(LE MARS)–It’s taken 11 months for Plymouth County to have a new hog confinement facility under construction in 2010.
Zoning administrator Alan Lucken issued the first permit for a hog confinement building in Elgin township with an estimated construction cost of 250-thousand dollars. The permit is on Lucken’s November report.
The hog confinement building is one of 14 permits for buildings on farms. The farm permits have an estimated building cost of about 981-thousand dollars.There were three livestock building permits, five permits for machine storage, two for grain bins and one for a commodity building. A new home is being built on a Westfield township farm.
The two permits for buildings which are not on farms were issued by Lucken for a house in America Township and a storage building with total costs of 267-thousand dollars.
November construction in rural areas of Plymouth County totaled one-point-two million dollars.
Business expansion in November building report
(LE MARS)–November was a seasonally slower month for construction in Le Mars.
Jason Vacura of Code Enforcement issued six permits for about 45-thousand dollars in construction.
The activity included a deck, a garage move, an accessory building and fence.
A permit was issued to Sharon’s Embroidery on 12th Street Southwest for an addition and for a chicken statue sign for Lally’s Eastside.
The city’s permit fees totalled 589 dollars.
Since January, the construction activity in Le Mars is estimated at 10-million dollars from 110 permits. The city has collected about 38-thousand dollars in fees.
LE MARS)–A sign variance for Wells’ Dairy’s new downtown Ice Cream Parlor and Museum will be considered next week.
The Le Mars Board of Zoning Adjustment meeting involves city regulations that allow projecting signs to extend up to four-feet, six-inches from a building.
The variance requested by Wells’ Dairy would allow the sign at 115 Central Avenue to extend nine-feet, six-inches from the building
According to the meeting agenda, any sign placed on a downtown building is in city right-of-way. The concern is that the sign is not so close to the street that it would interfere with traffic by extending past the curb.
The proposed Wells’ Dairy sign, the agenda states, will still be three-feet, 10-inches from the curb so that is not an issue. There are a number of existing signs and awnings downtown that extend past the maximum distance. If the variance is approved, the Wells’ sign would not be a first.
The public meeting to consider the variance from zoning regulations is Tuesday morning at 8:15 in the Council Chambers at City Hall.
Wells’ Dairy plans a grand opening of the Ice Cream Parlor and Museum during Ice Cream Days next June.
Palin stops in Iowa to promote book
SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa (AP) Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has visited Iowa for the second time in a week to promote her latest book.
Palin signed more than 1,000 copies of her book, “America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag,” at a Wal-Mart store in Spirit Lake Thursday. The Des Moines Register reports that like Palin’s other booksignings, the event was tightly controlled. The media was allowed to take pictures but told not to ask questions. Palin was at a bookstore in West Des Moines last week.
Palin sat in a backroom, where country music played while she made small talk with fans who lined up to meet her.
Palin’s visits to Iowa comes as she recently said she is considering a run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012.
CD premieres in Orange City
(Orange City)– Orange City native Joseph Barker returns to his home town today (Friday) to celebrate the release of a new CD with fellow band member Kay Gillete. The name of the group is Bella Ruse.
Listen here
{audio}images/stories/mp3/December2010/Bella Ruse 1.mp3{/audio}
The pair now lives in Minneapolis and have been playing together for almost 2 years. Joseph says that music has been part of their upbringing. He started on piano and Kay has been singing since she was a kid.
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{audio}images/stories/mp3/December2010/Bella Ruse 2.mp3{/audio}
Under Kay’s “control” Joseph’s rock band style morphed into a folk/indie pop sound.
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{audio}images/stories/mp3/December2010/Bella Ruse 3.mp3{/audio}
Bella Ruse has an interesting way of getting around. After outgrowing the Kay’s station wagon, she says they upgraded to a vegetable oil-powered van.
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{audio}images/stories/mp3/December2010/Bella Ruse 4.mp3{/audio}
Joseph said the van will be pulling up to The Old Factory Coffee Shop on 4th Street SW in Orange City at 8pm for their free show.
Listen here
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You heard him right, the first 50 people in the door get a free Kazoo , as the name of the album they are releasing is called Kuhzoo. To hear more music or learn about Bella Ruse visit www.bellaruse.com. (Angela Drake, KLEM News)
Des Moines slaying suspect arrested in Minneapolis
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) A man being sought for the shooting death of a Des Moines man in October has been arrested in Minneapolis.
Des Moines police say 27-year-old Lester Richardson was arrested Thursday and is being held in the Hennepin County jail awaiting extradition to Iowa.
A warrant was issued last month charging Richardson with first-degree murder in the Oct. 14 shooting death of Martin Turks. Police responded to a report of gunshots outside of Des Moines business and found the 29-year-old Turks dead at the scene.
Sheriff says deputy shot man who attacked officers
ALLISON, Iowa (AP) Authorities say a deputy responding to a domestic assault shot and wounded a man who attacked them at a house in Shell Rock in northeast Iowa
Butler County Sheriff Jason Johnson says deputies encountered 39-year-old Jeromy Jenkins behind the house last Sunday. The sheriff, in a statement on Thursday, says Jenkins ignored deputies’ commands and attacked them with an “edged weapon.”
Johnson says one of the deputies shot Jenkins to stop the attack.
The sheriff declined to elaborate on the type of weapon.
Jenkins is charged with a domestic assault. He remains hospitalized.
Johnson says the deputies involved were not injured and were placed on administrative leave, which is standard policy.
The names of the deputies were not released.
Cady is named chief justice of Iowa’s high court
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) The Iowa Supreme Court has named Justice Mark Cady to serve as chief judge until new justices are selected.
Voters ousted three justices in last month’s election, including Chief Justice Marsha Ternus, after a well-funded campaign by conservative groups, which objected to their part in a unanimous 2009 decision that legalized gay marriage in Iowa.
Ternus and Justices Michael Streit and David Baker leave the bench Dec. 31 when their terms expire.
Court spokesman Steve Davis on Thursday says Cady will assume the new duties on Jan. 1. Once three new justices are selected, the court will hold another vote for chief judge.
Cady, of Fort Dodge, was appointed to the high court in 1998 by then-Gov. Terry Branstad, who was re-elected governor in November.
No charges for grizzly’s death
HUDSON, Iowa (AP) An Iowan who killed a grizzly bear in Wyoming won’t be charged with killing an endangered animal.
Glen Fortsch, of Hudson, shot the attacking grizzly while elk hunting on Sept. 22, 2009 the day after grizzlies were added, again, to the federal endangered species list.
Fortsch faced a $25,000 fine and prison instead of a lesser state penalty if his self-defense claim wasn’t upheld.
The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier featured Fortsch after he killed the bear. The newspaper now says he won’t be charged.
Roy Brown of the U.S. Department of the Interior called Fortsch earlier this year and said the U.S. attorney’s office in Wyoming won’t file charges.
Brown says in Fortsch’s case, he was retrieving a dead elk when the bear claimed it too and charged.
Iowa wants to build $19.5M football practice field
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) “The Bubble” might soon pop.
The University of Iowa is proposing demolishing the football team’s 25-year-old indoor practice facility known as “the Bubble” and building a $19.5 million replacement nearby.
The Board of Regents is being asked to approve the design of the new indoor practice field, the project budget, and allow construction to begin.
If approved next week, construction is expected to begin next fall and last one year.
The space occupied by the existing facility would be used to add parking for UI Hospital and Clinics employees who are losing space to make way for a new children’s hospital.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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