City Water Crews To Install Hydrant At Plymouth And Central
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars city water department will be upgrading the distribution
system with new main valves and adding a fire hydrant at the intersection of
Plymouth Street and Central Avenue. This work will be done on Thursday 10/13/2016.
Gayle Sitzmann, the city’s water department superintendent explains the work that
will be done.
Sitzmann anticipates the water will be off for a duration of at least four hours.
The water will be turned off in the affected area on Central Avenue from 1st
street Southeast and Southwest to 3rd Street Northeast & Northwest with some
additional homes and businesses that may be tapped onto Central Avenue. Sitzmann
says the city will deliver Drinking Water Advisory flyers to the affected
customers. Once the work is completed, city water crews will flush all four (4)
directions individually until clean and a good chlorine residual is present.
Customers are also being asked to flush their lines when water service is restored
and available until clear. Sitzmann says Iowa DNR requires the affected area will
need to boil their water.
The city water department superintendent says people may need to boil their water
for a couple of days until such time all the tests come back showing there is no
bacteria found in the drinking water.
The city water department will take bacteria samples after completion and on
Friday and take them to a lab for testing. The city anticipates getting the
results back on Saturday. If all samples come back absent of bacteria the
recommended boil order will be lifted. Sitzmann advises people to boil water for
1 minute and let cool for drinking and food preparation or use a safe alternative
source of water.
The valves will remain closed at Central Avenue and Plymouth Street until the
city receives the results of the bacteria tests. This will help isolate the area
until results are known.
Blue Bunny Parlor To Close Due To Water Being Off
(Le Mars) — The Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor located at 115 Central Ave NW in Le
Mars will be closed beginning at 4:00pm on Thursday, October 13 due to the City of
Le Mars replacing a water main. The Parlor plans to reopen at noon on Sunday,
October 16. Individuals that have reserved the Party Room for any of these dates
will be contacted by Parlor personnel. For any questions or concerns, please
contact the Parlor at 712-546-4522.
Le Mars Police Department Investigates Accident
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Police Department is investigating an auto accident that
occurred Wednesday morning at about 9:00 a.m. The accident happened at the
intersection of 3rd Avenue Southwest and 6th Street Southwest. Two vehicles
collided at the intersection. Both the Le Mars Ambulance Service and the Le Mars
Fire and Rescue Department responded to the scene. One victim was transported to
the Floyd Valley Healthcare by the Le Mars Ambulance, however, it was thought the
suffered injuries were minor and not life-threatening.
Plymouth County Democrats Open Party Headquarters
(Le Mars) — The Plymouth County Democratic Party held a ribbon cutting ceremony
on Wednesday afternoon to officially open their offices located at 115 Plymouth
Street southwest. About a dozen people attended the ceremony. Following the
ribbon cutting, refreshments and snacks were served to the attendees.
This year’s local election has only one contested race, which is for the position of state
representative representing District 5. District 5 covers Plymouth County with
the exception of the eastern townships that border Cherokee County. It also
covers much of northern Woodbury County from Lawton to Correctionville.
Republican Chuck Holz, a retired veterinarian, is the incumbent after taking over
the legislative duties when long-time representative Chuck Soderberg moved from
the area and had accepted an executive position with the Iowa Rural Electric
Cooperatives. Holz is being challenged by Democrat Pat Ritz of Akron, a farmer
and farm equipment sales and service dealer. KLEM radio recently spoke with the
Democratic candidate. Ritz says he decided to run for the state law maker
position after visiting with county party leaders.
Ritz says he informed his party colleagues that he would not necessarily always
follow the party’s position. In fact, Ritz says, when it comes to abortion,
unlike the Democratic platform position that favors Pro-choice, he strongly
advocates a Pro-life position.
The Akron farmer says he is always interested in helping others, and says he wants
to work with other people, and not against them. He describes himself as a
“people person”.
Ritz says he has been studying the issues, and admits that he doesn’t have a pre-
determined agenda. However, he says he would like to see the Iowa Department of
Transportation reverse its decision of closing the D-O-T maintenance garage
located in Akron.
Ritz says he is also concerned about small businesses being able to continue to
provide health insurance coverage for their employees, as costs continue to climb.
Storm Lake Dealing With Hunger Issues
STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) – The northwest Iowa city of Storm Lake has a low
unemployment rate, vibrant downtown and tree-lined neighborhoods, but it’s also
facing a surge in hunger that’s familiar to rural communities across the country.
The community is struggling to respond as thousands of working families
and elderly residents seek help feeding themselves or their children. The issue
persists even as national poverty rates have declined and food prices are down.
In Storm Lake, residents are helping their neighbors with a large, mostly
volunteer effort to hand out free food at a half-dozen pantries, along a city
street and in an empty building.
Hermelinda Gonzalez relies on a monthly drive-up pantry to feed her seven
children despite her husband’s construction job. She says, “I don’t know what we’d
do without this.”
