(Moville) — A major contribution was made yesterday for a new exposition center by the family that owns several farm supply stores within the Siouxland region. Roger and Jane Bomgaars contributed a half a million dollars for the naming rights and the seed money for a new Agricultural Exposition Center to be located at the Woodbury County Fairgrounds in Moville. Originally, the new building was to serve as a regional equestrian center, but Doug Hodgins, the development director of the center says it will be expanded to host many other ag related events. The total cost of the project is between six and seven million dollars and officials hope to start the construction on the facility within the next year.
(LeMars) — The District Judges of the 3B judicial election sub-district have selected Peggy Frericks to serve as the Plymouth County Clerk of Court beginning January 6th. Peggy Frericks of LeMars worked in the Plymouth County Clerk of Court office for ten years before serving as a case coordinator in court administration beginning in 2005. Peggy brings a wealth of knowledge of court operations to the job having worked with court administration over the last several years as the Electronic Document Management System has been implemented.
(LeMars) — Tree stumps are no longer welcome at the Plymouth County Landfill. That decision was made Wednesday evening by the Plymouth County Solid Waste Agency and its board of directors. Solid Waste Agency manager Mark Kunkel says it was a topic that garnered a lot of discussion at the board meeting, but because of the expense and growing concerns, the board approved the action to stop accepting tree stumps.
Kunkel says the board looked into the cost of purchasing a machine that would grind the stumps, but at $70,000 it just would not be feasible. Kunkel says the county landfill’s decision to stop accepting tree stumps is effective immediately.
(LeMars) — Have you made your party plans for New Year’s Eve? Why not check out the LeMars Chamber New Year’s Eve dance. Live music, dancing, snacks, noisemakers and fun — that’s what awaits the people attending the LeMars Chamber of Commerce New Year’s Eve Dance. The Main Street Organizational Committee will be hosting a New Year’s Eve dance on Saturday, December 31st at the Willow Creek golf course party room. DJ Ray Sitzmann will provide musical entertainment. The event will start at 9:30 p.m. and conclude at 12:30 a.m. The cost of the event is $10 per person.
(LeMars) — What are the stories that we will remember from 2011? The Missouri River flooding? The Homecoming of the local National Guard Units? The opening of the new Well’s Ice Cream Parlor? Perhaps it was the Mayor and City Council elections? or the School Levy that passed? Who can forget the triple digit temperatures of the summer? or the extreme dry conditions during harvest that prompted several field fires and a fire ban? We had land sell for a record price of $20,000 an acre and a tragic shooting in Kingsley that left a teen ager dead. Next week KLEM will look back on 2011 and highlight the news stories that made the headlines.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Ethanol production in Iowa has increased to a record 3.7 billion gallons in 2011.
The production for the state’s 41 plants has jumped by about 200 million gallons from last year.
Monte Shaw, the executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, says the industry has relied on export markets for growth.
The overall production for ethanol in the U.S. for 2011 is estimated at 13.8 billion gallons,. Foreign sales of U.S. ethanol have added an additional 1 billion gallons of production this year.
Much of the foreign demand has come from Brazil. A shortfall in the sugar cane crop caused that nation to turn to imports for domestic use.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The number of Iowans seeking permits to carry handguns and other weapons has increased 170 percent this year.
The Des Moines Register is reporting in a copywrite story that nearly 95,000 Iowans received
non-professional weapons permits from January through November. That’s according to data from the Iowa Department of Public Safety.
The surge comes as a new law gives sheriffs less discretion over who can be denied permits.
Numbers from the state’s three most populous counties show an even greater surge. The number of permits issued thus far in 2011 has spiked 271 percent in In Polk, Linn and Scott counties.
But Scott County Sheriff Dennis Conard says few problems have emerged despite the increase. Conrad says those who qualify for a permit are not likely to cause trouble.
OSAGE, Iowa (AP) – An Iowa man has donate a ton of dog food to the Humane Society of Northern Iowa in Mason City. Garth Jordan of Osage made arrangements though the Osage Cooperative Elevator to purchase 50, 40-pound bags of food and have it delivered to the shelter yesterday.
