FAIR BOARD
The Plymouth County 4-H and Agricultural Society held their annual meeting last night at the Le Mars Convention Center.
Chairman Loren Schnepf says one of the highlights of the meeting was an expansion of their governing board, from 24 to 28.
This is a working board, with the emphasis on working.
There was also a review of the 2022 Plymouth County Fair. Schepf says the Fair this year was an overwhelming success
One of the discussions held among the members was how to increase entries in 4-h judging events.
Schepf thinks a continued effort to bring youngsters into 4-H is key to that issue,
Expand the paved areas in the parking lot adjacent to Century Hall.
In Addition to an expanded board, the group renominated the existing officers for another term. These include Schepf as Chairman, Vice-Chair John Ahlers, Secretary Gail Shoenrock, and Treasurer Michael Betelspacher.
POWER OUTAGE
A power outage yesterday (Thursday) in Le Mars affected close to 700 customers. MidAmerican Energy says a component that failed was the cause of the outage. The outage included the downtown Le Mars businesses district and beyond at around 12:10 p.m. Thursday afternoon. Geoff Greenwood, Media Relations Manager for MidAmerican told KLEM that a crew responded and was able to restore 300 of those customers within 25 minutes. The crew restored all but one customer by 1 p.m. and the last customer shortly after 2 p.m.
INJURY ACCIDENT
A Hawarden man was injured last night in a single vehicle accident in Plymouth County. The Plymouth County Sheriffs Department reports the accident occurred on county road K22, near the intersection with C16. The driver, 28 year old Michael Garrett, lost control of the vehicle and went into a ditch on K22. Garrett was taken to Floyd Valley Health by Ireton Ambulance. He was treated for minor injuries. The accident occurred around 6-30 pm. The Iowa State Patrol and Ireton Fire and Ambulance assisted at the crash scene.
QUILTS OF VALOR
Ginny Freyermuth of Le Mars is a quilter, and she does a prolific amount of work. Three years ago, Ginny became involved in Quilts of Valor. Her first Quilt of Valor was presented to the husband of a friend of hers.
Quilts of Valor is an organization that began in 2003, when the mother of a soldier sent her son a quilt to comfort him.
Freyermuth is a member of the Quilts of Valor Foundation, the organization which sets the standards for the quilts that are presented to veterans.
Ginny says its an honor to create the quilts, and rewarding to see them presented.
One quilt takes an estimated 100 hours of work and costs some 300 dollars apiece to produce. Freyermuth says the banks and business in town that she has approached to help defray costs have been generous.
The quilts have been presented in a variety of settings.
Ginny says the quilts also carry personal information about the recipient’s military service, in the case of one presented earlier this week.
Freyermuth at first wanted to get 4-H clubs interested in making Quilts of Valor, but that idea was quashed by the Covid outbreak. But Ginny said the idea took root in the community when these quilts were presented to veterans at the Plymouth County Fair.
Since joining Quilts of Valor three years ago, Freyermuth has completed 52 quilts. Seven were presented to veterans just this week.
LICENSE PLATE CASE
A ruling on an obstructed license plate will stand after a split vote in the Iowa Supreme Court on the issue. Prince Payne was stopped by an Altoona police officer who said the ball in the trailer hitch of his pickup was blocking the view of the third letter on the license plate. Payne was convicted of driving while barred, but appealed, saying the stop was illegal because the hitch ball did not violate the requirement that license plates be clearly visible. The district court ruled against Payne, but the Court of Appels ruled in his favor. Three Supreme Court justices favored the appeals court decision, and three favored the district court, with one justice not taking part. The high court split means the district court decision of a legal stop stands.
STATE AUDITOR RECOUNT
The final batch of votes from two counties are in and Rob Sand appears to have narrowly won re-election as state auditor. About two-thousand votes from Warren County and around 800 votes from Des Moines County were added to the statewide tally on Thursday afternoon. Those unofficial results show Sand ahead of Republican challenger Todd Halbur (HAL-bur) by 26-hundred-14 votes. Halbur will ask for a recount. Under state law, Halbur could ask for recounts in all 99 counties or ask for recounts in specific countues. Because Halbur’s vote tally is currently less than one percent behind Sand’s, all recounts would be paid for by taxpayers.
