CITY LAND PURCHASE
The Le Mars City Council today approved helping Le Mars Fire/Rescue purchase property in the southwest part of the city. Fire/Rescue Chief Dave Schipper says the location, along 12th Street southwest, will be ideal for building a new fire station.
The move sets the stage for someday reaching the goal of proper fire coverage for the entire city.
The cost of the 2.1 acre parcel is 350-thousand dollars. The city council today approved spending 200-thousand dollars in American Rescue Plan Act funds on the purchase. Le Mars Fire/Rescue is raising funds to cover the rest. Schipper says 50-thousand dollars is in hand, and there’s more to come.
PLYMOUTH COUNTY SUPERVISORS
The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors will make a decision on wind generator setbacks at their regular meeting next week. Board Chairman Don Kass made the suggestion, to which the board concured. Kass also said he favors immediate setbacks of three times the height of the wind tower, and that that would expand to four times in 2025, By doing this, Kass says, a current wind project by windvenergy can be completed. The current setback is 12-hundred feet. Last week, the county zoning board approved a setback of four times the height of the tower, with a variance of three times the height of the tower. A planner for Invenergy later told the Board of Supervisors a 15-hundred foot setback would be workable, but a four times multiplier would make it extremely difficult to carry out their project efficienty. The issue of setbacks arose because of complaints of noise, shadows, and blinking tower beacons from neighbors.
ATM THEFT
Two men from northwest Iowa have been charged with stealing an A-T-M in Minnesota. A news release from the Sherburne County Sheriff’s Office indicates three men broke through the front door of a general store in Clear Lake, Minnesota and stole the A-T-M inside at about 4 a.m. Friday. An image of the get away vehicle was captured by security cameras. Minnesota deputies soon located the vehicle in the area and arrested the three men inside after a chase. A 51-year-old from Minneapolis, along wiht 40-year-old Daniel Johnson of Spencer and 36-year-old Robert McKevitt of Spirit Lake have been charged with third degree burglary. Johnson, the man from Spencer, has also been charged with fleeing a peace officer since he was driving the vehicle.
GOVERNOR APPOINTMENTS
The Iowa Senate has voted to confirm dozens of appointments Governor Kim Reynolds has made to state boards and commissions as well as four year terms for several of her state agency directors. All Republicans and three Democrats in the Iowa Senate have voted to confirm Governor Kim Reynolds’ choice to lead the Iowa Department of Education. Todd Aldis worked in the Florida Department of Education before working for groups that advocate for charter schools and the kind of state funded savings accounts Iowans will be able to start using next year to cover private school expenses. Senator Brad Zaun, a Republican from Urbandale, says Aldis is the most qualified person he’s seen nominated for the job in the past 19 years.
Thirteen Democrats voted against having Aldis as the Iowa Department of Education’s director.
Senator Molly Donahue, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids who’s a teacher, says at a pivotal time in public education, Aldis has never been a teacher or a school administrator.
A governor’s nominees for key roles in state government must get “yes” votes from at least 34 senators to be confirmed and Republicans now hold 34 seats in the state senate, ensuring the choices Republican Governor Kim Reynolds has made will be confirmed without the need for Democrats’ support.
DIAZ ARRAIGNMENT
A Sioux City man charged in a fatal accident in Plymouth County will face arraignment on May 1. 31-year-old David Jack Diaz is charged with homicide by vehicle and operating a vehicle while intoxicated. On June 7th of last year, Diaz was driving south on US 75 at 81 miles per hour when he crashed into the rear of a car that had slowed to turn at county road C70. A passenger in the car, 45-year-old Ermiohne Hoswa of Sioux City died at the scene of the crash. The driver of the vehicle, 22 year old Uzael Abraham of Sioux City, was also injured. Diaz’s blood alcohol content 1.5 percent, nearly two times the legal limit.
LE MARS COUNCIL
A land purchase for the city Fire Rescue will be before the Le Mars city council today. The council will consider purchasing a site along 12th St SW for construction of a fire/rescue station. Also before the council today is a public hearing to vacate a utility and drainage easement on a parcel in the Le Mars Industrial Park, South Section. There will also be second reading on an amendment to the city’s building and construction regulations in the city code.
PLYMOUTH COUNTY SUPERVISORS
The Plymouth County Board of Supervisors have several action items before them today. One is a Local Option Sales Tax Resolution; another is approval of a Cost Advisory Services contract. The County Sheriff will bring quarterly reports for discussion and approval; and the Supervisors will consider several action items from the county engineer.
‘420’ ENFORCEMENT
Plymouth County Sheriffs Office is preparing for 420, a date marked by marijuana users as a celebration of legal recreational marijuana use. Chief Deputy Rick Singer says they are going to be on lookout that day for impaired drivers.
An impaired driver shows the same signs of intoxication, whether it be alcohol or drugs. But Singer says drugged drivers are treated differently.
In Iowa, from 2020-2022, preliminary data shows 36% of impaired driving fatalities involved drug use. Plymouth County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Rick Singer says they will have four extra deputies on patrol that day.
Ironically, the preferred drug used by offenders in Iowa is neither marijuana or alcohol
There’s been a turnaround in the arrest trend for impaired drivers.
Marijuana for recreational use is still illegal in Iowa, but Singer says the impact of recreational drugs in other states are sitll felt here. Occasionally, traffic stops will reveal marijuana products purchased in other states that are being transported into or through Iowa. Singer says these products are confiscated as evidence, and eventually, destroyed.
FEENSTRA FAMILY PICNIC
The third annual Feenstra Family Picnic will feature a potential Republican Presidential Candidate as guest speaker. Feenstra’s office announced that Florida Governor Ron De Santis will headline the event on Saturday, May 13 in Sioux Center. De Santis was re-elected Governor of Florida by 20 percentage points in the elections last November. Previously, Feenstra hosted Vice President Mike Pence, and for UN Ambassador and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. The event is a fundraiser for Feenstra for Congress.
STATE RESORT SALE
The Iowa Natural Resources Commission has approved an agreement that moves oversight of the Honey Creek Resort in south-central Iowa from the D-N-R to the Department of Administrative Services. D-A-S director Adam Steen told the Commission they started talking about the issue with the D-N-R as his agency sought a contract for a new company to operate the resort. The resort along Rathbun Lake has had financial issues since it opened in 2008 and the D-N-R had sought a buyer before making the announcement it was hiring a new company to run the facility. Steen says the long-term goal is still to sell the resort.
