(DAVIS, CA) A California business plans to buy a Siouxland lamb processor.
Superior Farms of Davis, California announced the agreement to purchase Iowa Lamb Corporation of Hawarden.
Spence Rule and three family members have owned the Hawarden packing house since 1983.
Rule says it’s an opportunity for the family to concentrate on the feeding aspect of lamb production.
Superior Farms was founded in 1963 in Washington state and has four facilities in the U-S.
Superior Farms C-E-O Ed Jenks describe the business purchase as one that will help increase efficiencies in the sheep industry. In Jenks’ words, “It is our sincere hope that we create operational economies of scale that allow us to keep our plant costs down and continue to encourage a consumer demand at affordable prices.”
Iowa Lamb Corporation was originally a beef production facility built in 1963. The Rules purchased the plant in 1983 to extend their feeding and lamb processing business and renovated in 2006.
Community shows support for soldiers
(LE MARS) Volunteers Thursday night packed a show of support from Le Mars area residents into about 100 boxes.
The holiday care packages are to be shipped to Troop C of the Iowa Army National Guard in Le Mars activated in August and other soldiers serving their country.
The United Methodist Church of Le Mars was packing headquarters for about two dozen volunteers who lined the boxes with news from home–an edition of the Daily Sentinel newspaper.
Personal care and comfort items like shampoo and foot warmers were the first in the boxes followed by donated food, snacks, toothbrushes, drink mix and the dozens of items collected at 15 businesses, churches and schools. Fruit snacks, toothpaste and peanut butter filled crackers were among the fill items.
Mary Reynolds of the Le Mars Area Chamber of Commerce worked with the volunteers to provide a holiday greeting card showing a snowy scene from the Pioneer Village at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds. The business community’s contribution was a message of thanks signed from the citizens of Le Mars. The greeting will be the first item those serving their country see when they open the holiday care packages.
One of the volunteers organizing the show of support, Pat Warner, gives special thanks to the school children for their response to a request for donated items for the soldiers.
As an indication of the community’s giving, Warner told the volunteers enough postage money had been donated to ship 123 packages. She’s still taking names of anyone serving their country who is not part of Troop C who should receive a package. The names may be emailed to pdwarner@frontiernet.net or messages with the names and addresses may be left on her answering machine by calling 712.546.5778.
The care package effort is coordinated through the Le Mars Area Ministerial Association.
Oktoberfest fun, food and music in Remsen Saturday
(REMSEN)– Break out your polka shoes, because Remsen’s 37th annual Oktoberfest is tomorrow (Saturday). Angie Galles was part of the Oktoberfest Court for the 20th anniversary celebration, and now she and her husband are are co-chairing the event. Galles says that Oktoberfest is all about tradition and spending time with friends and family.
Listen here
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There is plenty to experience at Remsen’s Oktoberfest. Saturday kicks off with a craft fair at 9am. The beverage garden opens at 1pm with entertainment throughout the day by accordion player Lyle Koehlmoos and Malek’s Fisherman Band. Galles said that one of the biggest attractions at the festival is the Bavarian Feast featuring Luxembourg Treipen, Brats, German potato salad, and headcheese.
Listen here
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If you’re not feeling adventurous in the food department, broasted chicken and mashed potatoes are also available. You can pre-purchase tickets for the meal and serving times are on the hour from 3 to 7.
New this year at Remsen’s Oktoberfest they will be serving a brats with kraut and root beer at City Hall from 10am to 1pm. (Angela Drake, KLEM News)
Groundbreaking for Event Center today
(ORANGE CITY)–A public groundbreaking for the second part of an Orange City development effort is set for 11:30 this (Friday) morning.
Groundbreaking for the Event Center is at the site of the project, on Highway 10 East at Lincoln Circle and was postponed from Tuesday due to weather conditions.
The Event Center will be a two-story facility for public, private, corporate, cultural, recreation, educational and entertainment events.
The center is being funded with a voter-approved bond, a Community Attraction and Tourism (CAT) grant from Vision Iowa; and corporate and private donations.
Plymouth County’s 280th Street bridge project complete
(LE MARS) A Plymouth County road east of Hinton reopened for traffic today (Friday).
According to Plymouth County Engineer Tom Rohe, 280th Street, from county road K-49 to Lynx Avenue, had been closed due to a bridge replacement.
Freezing temperatures due in Iowa
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The National Weather Service in central Iowa says freezing temperatures are expected in areas of the state, causing the growing season to end.
Forecasters with the weather service’s office in Des Moines say a freeze warning was issued Thursday to last from midnight until 9 a.m. on Friday. They say a Canadian high pressure system will cause the hard freeze. It will affect south central and southeast Iowa. Overnight lows are expected to dip into the upper 20s.
