TeBrink To Be Promoted To Chief Deputy
(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Sheriff Mike Van Otterloo will name Lt. Jeff TeBrink as the new Chief Deputy. The oath of office and promotion will take place today at the Plymouth County Courthouse at the Supervisors boardroom at 10:30 a.m. Associate District Court Judge Vakulskas will administer the
oath of office. TeBrink has been serving with the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office for nearly 29 years, and will assume the position upon being sworn into office. TeBrink replaces the former Chief Deputy Craig Bartolozzi who retired from the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Office to take on a new position
with the U-S Federal Courthouse security in Sioux City.
Supervisors To Hear About Hungry Canyons Alliance
(Le Mars) — In addition to witnessing the promotion within the Sheriff’s Office, the Plymouth County Board of Supervisors will hear a quarterly report from County Recorder, Jolynn Goodchild. County Engineer, Tom Rohe will address the supervisors discussing the Secondary Road Department and an update on the Drainage District #1 project. Following the promotion of
Deputy TeBrink, Sheriff Mike Van Otterloo will present the fiscal year 2019-2020 sheriff, jail, and communication center budgets. John Thomas with the Hungry Canyons Alliance is scheduled to appear before the county board of supervisors to discuss the Hungry Canyons Alliance program and explain the benefits for the county. The supervisors have also scheduled to go into
closed session.
Le Mars Education Association Submits Initial Contract Proposal To School Board
(Le Mars) — The Le Mars Education Association presented its bargaining contract requests to the Le Mars Community Board of Education during a special meeting last evening. Doug Martin serves as the chief negotiator for the Le Mars Education Association and says the teachers and the administration have been able to work together in the past, and he believes
that will occur this year as contract negotiations take place.
Martin discusses the faculty’s requests for the contract school year 2019-2020.
Martin says the increase in salary would increase the base salary from $37,641 to $38,741. He explains the other terms being sought in the Education Association’s contract proposal.
The school board will offer its initial proposal to the teachers on January 17th. However, before any actual negotiations can take place, both sides will need to see what the state legislature will pass for school funding.
Martin re-iterated the teachers, administration, and the school board have worked well together in the past saying that each side wants what’s best for the students best interest.
Auditions Scheduled For Next Le Mars Community Theater Play
(Le Mars) — Auditions for the next Le Mars Community Theater play, “An Inspector Calls” are scheduled for next Monday and Tuesday, January 14th and 15th beginning at 7:00 p.m. at the Le Mars Community Theater’s Postal Playhouse. Rehearsals are scheduled to begin on January 28th with performance dates tentatively scheduled for March 8-10th and the 14th -17th.
The action of the play occurs in an English industrial city where a young girl commits suicide and an eminently respectable British family is subject to a routine inquiry in connection with the death.
An inspector calls to interrogate the family, and during the course of his questioning, all members of the group are implicated lightly or deeply in the girl’s undoing. The family, closely knit and friendly at the beginning of the evening, is shown up as selfish, self-centered or cowardly, its good
humor turning to acid, and good fellowship to dislike, before the evening is over. Though ostensibly a remarkably clear and effective dramatic play, there underlies the whole thing an air of mystic unreality. “AN INSPECTOR CALLS” is an effective presentation of the strange twists that take place in
human beings when their consciences are affected. The casts calls for four men and three women.
Sioux Center Schedules Auditions For Summer Musical “Into the Woods”
(Sioux Center) — Come audition for Sioux Center’s 2019 Summer Celebration musical: “Into the Woods”!
Auditions will be held January 15 and January 18, from 6-9 pm, at Te Paske theater. If available both nights, please attend the Tuesday audition.
You do not need to prepare anything. If you would like to, you may prepare around 30 seconds to sing Capella. You’ll be asked to sing a verse of a familiar song and to read some scenes from the show.
Callbacks will be held on Saturday January 19 from 9-12 a.m., also at Te Paske. If called back for a lead role, you may be asked to sing the song for that character.
Performances will run June 6-9, 2019. Rehearsals will begin the week of January 21, and will primarily be M/T/Th evenings, with additional evenings closer to show dates. Not all cast members will be needed at every rehearsal.
The show will be directed by Kate Henreckson, music directed by Heidi Fehlhafer, and produced by Alex Rexford and Suzie Doubet-Schuld.
Sioux City Waste Water Supervisor To Plead Guilty To Fraud
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) – A court document says a former supervisor intends to plead guilty to federal charges that he conspired with others to manipulate water sample test results at the Sioux City wastewater treatment plant.
Patrick Schwarte’s attorney filed a notice Monday in U.S. District
Court. His plea hearing is scheduled for Jan. 23.
Prosecutors say chlorine was added to wastewater on days that E. coli samples were taken. The samples then showed plant discharges into the Missouri River met federal limits for levels of fecal coliform and E. coli.
The chlorine was reduced after the tests, saving the city money.
The city dismissed Schwarte and the plant superintendent in June 2015 after the Iowa Natural Resources Department began an investigation.
Former San Antonio Mayor Visits Iowa To Explore Presidential Bid
NORTH LIBERTY, Iowa (AP) – Former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro is introducing himself to Iowa Democrats as a champion of universal health care and affordable housing as he moves toward a presidential campaign.
Castro spoke with party activists on Monday night at a house party in his first trip to Iowa since forming an exploratory committee last month.
Castro indicated that he would announce his presidential campaign Saturday in San Antonio and said he looked forward to meeting with Iowa voters before the lead-off presidential caucuses next year.
Castro said he would lay out his vision for making the United States “the smartest, the healthiest, the fairest and the most prosperous nation in the world.”
He said his plans will include expanding Medicare to allow access
for all and addressing rising rents.
Trump Supporter Protests Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Iowa Visit
STORM LAKE, Iowa (AP) – A Minnesota supporter of President Donald Trump is facing a disorderly conduct charge stemming from a weekend altercation at an Iowa rally for Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
Photos from Warren’s rally Saturday in Storm Lake show 58-year-old Randal Thom, of Lakefield, Minnesota, carrying a sign that read “Keep America Great” – which was a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again”
2016 campaign slogan.
Police say Thom was involved in an argument with supporters of the Massachusetts senator that turned physical, and that some punches were thrown. There were no injuries and no one else was arrested.
Court records don’t list an attorney for Thom and attempts to reach him for comment Monday weren’t successful.
Warren’s trip to Iowa offered a first glimpse of what she may look like as a candidate for president if she runs in 2020.
Two Men Charged With Murder Following Death Of Des Moines Man
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A plea hearing has been scheduled Friday for two men charged with first-degree murder following the death of a Des Moines resident who was severely beaten in 2013.
Polk County District Court records say 21-year-olds Terrance Cheeks and Leshaun Murray pleaded not guilty in July after the charges were filed.
Prosecutors say the two were 15 when they attacked Mike Wasike during a carjacking. He died last January after years in care centers.
Court records say prosecutors have extended a plea deal to Cheeks that includes reducing the charge to second-degree murder. The records don’t show whether a similar offer has been made to Murray.
