(Le Mars) — In the near future, signs to assist visitors and tourists will be erected in the downtown area showing how to locate many of the town’s attractions such as the Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor and the Brown’s Century Theater among other sites. The Le Mars City Council approved the allocation of $4,544 to have the signs created and posted. Rich Ziettlow serves as the vice president of the Le Mars Main Street organization. He appeared before the city council informing them of the reasons the signs are needed.
Ziettlow says the signs will look similar to signs already used to identify historical regions of the city. He says they will measure two feet by three feet, and he explains where the signs will be posted.
The Main Street official says the directional signs will be near eye level for easy viewing from a pedestrian’s viewpoint.
Following Ziettlow’s presentation, Le Mars Mayor Dick Kirchoff informed the city council that the city wants to and needs to step up its efforts for tourism. Ziettlow says he hopes the signs can be in place prior to the annual Ice Cream Days celebration. In other action, the city council approved the zoning of the Dogwood Addition, and the G.A. Addition, as well as they approved the change of zoning for Nor-Am to go from a residential to general business zoning area.
(Le Mars) — The Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office arrested Geoffrey Dean Oolman, age 25, of Orange City, Iowa, on Saturday, for operating a motor vehicle without owners consent and driving while license barred.
At approximately 2 pm the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office was called to Merrill, , for a report of a vehicle theft. The caller also stated that another vehicle was abandoned in their driveway. Upon investigation, the vehicle abandoned in the driveway was found to be stolen out of Sioux City earlier that afternoon. That vehicle was released to the owner from Sioux City.
The vehicle from Merrill was entered as stolen. A short time later, the vehicle was located by the Orange City Police Department at 105 St. Paul Avenue in Orange City. Deputies from the Plymouth and Sioux County Sheriff’s Office and the Orange City Police Department went to the residence and arrested Geoffrey Dean Oolman. Oolman was transported to the Plymouth County Jail and booked in on the charges of operating a motor vehicle without owners consent (aggravated misdemeanor) and driving while license barred (aggravated misdemeanor). Bond is set at $2,000.
Sioux City Police Department will likely have charges to follow for the incident that occurred in Sioux City.
(Le Mars) — A rural Merrill church has recently been buzzing with activity. That’s because a bee hive was discovered in the choir loft. James Strickland says the congregation had known for a while about the possible hive, but they had no idea of its size. He says he first was made aware of the bee hive when visiting the Plymouth County Fair.
Strickland, who is the pastor for the Nazarene Church in Le Mars has recently become interested in bee keeping, and owns a couple of hives which he collects honey and other by-products for his family. Strickland was asked by the Addaville Methodist Church if he would assist with the removal of the hive.
Strickland says three different bee keepers, including himself, proceeded to remove the active hive from the church’s choir loft. He says it took a better part of a day to completely remove the bees, the hive, and the comb and honey. Strickland says the hive had a large quantity of honey.
Strickland believes the hive may have been at the church for at least five to six years. The part-time bee keeper, and full time pastor, explains the procedure to remove the large bee hive from the Addaville Methodist Church.
The church official says there has been discussions about marketing the honey from the church hive as “Holy Honey”.
(Orange City) — Orange City Area Health System has been announced as one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals for Patient Experience for the second consecutive year by the Women’s Choice Award®, America’s trusted referral source for the best in healthcare. This evidence based designation is the only award that identifies the country’s best healthcare institutions based on Medicare data weighed according to the preference of women in a 2016 national survey of 1,000+ female respondents. The list of award winners represents hospitals that create an extraordinary patient experience for women and their families by providing exceptional care. The America’s 100 Best Hospitals scoring process is unique in that it is the only national list that focuses on what matters most to women when choosing a hospital. For 2016, the most important considerations were patient’s willingness to recommend, doctor and nurse communications, staff help, pain management, cleanliness and explanation of medications, in that order. ocHealthSystem.org
MILFORD, Iowa (AP) – A northwest Iowa school board has scheduled a special meeting tonight to discuss what to do about a teacher who failed alcohol tests while chaperoning the high school prom.
Milford police say officers were sent Saturday night to Boji Bay Fun House & Event Center, where the Okoboji High School prom was being held. 33-year-old Royce Van Roekel (van ROO’-kuhl) failed a field sobriety test and his breath tested out at more than twice the legal limit.
Online court records say Van Roekel pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of public intoxication.
The school board agenda for Tuesday’s meeting mentions a staff resignation, but Superintendent Gary Janssen would not comment about the agenda item or about what happened at the prom.
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(Spencer) — In the latest weekly crop condition report, more than half of the state’s corn crop has been planted. However, after the several days of rain and cooler temperatures, some agronomists believe that some farmers may be forced to re-plant some of those fields. Iowa State University Extension Crops Specialist Paul Kassel says there a several fields that are saturated and under water.
Kassel is based at Clay county in Spencer. He says a vast majority of the fields in his area are under water.
It is always advised to plant early to insure a full-season growing potential with the highest yields for corn, and corn planted after May 5th has been a date usually associated when corn yields begin to taper off, but Kassel doesn’t believe farmers will see much of a yield loss, unless the wet conditions continue through past mid-May.
Kassel suggests farmers to use patience before rushing back into the fields. He says after the soggy conditions, it would be easy to have soil compaction which ultimately would prove to be even a worst scenario.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s largest sewage treatment plant is spending $19 million on equipment that will decrease the amount of a harmful contaminant often found in the state’s waterways.
The Des Moines Register reports that within two years, the Des Moines Metropolitan Wastewater Reclamation Authority will be able to extract more than 2,000 pounds of phosphorus each day from the wastewater flowing through its facility on the southeast side of the city. That’s nearly 80 percent of the phosphorous that travels through the pipes from 17 communities in three central Iowa counties, and a 30 percent increase in the amount of phosphorous it currently traps.
Phosphorus doesn’t pose the same risk to drinking water as nitrates, but it can lead to algae blooms that take local lakes’ oxygen and hurt aquatic life.
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COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A lawsuit filed for more than a dozen people alleges a former Council Bluffs doctor shifted assets to his wife so he wouldn’t have to pay compensation to his sex crime victims.
Dennis Jones was sentenced to 10 years in prison after his 2014 convictions. Prosecutors say Jones possessed an estimated 1.2 million images of child pornography and 9,300 videos of child pornography, including some of his young patients. Several families involved sued in 2014.
A new lawsuit filed last week names Jones and his wife, Marianne, and says he’s transferred more than $1.4 million in real estate and other assets to her.
Their attorney, Mike Winter, says the transfers were made so Marianne Jones had funds to live on. Winter says the transfers weren’t fraudulent because all were made before lawsuits were filed.
