(Le Mars) — It’s Kids Day at the Plymouth County Fair. Rides on the mid-way cost less and there are carnival style games offered in Century Hall starting at 10:30.
Something new this year for kids day is a 4-H event for kids who aren’t quite old enough to show at the fair. Clover Kids is 4-H for kids in first, second and third grade. Throughout the year they meet once a month at school and work on crafts, make a snack, do science experiments, and many other things. Carol Schneider of ISU Extension says that leaders this year decided to give Clover Kids a chance to show something at the fair.
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Participants can register for the event at 3:30pm today. The 4-H Clover Kids Stuffed Pet Show starts at 4 in the south end of the Open Class Building. Other activities today include the Life Skills Quilt Auction at 2pm, an antique tractor show all afternoon and the demo derby will start smashing things up starting at 6pm at the grandstands.
(LeMars) — In the coming weeks,downtown LeMars will have additional parking spaces for the convenience of shoppers as another parking lot will be located in downtown LeMars. City administrator, Scott Langel says the property was recently donated to the city.
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(LeMars) — Turning waste into viable fuel sources was the focus of a recent fact-finding mission trip to the Netherlands by LeMars city officials. City administrator Scott Langel, along with Waste Superintendent Ron Kizer witnessed first-hand the new developments of this technology. Langel says the council is looking at ways to increase the capacity of the waste treatment facility, as well as options, should the facility ever needed to be shut down for repairs or other maintenance.
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Langel says although LeMars is a community of nearly 10,000 people, the treatment facility is capable of handling waste for a city of 180,000 people. He says the added capacity is needed to handle the waste from the various LeMars industries. Langel says 2.6 million gallons of liquid waste is treated everyday at the city’s waste treatment facility.
(Orange City) — The Sioux County Sheriff’s office has released the information regarding a traffic accident that occured Wednesday near Rock Valley . Sonia Ranschau, 36 of Rock Valley and Marlys Hamann, age 60, also of Rock Valley collided at an intersection. Ranschau’s vehicle caught fire, but Ranschau was able to escape her vehicle. Hamann’s car rolled over on its top. Both drivers were transported to the Rock Valley hospital. Hamann was later air-lifted to Sioux Falls with non-life threatening injuries.
(LeMars) — There is no place like the Plymouth County Fair to have the opportunity to try different foods. KLEM’s Angela Drake tells us about some of the goodies that are featured at this year’s Plymouth County Fair, plus a food-related event scheduled for this evening. Be warned… You might be a bit hungry after listening to this report.
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(LeMars) — When visiting the fair you can’t help but notice the display of antique farm equipment located just east of the round barn. This year, among the green and yellow of the John Deere, and the red, black and silver of the Farmall-International, and the beige, cream and rust colors that represents the old case corporation sits six tractors with the color grey. It’s all part of the Ford and Fergusson line owned by Tom Wingert of Sioux City. A casual observer may notice several similarities between the Ford line of tractors and the Fergusson.
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Wingert got his interest in collecting the Fegusson line of equipment because it was the tractor of choice of his father.
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Wingert says in order to complete his collection, he needed to get one more tractor, but the problem was that tractor was in Kentucky.
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(LeMars) — LeMars Police and the LeMars Fire Department responded to an injury accident that occured Thursday evening following the fair’s activities. Apparently, 18 year old Loyne Medrano was leaving a parking area outside the fairgrounds when her car hit a small creek ditch ravine. At the time, two passengers were sitting on the roof of the car through the car’s sunroof. Both passengers were ejected from the vehicle and thrown across the creek. 15 year-old Jill Medrano and 15 year-old Jennifer Ruedas were transported to the Floyd Valley hospital by ambulance.
(Sioux City) — Sioux City hospitals have received national attention. Mercy Medical Center is one of 23 hospitals nationwide to earn the prestigious accreditation of the American Association of Blood Banks for perioperative transfusion services. The periperative process allows blood lost by the patient during surgery to be processed, recycled and returned to the patient’s body. The process minimizes the amount of donor blood that is utilized, which makes it safer for the patient.
Sioux City’s other hospital, St. Lukes has been recognized by a leading industry publication for its new operating rooms. Surgical Products magazine has awarded St. Lukes with the OR of the Year Award in the new construction category.
KEOSAUQUA, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say they have found the body of an Ottumwa teenager who disappeared in the Des Moines River on Wednesday evening. 16-year old Marco Arroyo was found nearly 50 miles downstream near Bentonsport in southeast Iowa. The Van Buren County sheriff’s office says boaters spotted Arroyo Friday morning. Arroyo disappeared after he went into the river in Ottumwa to rescue his dog. Arroyo was pulled under by the current and never resurfaced. His dog was able to swim back to shore. The sheriff’s office says the river is high and the current is
running fast. Rescue crews searched the river until dark Wednesday night and resumed their search on Thursday.
