(Le Mars) — The Union Pacific Railroad has requested the Iowa Department of
Transportation to close the rail crossing on Hwy 3 in Le Mars, near the Fareway
supermarket, to make repairs to the at-grade crossing. The crossing repairs are
scheduled for next Wednesday, June 22, 2016 and they will start approximately at 8
-9 A.M. and should take 1 day to complete. Hwy 3 traffic will be detoured during
the repair. The detour will consist of 1st Avenue NE and 1st Street NE.
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Police Department is investigating an accident involving a
car and a bicyclist. The accident happened on Wednesday afternoon shortly after
2:00 p.m. According to the traffic accident report, the driver of the car, 34 year
old Melissa Lenz of Moville was travelling eastbound on 1st Street northwest. The
bicyclist, Elias Wadell of Le Mars was traveling southbound on 3rd Avenue northwest
and was riding next to the curb. As the bicyclist approached the intersection, he
stated to the investigating officer that he had no brakes so he attempted to swerve
to miss the car. The driver of the car says she never saw the bicyclist until it
was in her lane of travel. A witness and driver of the car stated they heard the
bicyclist state he had no brakes. The police officer inspected the hand brakes on
the bike and determined they were not functioning. There was no obvious damage to
the brakes that would have been caused from the accident. The bike rider was
transported to Floyd Valley Healthcare by the Le Mars Ambulance with what appeared
to be minor injuries.
(Le Mars) — A junior from Le Mars Community School was named the first place winner in the category of Senior Individual Exhibits at the National History Day national competition being held in Washington D.C. Kelli Susemihl took the top honors with an exhibit featuring the history of some railroads. Jeanne Rust is the supervising teacher for the national competition. Rust is also in Washington D.C. as a national finalist for Teacher of the Year.
BOYDEN, Iowa (AP) – A former city clerk in northwest Iowa is accused of stealing from the city.
Online court records say 53-year-old Beth Sipma is charged with theft in Sioux County.
Authorities say more than $36,000 in improper and unsupported disbursements was discovered during a state audit requested by the city of Boyden. The report said nearly $31,000 of the total included payroll and reimbursement payments made to Sipma. Other disbursements included city credit card payments for more than $1,300 in airline tickets.
The audit said the city’s bank noted in April 2015 that Sipma received more than one electronic paycheck during several months. Sipma resigned after being asked about the payments, which she described as payroll advances.