The weather service says the low temperature will likely kill crops and other sensitive vegetation.
The freeze warning comes the same week that high winds flipped semitrailers and downed power lines in Iowa.
The rare, fast-moving storm brought winds up to 81 mph, rain and tornadoes to the Midwest.
Iowa City police investigating church burglaries
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) Police in Iowa City say thieves have burglarized or tried to burglarize four churches over the last month.
The Iowa City Police Department said Thursday that it is investigating October burglaries at the Newman Catholic Center, Zion Lutheran Church and St. Pauls Lutheran Church. Police say they’re also investigating a late September attempted burglary at St. Mary’s Church.
Police say they have no information about suspects but ask anyone who witnesses suspicious activity at or near a church to report it to authorities. An area anti-crime group is offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a suspect in the thefts.
Newton doctor sentenced for fraud
NEWTON, Iowa (AP) Federal prosecutors say a doctor from Newton in central Iowa has been sentenced to 6 months in prison for health care fraud.
Officials say 62-year-old Angel Serafin Martin was sentenced Thursday after he was convicted in January on 31 counts of health care fraud. He also must pay more than $5,000 in restitution, a $12,500 fine and $3,100 in special assessments to a crime victims’ fund.
Federal authorities say Martin changed claims to private health insurers, Medicare and Medicaid to receive more money than he was due. The fraud happened between 2005 and 2007. He also must serve two years of supervised release.
Chicago to Iowa rail line funding celebrated
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was in Iowa, where he joined local leaders to celebrate $230 million in federal money to start work on a passenger rail line.
Service on the new GreenLine is to begin in 2015 and take passengers from Chicago’s Union Station to the Quad Cities to Iowa City. There will be two daily round trips and trains will travel at speeds up to 79 mph. The trips on the nearly 220-mile route is expected to take less than five hours.
LaHood was joined Thursday in Iowa City by Gov. Chet Culver, U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin and U.S. Rep. Dave Loebsack.
Each train can carry about 230 passengers. Transportation officials project first-year ridership will be 246,800. New stations will be built in Geneseo and Moline, Ill., and Iowa City.
Iowa man accused of trying to have sex with girl
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) Authorities say undercover agents posed as 14-year-old girl to respond to a central Iowa man’s ad on Craigslist for his sexual services.
Fifty-two-year-old John Harryman is accused of trying to meet a child for sex. According to online court records, his arraignment is set for Friday in Des Moines.
The criminal complaint alleges that the Norwalk man sent numerous graphic pictures of himself, along with explicit messages, his phone number and lingerie. It also says he told the girl to hide items from her mother.
Court records show Harryman was arrested last month when he went to meet the girl for a sexual encounter.
According to court records, Harryman was ordered held until further proceedings. His attorney did not return a call late Thursday night.
Demolition begins in Cedar Rapids’ Czech Village
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) The demolition of flood-damaged homes next to the Czech Village in Cedar Rapids has started.
The Gazette says the first of the demolitions were Thursday morning after delays while federal, state and local officials dealt with the historic status of residential structures. The City Council on Tuesday approved the beginning of the razing of about 60 homes deemed an “imminent threat” to public health and safety.
The neighborhood was heavily damaged in the 2008 flood.
A developer and a planning consultant have been trying to get the neighborhood declared a historic one. The consultant, Richard Luther, says state and federal officials recently concluded the area is not historic.
UI student union to get $75M makeover
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) The student union at the University of Iowa is due for a $75 million makeover.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that the Iowa state Board of Regents on Thursday approved the money for the renovations, including a flood protection plan. The union was closed during the historic flooding of 2008. The improvements also will include a six-lane bowling alley at the Iowa Memorial Union.
The renovations should be completed by the end of 2012.
The effort will include a floodwall around the union and an updated utility tunnel with a system to prevent water penetration. Other renovations include a new sprinkler system, a new roof and disability standard updates.
Casey’s General Stores wraps Short Stop deal
ANKENY, Iowa (AP) Casey’s General Stores Inc. convenience chain has bought six Short Stop stores in Iowa from J.D. Carpenter Cos. Inc.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed Thursday.
It was the second purchase of stores announced this month by Casey’s, whose shareholders in September rejected a $2 billion bid from Canadian retail operator Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc., which operates the Circle K chain in the U.S. Rival 7-Eleven is offering $2.04 billion, and Casey’s has said it is continuing talks with that chain.
Casey’s intends to rebrand the six Short Stop stores under the Casey’s banner and to offer its prepared foods in the stores, with full integration of the prepared food program within six months. Casey’s had more than 1,500 stores in nine states.
Shares slipped 31 cents to $41.06 in afternoon trading.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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