Texas pilot injured in plane crash in Iowa
SALEM, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say a Texas man has been hospitalized after a small plane crashed in an Iowa corn field. Officials say a single-engine plane crashed near Salem in southeast Iowa Friday morning. The pilot, Gary Kirby from McKinney, Texas, was pulled from the wreckage and transported to a local hospital for treatment. Kirby was later taken to the University of Iowa Hospitals with non-life threatening injuries. The Iowa Department of Public Safety says Kirby was traveling from Wisconsin and began having engine trouble near Mount Pleasant. Kirby crashed while attempting to land at the Mount Pleasant airport. There were no other passengers in the plane, and no one on the ground was injured.
Democrats push special session to override veto
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa Democratic legislative leaders are pushing for a special session to override Republican Gov. Terry Branstad’s veto of language in a bill that would have prohibited closure of 36 unemployment offices. Branstad, in a veto letter this week, says the legislation would have prevented Iowa Workforce Development from putting together a more efficient system for helping the unemployed. Democratic leaders on Friday issued a formal letter to their colleagues calling for a special session. Democrats need to gather a required two-thirds support in both the House and Senate to call a special session.
Tyson proceeds with $48M project at Iowa plant
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – Tyson Foods Inc. is moving ahead with a $48 million renovation at one of its plants in Council Bluffs. The Springville, Ark.-based company says Friday it will convert its cooked meats plant into a dry sausage and pepperoni operation. The project includes new equipment and a 60,000 square foot addition. The company says operations will be temporarily suspended while the project is under way. Officials plan to scale back production in late September and close the plant in October. The pepperoni operation is expected to begin in spring 2012. Officials say 135 of the plant’s 170 employees will be temporarily laid off, while the remainder will help during the project. Tyson’s other plant in Council Bluffs, which produces case-ready beef and pork, isn’t affected.
Pair sentenced for $3.3 million scam
(Information in the following story is from: Argus Leader, https://www.argusleader.com)
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – Two of the three men behind one of the largest loan scams in recent memory were been sentenced to prison today. The Argus Leader reports that 56-year-old Wesley Wayne Austin, of Madison, and 75-year-old Kenneth Michael Cahill, of North Liberty, Iowa, received 11 years and 12 months, respectively, for wire fraud in a Ponzi-like scam that bilked investors out of more than $3.3 million. A Sioux Falls lawyer will be sentenced for his role later Friday. Austin and Cahill traveled the county in late 2007 and 2008 offering quick turnaround loans for huge up-front origination fees. Austin got a stiffer sentence due to a history of fraud convictions. He also admitted to being the mastermind.
Huntsman praises House for debt vote, dings rivals
WASHINGTON (AP) – Presidential contender Jon Huntsman is praising his Republican Party’s House members who hours earlier passed a hike to the nation’s debt limit and says he alone among the White House field supported the plan. Huntsman used a speech to a national College Republicans gathering late Friday to laud House members for a deal that has been rejected by the Senate. He says House Speaker John Boehner’s Republican caucus provided specifics to curb government spending. Huntsman, Obama’s former ambassador to China and a veteran of three GOP administrations, says Obama has failed to lead the nation and he claims his Republican White House rivals have stood on the sidelines during the debate.
Lawsuits dismissed in northern Iowa fire case
(Information in the following story is from: Globe Gazette, https://www.globegazette.com/)
HAMPTON, Iowa (AP) – A trio of lawsuits in a fatal fire in Hampton two years ago has been dismissed for two of the defendants. Reyna Alonzo de Arroyo, tenants Heather Pedregura and Sergio Aguilar and the estate of Mackenzie Blandau all filed lawsuits against Selden and Patricia Nelson, who’d sold a house that burned down three months later Blandau and Arroyo’s 22-month-old son died and Pedregura, Aguilar and three others were injured in the blaze. The Mason City Globe-Gazette reports the plaintiffs alleged the Nelsons were negligent because they didn’t tell the new owner the building had defective electrical wiring and inadequate fire safety equipment. Judge Chris Foy ruled the Nelsons weren’t liable because the plaintiffs failed to show evidence the Nelsons knew about the faulty wiring.
6 injured in effort to unclog drain in Fort Dodge
(Information in the following story is from: The Messenger, https://www.messengernews.net)
FORT DODGE, Iowa (AP) – Authorities say an effort to unclog a drain at a Fort Dodge apartment created fumes that sent six people to the hospital. The Messenger says the incident happened Thursday afternoon when some chemicals were mixed, creating chlorine gas. The owner of the building, Brooke Bickford, says her cousin, Clark Bickford, maintains the building and accidentally mixed the wrong chemicals to clean a drain. Clark Bickford and five others were taken to a hospital.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
