Le Mars Police Respond To Gun Shots At Apartment Complex
(Le Mars) — Le Mars Police responded Monday afternoon at about 3:40 p.m. to 1355 Holton Drive Southwest, Apartment 313 in response to a disturbance and shots fired inside the apartment building complex. Upon arrival at the scene, officers quickly identified a suspect in the shooting and he was detained. An investigation revealed that an altercation occurred outside of apartment number 307. The two occupants retreated into their locked apartment and the suspect fired shotgun rounds into the door to gain entry in an attempt to assault the occupants. No one was injured in this incident, and it appeared that the victims were acquaintances of the suspect. The investigation is continuing and additional charges are pending. Arrested at the scene was 31-year old Thomas Toben. He has been initially charged with Burglary in the first degree with firearm, a class B felony. Burglary of the 2nd degree, a class C felony, and reckless use of a firearm aggressive misdemeanor.
Firefighters Respond To Tractor Fire
(Le Mars) — Le Mars Fire and Rescue Department responded to a tractor that caught on fire Monday afternoon. The fire was reported at about 5:23 p.m. when a tractor located on 230th Street near the Marble Avenue intersection was fully engulfed with flames. Le Mars Fire Chief Dave Schipper explains…
The tractor was a late model John Deere 7800 series. Schipper says due to the tractor was totally destroyed he can only guess as to what may have caused the tractor to catch on fire.
Firefighters were on the scene for approximately an hour. Schipper says it was unfortunate that the fire destroyed the tractor, but he says it was a good thing the tractor was on the roadway, and not in a field. Schipper says had the tractor caught on fire in a field, and as dry as it is, the fire would have spread quickly and would have destroyed several acres of crops.
County Supervisors To Decide On Funding Request From Premier Communications
(Le Mars) –Plymouth County Board of Supervisors have a short agenda for today’s weekly meeting. The county governing board will again be visited by officials with Premier Communications of Sioux Center. Premier was awarded a grant by the state to install high speed broadband internet services to much of the rural regions of Plymouth County. The grant was for $7.4 million dollars at a 35 percent matching rate. However, Premier Communications has estimated to adequately serve the approximate 1300 locations of rural regions of Plymouth County that would include rural Le Mars, Merrill, Brunsville, Struble, and Craig the total cost would be about $21 million dollars. Premier Communications will stand the initial cost of $11 million dollars. Premier Communications is requesting the county supervisors to approve a request of slightly more than $3 million dollars in order to install the internet to the rural regions of Plymouth County. During today’s meeting, the county board of supervisors will decide whether to approve the request for the $3 million dollars.
Farmers Are Getting Started With This Year’s Harvest
(Craig) — Farmers are just getting started with this year’s harvest, and despite having dry conditions throughout most of the growing season, area grain elevator officials believe farmers may be somewhat surprised with this year’s yield results. Doug Schurr is the general manager with the Farmers Cooperative Elevator at Craig. He says his grain elevator has already received both corn and soybeans from this year’s harvest.
Schurr says farmers will be busy harvesting soybeans this week, and many of the soybean yields have performed rather well.
Schurr says it is still too early to get a good read on the corn yields, but he says the corn that has already been delivered to the Craig elevator is seeing some high moisture levels.
Although the weather forecast is calling for warmer temperatures during the next few days, which will no doubt assist with the drying of the grain, the Farmers’ Cooperative Elevator official believes farmers may need to resort to artificial drying of their corn. He says supply, availability, and price of natural gas and propane is always the “wild card” for a fall harvest.
According to the latest weekly crop condition update as reported by the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, 18 percent of the state’s soybean crop has been harvested, while just nine percent of the corn crop has been harvested. Both are a few days ahead of the five-year average schedule.
Beitelspacher Retires From Primebank
(Le Mars) — A long-time employee of Primebank will be retiring at the end of September. Julie Beitelspacher has been with Primebank and formerly known as Le Mars Savings and even Le Mars Bank and Trust for more than 31 years. She recalls when she was first hired to work at the bank following her graduation from the former Westmar College.
Primebank will hold an open house this afternoon between 2 and 4 p.m. in Julie Beitelspacher’s honor.
Students Shelter In Place While Middle Schooler Damages Property
(Ames, IA) — Officials with the Ames School District say no injuries were reported, but damage was done to school property Monday morning. Ames police were called to the middle school just after 8:30 a-m on a report that one student was breaking out windows on the school’s second floor. Classes were asked to shelter in place. The student was doing additional damage as officers arrived. The shelter in place order was lifted after police detained the student who was involved. A letter was sent to parents explaining what had happened.
Fewer Fishing Licenses Sold, But Numbers Are Still High
(Des Moines, IA) — There’s been a nearly eight percent drop in the number of state fishing licenses sold in Iowa for this year compared to last year’s surge. The D-N-R’s Jeff Kopaska (koh-PASS-kuh) says the number of non-resident licenses sold is the second highest they’ve been in 20 years. Kopaska says he doesn’t have an explanation for that. The State of Iowa sold about 50-thousand non-resident fishing licenses for 2020 and, so far this year, nearly 48-thousand non-resident fishing licenses have been sold.
Iowa Churches Urged To Review Safeguards Against Embezzling
(Des Moines, IA) — The bishop for the Iowa Conference of the United Methodist Church is urging congregations to review their safeguards against embezzlement and fraud. Bishop Laurie Haller (HAL-er) issued a statement after the former bookkeeper at the First United Methodist Church of Mason City was sentenced to 27 months in prison for stealing thousands of dollars. Haller says it’s an unpleasant and uncomfortable topic, but she’s calling on all Methodist churches in Iowa to review procedures for counting offerings and accounting for donations as well as how expenditures are reviewed and approved. The bishop says these conversations may make people uncomfortable, but she says having good internal controls shows congregations care about the church’s ministry and the people who support it with their prayers, labor, and money.
Flu Cases Picking Up
(Des Moines, IA) — The Iowa Department of Public Health’s website shows seasonal flu activity in the state has started to increase. Public health and hospital officials are urging Iowans to get flu shots. The flu shot is available to anyone who is six months or older. The Iowa Department of Public Health data from August shows 16 schools reported at least 10 percent of students were absent due to the flu.
Spotted Lanternfly Raises Concern In Ag Community
(Des Moines, IA) — An exotic bug that was found in Kansas earlier this month is raising concern. The spotted lanternfly has bright red hind wings with black spots. The Iowa Department of Agriculture’s, Robin Pruisner (PRUSE-ner), says the insect could harm nursery stock and woody plants like trees, shrubs, and raspberries. She says they tend to leave behind a sticky substance while they’re feeding and that substance is really good at growing mold. The Iowa and Nebraska ag departments have both received reports of possible sightings of the insect, but so far they’ve all been false alarms.
