victim
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Cedar Rapids police are still searching for relatives of a 68-year-old woman who died after she was assaulted in her apartment last month.
Doris Bevins was attacked on Sept. 19. She died the next day. Her neighbor, Jerome Power, is charged with first-degree murder in her death.
The Gazette says police have been trying to find Bevins’ relatives. Sgt. Cristy Hamblin says authorities have found many friends, but no family.
Hamblin says Bevins’ husband died within the last few years, but police don’t know if she has any living children.
Officials says Bevins’ body remains at the state medical examiner’s office in Ankeny. Authorities say if the body goes unclaimed, Linn County would pay for an indigent burial.
Convicted Iowa murderer’s assault trial delayed
DUBUQUE, Iowa (AP) An assault trial has been delayed for a Dubuque man previously found guilty of killing a friend and wounding his neighbor.
The Telegraph Herald newspaper in Dubuque reports that Michael Mayton will go to trial Nov. 29 for the assault of a prosecutor. Mayton was convicted in the August 2009 stabbing death of his friend, David Tate, and the stabbing of his neighbor, Richard Schramm Jr.
After the jury’s verdict in July, Mayton was accused of assaulting the prosecutor. Mayton has pleaded not guilty to a willful injury in the case.
Mayton is scheduled to be sentenced on the murder conviction on Oct. 26.
Ottumwa scraps gun ordinance
OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) Ottumwa has scrapped plans for an ordinance to keep firearms off city property because state law doesn’t allow it.
The City Council on Tuesday was to consider the first reading of the ordinance, which was proposed in the wake of Iowa’s new concealed weapons permit. That law makes it more difficult for sheriffs to reject the permits.
The Ottumwa Courier says the council voted to remove the item from the agenda.
City Administrator Joe Helfenberger says the decision was made after city staff learned of a section of state law that doesn’t allow the ordinance.
City Attorney Tim Kintigh says the law says cities can’t regulate possession or transportation of firearms beyond what the state does.
Drivers in CR could face credit threat
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) Drivers caught speeding or running red lights on traffic cameras in Cedar Rapids and who don’t pay the fines could face a black mark on their credit rating.
The Gazette says a committee on Tuesday made that recommendation to the City Council in an effort to get those drivers to pay up.
City Finance Director Casey Drew says the city is willing to send unpaid bills to collection agencies, but has stopped short of allowing the agencies to use the hit to a person’s credit as a way to collect bills.
Councilman Kris Gulick suggested the city send those with unpaid fines a letter saying the failure to pay will hurt their credit rating. Then, he says, collection agencies can be called in to repeat the message.
Webster County says no new jail
FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) Webster County supervisors have decided not to build a new jail and repair the current jail, citing money concerns.
The Messenger in Fort Dodge says supervisors on Tuesday voted unanimously to make repairs.
Earlier this year, supervisors got the public’s OK to pay for a new jail with a $9 million bond, using revenue from local option sales taxes over 20 years.
Last week, the board said it was no longer interested in building a new jail because of concerns over the general basic budget and sales tax revenues.
Webster County Sheriff Brian Mickelson told the board if it fixes the current jail, which holds 50 inmates, the county will still be spending money to house inmates in neighboring counties. Inmates are sent to other counties because Webster County only has two isolation cells.
Iowa woman is youngest to complete marathon quest
CARLISLE, Iowa (AP) A nurse from Carlisle is the youngest woman to complete marathons in all 50 states.
Beverly Paquin completed her quest Sunday when she ran the Mount Desert Island Marathon in Bar Harbor, Maine, in 4 hours, 15 minutes.
The 22-year-old broke the record previously held by a 28-year-old woman.
Paquin decided to make her attempt during her first marathon in 2006 in Lincoln, Neb., when she saw another runner wearing a 50 States Marathon Club shirt.
The effort has depleted her bank account, but Paquin tells The Des Moines Register she’s a little sad her attempt is over.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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