Good Weather Helps With Fair Attendance
(Le Mars) — The Plymouth County Fair has benefited by having nice weather for the first couple of days. Rich Benson, the vice president of the Plymouth County Fair Board says attendance levels have increased slightly from last year.
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Benson says in addition to the comfortable weather conditions, the fair’s entertainment line-up also brought the crowds to the fair.
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Looking at today’s schedule, the fair board official says a dog show and the beef show will highlight the judging.
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Fair Hall Of Fame Inductee Reflects On Past Fairs
(Le Mars) — Long-time Plymouth County Fair board member, and now director with the Iowa State Fair, Dave Hoffman of Merrill was presented the honor. KLEM news had the opportunity to visit with Hall of Fame inductee, Dave Hoffman. Hoffman says he has been associated with fairs his entire life.
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Hoffman says whether it ia a county fair or the state fair, he says it is the people that make a fair special.
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Hoffman says the education that a 4-H member or FFA member receives is different that the formal education found in a school setting. However, Hoffman says the two youth-orientated organizations help develop young adults with good character.
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One of Hoffman’s greatest achievements while serving on the fair board, and as its chairman, was the construction of Century Hall. Hoffman says it was a tornado warning that helped push the board to constructing the building.
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Ethanol Forum To Be Held During Fair
(Le Mars) — Iowa’s 4th District Congressman Steve King will serve as the keynote speaker at an ethanol forum scheduled for today to be held at the Plymouth County Fair. The forum will begin at 2:00 p.m. and will be held at the Century Hall. Scheduled to appear at the forum will be Eamon Byrne, the CEO of Plymouth Energy of Merrill, New Holland’s Pat Sexton, Kelly Manning with Growth Energy, Brian Peterson with the Iowa Corn Growers Association, Bradley Hartkopf with America’s Renewable Future, State Senator Bill Anderson, and Michael Dolch, the special assistant for agriculture from U-S Senator Joni Ernst office. Officials hope the forum may attract hopeful presidential candidates.
Santorum To Appear At Plymouth County Fair
(Le Mars) — Speaking about presidential candidates, apparently, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum will make an appearance at the Plymouth County Fair. Santorum, who ran for president during the last presidential campaign, and won Iowa’s first in the nation caucus, is rumored to visit Le Mars this afternoon at around 4:00 p.m. However, a check with his website did not give such indication. County Republican chairman, Don Kass, says he has not been notified directly of Santorum’s appearance, but has heard that Santorum is scheduled to make an appearance. KLEM news will try to follow up on this story.
Sex Offender Turns Himself In To Authorities
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A sex offender who failed to return to a work-release program in Sioux City has turned himself in to law enforcement.
25-year-old Michael Euchner II turned himself in to the Sioux City Police Department Thursday. According to the Iowa Department of Corrections, Euchner had removed his GPS monitoring bracelet while working on July 21 and then left his job.
Euchner is serving a lifetime sex offender special supervision sentence following the completion of a 10-year prison term for a 2009 sexual abuse conviction.
Euchner is being held in the Woodbury County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bail. It was not immediately clear if Euchner has an attorney.
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Parents Of Dead Boy From Stun Gun Files Suit
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The parents of a man who died after being shot with stun guns by Worth County deputies have filed a lawsuit.
The lawsuit by Larry and Cheri Zubrod was filed Wednesday. It says the deputies “punitively and sadistically” used excessive force in subduing their son, 39-year-old Michael Zubrod. The Northwood man was subjected to several stun gun jolts from deputies responding to a domestic dispute on Sept. 22, 2013. Deputies say Zubrod was using a hammer to hit his girlfriend.
Zubrod stopped breathing at the scene and was pronounced dead at a Mason City hospital.
Worth County Attorney Jeffery Greve later cleared the deputies.
Sheriff Jay Langenbau and the county were named in the lawsuit. Greve and Langenbau declined to comment about the lawsuit.
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States May Drop The Jackson-Jefferson Fundraiser
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – Democratic parties in the states that start the presidential nominating process are exploring ending their association with two former White House occupants: Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson.
Accelerating a trend that goes back years, committees in Georgia, Connecticut and Missouri recently distanced themselves from the slave-owning former presidents by dropping their names from the titles of annual fundraising dinners. Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – which typically attract big crowds and presidential hopefuls to their events – could be next.
In South Carolina, where the June massacre of nine black churchgoers spurred state leaders to remove the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds, the state Democratic Party will discuss renaming the dinner in September.
State parties in Arkansas and Jackson’s home state of Tennessee also are considering dinner name changes.
Trump Calls For Deportation Of 11 Million Illegal Immigrants
NEW YORK (AP) – In one of his first forays into policy as a presidential candidate, Republican Donald Trump calls for the deportation of all 11 million people estimated to be living in the country illegally while allowing the “really good people” to return.
It’s a plan Trump offers with few specifics – and one complicated by the messy realities of the nation’s immigration system.
The billionaire businessman and former reality television star has shot to the top of polls in the crowded race for the Republican presidential nomination in large part because of his hardline stance on immigration.
Until Wednesday, Trump largely side-stepped questions about how he would tackle an overhaul of the nation’s immigration system. The issue is one that two-thirds of Republicans said was very or extremely important to them in a July Associated Press-GfK poll and also one Trump takes on regularly.
