(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department received a check totaling $5,000 from Dean’s Foods today to go towards the purchase of additional hazard material equipment suits and air tanks. Five years ago, the Le Mars Fire and Rescue became Dean Foods Hazard Materials first response team. At that time, Dean’s Foods presented a check in the amount of $10,000 to help establish a Hazard Materials unit for the Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department. Another check of $5,000 was given to the Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department a year ago to help the fire brigade obtain equipment needed for confined space rescues. Dean Foods dissolved their own response groups but agreed to continue to fund the Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department to handle such types of emergency calls for their company, as well as for the entire community. The local milk processing company gave the local fire and rescue department the donations to help equip the Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department with Hazard Materials gear. Mayor Dick Kirchoff was on hand for today’s check presentation and thanked the representatives from Dean’s Foods for their contribution and support.
Pat Henrich serves as the safety director for the Dean’s Foods plant located in Le Mars. He says it is in the best interests of Dean’s to support the local fire and rescue department.
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The Dean’s Foods representatives said they hope to conduct another similated emergency training session for their employees sometime later this summer or early autumn, which will again be requesting the services of the Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department.
(Le Mars) — The Iowa legislature concluded its general session last Friday. Many people believe the state law makers dropped the ball with forming a suitable water quality inititative. Republican State Senator Bill Anderson of Pierson says the major problem was trying to find a source of funds to finance water quality improvement programs.
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Anderson says he tends to favor the House Republican proposal to help with the state’s water quality issue, but he also is against seeing any increase of taxes.
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The republican state senator says he doesn’t want to jeopardize any existing funding sources that are meant for established programs, adding that it is not fair to take money away from other state programs to finance water quality inititatives.
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SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa (AP) – Officials say about 15,000 gallons of untreated wastewater has reached one of Iowa’s Great Lakes.
The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the wastewater was discovered Wednesday morning in a lagoon on West Okoboji Lake, following an electrical failure at a Spirit Lake pumping station.
The Great Lakes Sanitary Sewer District has stopped the discharge but some wastewater overflowed through two manhole lids. The wastewater reached Lazy Lagoon, on the northwest shore of the lake.
The district is placing lime on the affected areas to neutralize the acidity of the water. The DNR recommends that anglers, children and pets avoid the limed, grassy areas for the next 24 hours.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Some flags in Des Moines will soon be flown at half-staff to honor Iowa police officers killed in the line of duty.
Gov. Terry Branstad has ordered all flags on the Capitol complex to be flown at half-staff Friday in observance of the Iowa peace officer memorial ceremony. The annual event will be held Friday morning at a designated memorial monument near the building that houses the Iowa Department of Public Safety.
Flags on the complex will be flown at half-staff Friday between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Flags at the monument will be flown at half-staff for several days later this month as part of a national peace officer week.
The directive applies to U.S. and state flags on the Capitol building and on flag displays on the complex.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Four fallen Iowa officers, including two who were killed in a head-on crash in March, will be added to the Iowa Peace Officer Memorial.
The Iowa Department of Public Safety announced a ceremony will be held 10 a.m. Friday at the Oran Pape State Office Building in Des Moines to honor the officers who dedicated their lives to protecting Iowa communities.
The ceremony will recognize Des Moines Officers Susan Farrell and Carlos Puente-Morales, who were killed in a March 26 crash while transporting a prisoner from Council Bluffs to Des Moines. Ames Police Sgt. Howard Snider, who died in 2012, and Iowa Parole Board Field Agent Albert Paul, who died in 1938, will also be added to the memorial.
Gov. Terry Branstad and other state leaders are expected to attend.
Woodbury County has scheduled May 16th at noon at the Law Enforcement Memorial located at the 600 block of Douglas Street as the time they will honor their fallen law enforcement heros. A total of eleven officers have died in the line of duty from Woodbury County. Plymouth County has had one sheriff’s deputy die while on duty. Back in November of 1919, Sheriff’s deputy William Maxwell, who was the son of then-Sheriff Hugh Maxwell, was shot and killed by escapees from the Plymouth County Jail, and going back to November of 1888, a night watchman in Le Mars, by the name of Samuel Hamilton tried to break up a crowd that was noisy and disruptive. Soon, a scoffle ensued, followed by a shot, killing the night watchman Samuel Hamilton.
(Le Mars) — Many people have criticized U-S Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa for not conducting a hearing on Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. Grassley serves as the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. However, Iowa 4th District Republican Congressman Steve King says he stands behind Senator Grassley’s decision to wait until after the election before any hearings are conducted on Supreme Court nominees.
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Speaking in Le Mars, King says to go forward and to confirm a President Obama nominee would be a sacifice to the constitution. He says Senator Grassley is being consistent with his oath as a Senator.
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King says he has always liked Senator Grassley, and agrees with him on most issues, but King adds, the more he works with Grassley, the more he respects the elder Iowa Senator’s decisions.
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DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Iowa’s governor and two U.S. senators say they will support Donald Trump if he’s the Republican Party’s nominee for president.
Gov. Terry Branstad and Sens. Charles Grassley and Joni Ernst said Wednesday they will support whoever is the GOP nominee. The comments came on a day when Trump became the last remaining Republican presidential candidate.
Grassley, chairman of Senate Judiciary Committee, spoke about his support at an event in Iowa. He is facing a tough re-election race this year amid his refusal to hold hearings for President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. Grassley has defended the move, though four Democratic challengers will face off in a primary election in June.
Grassley says he wants to ensure Hillary Clinton doesn’t become president if she secures the nomination for the Democratic Party.
SIDNEY, Iowa (AP) – A southwest Iowa pastor has been given 25 years in prison for sexually abusing a 5-year-old girl.
Roger Kissel was sentenced Wednesday in Sidney. In March a Fremont County jury convicted the 68-year-old of sex abuse and two counts of lascivious acts with a child.
When he was arrested, Kissel was a pastor at the nondenominational Sidney Cowboy Church. Police have said the allegations weren’t connected to the church. Prosecutors say the crimes occurred in 2013.
