Rebecca McGinnis Honored As “Employee Of The Month”
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Chamber of Commerce honored its December “Employee of the Month” during a Chamber coffee held at Northwest Bank. The Le Mars Area Chamber of Commerce Employee of the month is Rebecca McGinnis. Rebecca is the Wealth Management Assistant for Northwest Wealth Management in Le Mars. Rebecca has been employed with Northwest Bank since 2003. She has dedicated her time
and provided wonderful customer service to the clients and customers of Northwest Bank. She has been a wonderful employee who has also volunteered for additional duties helping fill in at Northwest Wealth Management home office and
other locations within the organization. Rebecca McGinnis recently dedicated many hours outside of work to study and prepare herself to take and pass the series 65 exam. This allows her to become an investment adviser representative
and to provide investment advice to clients. The Le Mars staff of Northwest Bank and Northwest Wealth Management congratulates Rebecca on this honor and thank her for her continued excellent service to the clients and customers of
Northwest Bank and Northwest Wealth Management.
Eamon Byrne Elected As President of Iowa Renewable Fuels Association
(Des Moines) — The Chief Executive Officer of Plymouth Energy, the ethanol processing plant located in Merrill, has recently been elected as president of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. Eamonn Byrne was elected to president’s
position during the annual meeting of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association held December 8th in Des Moines. After being elected to the top position, Byrne says he looks forward to working with Donald Trump’s administration to implement a
robust Renewable Fuels Standard that ensures greater consumer choice at the pump. Byrne says, “here in Iowa, we will be working to extend the Renewable Fuels Infrastructure Program, the very successful public-private cost share
grants that have been instrumental in making higher ethanol and biodiesel blends more accessible to more Iowans”. Iowa is the nation’s leader in renewable fuels production. Iowa has 43 ethanol refineries capable of producing 4 billion gallons annually, including nearly 55 million gallons of annual cellulosic
ethanol production capacity. In addition, Iowa has 12 biodiesel facilities with the capacity to produce more than 315 million gallons annually.
Cherokee Woman Expected To Take Alford Plea On Auto Accident
(Le Mars) — A Cherokee woman is expected to plead to lesser charges next week stemming from a two vehicle crash in Plymouth County back on September 9th of 2015.
Court documents state that 30 year old Melissa Ebert will enter an Alford Plea to two counts of serious injury by motor vehicle and one count of O-W-I second offense.
Under an Alford Plea the defendant does not admit guilt.
Ebert was originally charged with two counts each of attempted murder and willful injury, but those charges will be dropped in the plea agreement.
Court documents say Ebert threatened to kill herself and her passenger, Damian Johnson, before veering her car into the path of an on-coming car driven by Dustin Boll of Le Mars.
All three people were seriously injured in that accident.
Ebert’s plea hearing will take place next Monday, December 19th at 1:30 pm in Plymouth County District Court.
Survey Shows Land Values Continue To Drop
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The average value of Iowa farmland declined 6 percent over the past year, or about $400 an acre, and this is the first time those
values have dropped for three years in a row since the 1980s farm crisis.
Iowa State University estimates that Iowa farmland is now worth about $7,183 per acre on average, compared to last year’s average of $7,633.
The sharpest decline occurred in west-central Iowa where farmland values dropped more than eight percent.
Lower commodity prices have lead to the decline in farmland values.
Gary Wright is the farm management specialist for northwest Iowa through Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. He says he wasn’t too surprised with the drop in land values.
Wright says other investors are taking a look at any available land that comes
up for sale.
But assistant Iowa State University economics professor Wendong Zhang says
the state is unlikely to see another crisis soon because farmers are generally in better financial shape.
Most Iowa farmers increased their financial reserves during the boom that preceded the current drop in crop prices. And Zhang says government safety nets
are better than they were in the 1980s and interest rates remain low.
Plus, the overall debt level for farmers remains lower.
The highest priced average farmland was located within northwest Iowa
Only three counties had an average farmland price that exceeded ten thousand dollars an acre. They include: Sioux at $10,066…O’Brien with an average of $10,194…and Scott county, located along the Mississippi River in east-central
Iowa topped the state with an average farmland value of $10,335 per acre.
South-central Iowa is the region with the lowest priced farmland with Wayne at $3,664…Appanoose county with an average of $3,609…and Decatur county with the lowest farmland price in the state with an average of $3,443.
Here in Plymouth County, the average price for farmland went from $9,804 in
2015 to now with an average price of $9,057 per acre.
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Regent Board Member Would Have Preferred Outside Audit On Iowa State University President
AMES, Iowa (AP) – A member of the Board of Regents says he would’ve preferred an outside audit into Iowa State University President Steven Leath’s potential misuse of school planes.
Regent Subhash Sahai says he had the flu Monday and missed a board meeting to discuss an internal audit that detailed dozens of questionable flights but left other questions unresolved.
Leath reimbursed $19,000 for 56 flights that were for personal flight training, to medical appointments in Minnesota and to take relatives to an NCAA tournament game. Afterward, board president Bruce Rastetter indicated Leath would keep his job.
Sahai said in September he was “dumbfounded and outraged” about Leath’s personal plane use, including a damaging hard landing last year. He wrote in an email Tuesday that an “external audit would have been much more helpful.”
