County Board Of Supervisors Will Not Hold Meeting This Week
(Le Mars) — Plymouth County Board of Supervisors are getting an early start to the Thanksgiving holiday, and have decided not to convene for their regular weekly meeting today.
Car Parade Being Organized For Steve DeBoer Return Home
(Le Mars) — Many people may know Steve DeBoer, the manager of the Northwest Iowa Credit Union located in Le Mars. DeBoer had been fighting the COVID-19 virus for quite some time, and had been hospitalized. The Le Mars Chamber of
Commerce is reporting that DeBoer is returning home, and family members would like you to help in welcoming him home. A car parade is being organized for this evening at 6:00 p.m. for those who would like to help Steve DeBoer celebrate his return. The DeBoer address is 1358 Turnberry Avenue.
Community Thanksgiving Being Planned
(Le Mars) — For the past 16 years, Rejoice Community Church of Le Mars has prepared a Thanksgiving meal, all free of charge, and they have served around 600 to 700 people. This year, the church located just south of the outdoor swimming pool, will again prepare a feast as part of the Community Thanksgiving. Adri Riesch is again the organizer of the traditional event.
However, due to the COVID-19 virus, Riesch says the church will conduct the free meal event a bit differently.
Riesch says volunteers will be serving the meal between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. She says this year organizers believe there may be more meals requested because of the COVID-19 virus. She says many people will remain home and not have family members or friends come to visit, so they may not be cooking up a large meal.
The Community Thanksgiving meal will consist of the traditional favorites including turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn, and pie. Riesch offers an idea as to the volume of food that will be prepared to feed more than 600 people.
In addition to the contributions from Hy-Vee and Pizza Ranch, Riesch says she is grateful for all the food donations from various companies, as well as the many volunteers that help with the annual Community Thanksgiving.
Riesch says since its humble beginnings, when the event was originally held at the Le Mars Eagles Club, the number of people served has tripled since moving to the Rejoice Community Church. The organizer of the Community Thanksgiving says due to the coronavirus, this year they will not be able to pick up any people. All meals will either have to be picked up at curbside
at the Rejoice Community Church, or volunteers can deliver the meal to your residence within Le Mars. Riesch reminds people there is no charge for the Community Thanksgiving meal.
(photos from 2019 event.)
State’s Harvest Is Nearly Completed
(Des Moines) — The state’s harvest is nearly completed as the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship reports the soybean harvest is done, and the state’s corn harvest is listed as being 98 percent complete.
Only 2% of Iowa’s corn for grain crop remains to be harvested, over 3 weeks ahead of last year and 11 days ahead of the 5-year average. In most areas of the State only scattered fields remain to be harvested. Some corn fields damaged by the derecho remain to be disked down. Extra tillage is being done
by some farmers out of concern for volunteer corn in 2021 due to damaged corn this crop year. Adequate amounts of soil moisture remain as a concern.
Topsoil moisture condition rated 13% very short, 31% short, 56% adequate and 0% surplus. Subsoil moisture condition rated 22% very short, 35% short, 43% adequate and 0% surplus.
Dordt University Students Able To Pay Off Student College Loans
(Sioux Center) — The student loan default rate measures the percentage of students who are unable to make the required payments on their student loans. Dordt University’s loan default rate is 1.8 percent, which is significantly better than the national average of 9.7 percent. Dordt’s low loan default rate of 1.8 percent shows that Dordt students who take out student loans to pay for their college education are very likely to repay the loan on time.
There are many reasons why Dordt students are able to make their loan payments on time, says Harlan Harmelink, Dordt’s director of financial aid.
“Here at Dordt, we have a very competitive level of indebtedness at graduation. This makes it more manageable to pay off their loans while balancing other living expenses.”
The last two years, the average debt load for Dordt students has been approximately $22,500. Many families find this to be encouraging when analyzing the financial commitment for Dordt’s approximately $43,000 in room and board per year.
Harmelink also credits Dordt’s career outcome rate, which was 99 percent for the class of 2019.
Northwestern College To Introduce New Leadership Center
ORANGE CITY, Iowa—Northwestern College has announced the establishment of a new Center for Innovation and Leadership. The center seeks to connect students’ ingenuity and organizational leaders’ insight to create shared opportunities that serve Christ’s kingdom and the common good.
“We are excited to launch the Center for Innovation and Leadership,” says Greg Christy, Northwestern’s president. “The center will invest in communities, organizations and initiatives through collaborative, innovative, Christ-centered leadership development, and problem-solving services and opportunities—under the extremely capable direction of Erica Vonk, with the assistance of a proven innovative businessperson in Josh Van Es.”
The Center for Innovation and Leadership features five launch programs:
· Accelerate Siouxland: a regional leadership development program focused on linking community members, college students and resources for the common good
· Learner to Leader: curriculum and mentoring programs that connect visionary students and organizational employees with innovative role models
· Research & Consultancy: access to the opinions, ideas and imaginations of college students for research, assessment, and product or service development
· Entrepreneur/Business Leader in Residence: bringing experienced and emerging leaders together both in the classroom and community
· Innovation Sandbox: an inspiring space for collaboration, creative thinking, and problem solving for both students, alums and regional organizations.
“We seek to create experiences that are win-wins for both the Northwestern community and our regional organizations and communities,” says Vonk. “I’m looking forward to creating a shared space to enable students, staff, faculty, alumni and area organizations to come together and start dreaming about things.
Inmate At Anamosa State Penitentiary Dies Of COVID-19 Complications
(Iowa City, IA) — An inmate at the Anamosa State Penitentiary has died of what Department of Corrections officials say is likely COVID-19-related complications. Timothy Christopher Bryant also suffered from pre-existing medical conditions. He became the ninth inmate or staff member in the state prison system to die during the pandemic. Bryant had been transferred to the
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics a few days earlier for more advanced care. The 59-year-old inmate had been serving a life sentence for a first-degree kidnapping conviction from Polk County. He had been in prison for more than 28 years.
Zoom Goes Dark, Des Moines City Council Quickly Recesses Work Session
(Des Moines, IA) — Des Moines city officials say their I-T staff is investigating what happened to the live stream of a Monday morning work session of the city council. When a glitch interrupted the broadcast, the session was quickly recessed. A news release blamed widespread outages in the Zoom network, although a spokesperson for Zoom said there was no outage
in the Des Moines area. All city meetings in Des Moines have been virtual since the coronavirus pandemic started. There have been complaints about severe limitations on opportunities for public comments. A new date for the meeting hasn’t been announced.
Man Accused Of Shooting Flares At Federal Courthouse
(Cedar Rapids, IA) — Authorities in Cedar Rapids have arrested a 39-year-old man for allegedly shooting flares at the federal courthouse. Federal officials notified Cedar Rapids police about the problem last Thursday. The flares reportedly started a brush fire that was quickly put out. The U-S Marshals Service says John Miller of Cedar Rapids was arrested at home last
weekend. He faces a federal charge of reckless use of an incendiary device and also a parole violation.
Cost Of Thanksgiving Dinner Down A Little This Year
(Des Moines, IA) — The annual Farm Bureau survey finds the cost of a typical Thanksgiving dinner for ten people has dropped by two dollars this year. The Iowa Farm Bureau’s director of agriculture analytics and research, Sam Funk, says the drop in overall meal cost comes as turkey fell seven percent to around one-dollar, 21 cents per pound. The other dishes include
stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a veggie tray, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and coffee and milk. Funk says the actual cost for the meal came in at 46-dollars, 90 cents. He says the inflation-adjusted price was lower than we have had in a very long time.
