REMSEN OKTOBERFEST SATURDAY
Remsen’s 50th anniversary celebration of Octoberfest takes place Saturday. Curtis Kroger, on KLEM’s What Now program, says the event starts first thing Saturday morning.
There are costume and dance contests for the kids. This is open to anyone in the area, not just Remsen residents.
Two polka bands will entertain throughout the afternoon and evening.
Octoberfest began 50 years ago to help make community improvements.
A Bavarian Feast is served Saturday from 4 to 7:30 p.m. at Remsen St. Mary’s High School. Kroger says two menus are featured.
Find out more at RemsenIowa.org and on the Remsen Octoberfest Facebook page.
SATURDAY IS NATIONAL DRUG TAKE BACK DAY
Saturday is the second National Drug Take Back Day. The head of the Iowa Office of Drug Control Policy, Suzie Sher (Sure), encourages everyone to take part.
Sher says there are two national take back days every spring and fall.
Sher says more than five-thousand (5,077) pounds of unneeded medicine was turned in at the first event in April. Sher says if you miss the event this Saturday, there are other ways to properly dispose of the medication.
Sher says the permanent sites offer a good option year-round. In Le Mars, they include Le Mars Police Department, Floyd Valley Healthcare, and the HyVee Pharmacy. Another site in Plymouth County is Lewis Drug in Kingsley. There are drop boxes at these sites.
Saturday’s National Prescription Drug Take Back events will operate from 10:00 a-m until 2:00 p-m at designated sites across Iowa. You can also get rid of vaping devices and e-cigarettes as long as the batteries are removed from the devices. For more information or to find a site near you, visit: https://www.dea.gov/takebackday
HINTON BOND ISSUE
Last night, an information meeting was held by the Hinton Community School District, over their proposed 11.9 million dollar bond issue to support building improvements. Superintendent Ken Slater gave a short presentation , and then took questions. A building tour followed.
Voters will decide on November 5 whether to approve the sale of bonds to finance a variety of updates in parts of the High School and Middle School buildings. A 60% majority is required to pass the referendum. Plans call for replacing windows, security upgrades, roofing, improved electric and lighting systems, and construction of science, arts, and Technical Education rooms.
Last November, a 16.1 million dollar bond issue failed at the polls. Since that vote, the district reduced the cost of the project by 4.25 million and lowered the property tax rate increase from 4.05 to 1.02 per thousand. The measure was also simplified from four separate votes to just one.
KLEM will air a special program next week. An informational interview with Supt. Slater and board president Kyle Hoefling will be broadcast on Tuesday, October 29, starting at 10-30 a.m.
TOWER INCIDENT
Plymouth County Authorities were called Thursday morning to the site of a television tower near Hinton. The Sheriffs Department received a report of a young man who climbed the KCAU TV tower, three miles south east of Hinton.
The TV station in Sioux City had to go off the air briefly because a 16-year-old male climbed the broadcast tower in rural Plymouth County.
The Plymouth County Sheriff and Iowa State Patrol responded to the scene. A suspicious vehicle was found in the area. A deputy spotted a person on the tower at 15-hundred feet. He was reportedly live streaming from the broadcast tower.
KCAU cut the power to the tower to prevent possible electrocution of the teen.
Sioux City Fire Rescue started a high angle rescue at around 12-30. Plymouth County authorities were able to convince the teen to come down, and he met them at a platform over halfway up the tower, where he was brought down. Shortly after 1 p.m., the suspect and all rescue personnel were off the tower.
The teen, from South Sioux City Nebraska, was cleared by medical personnel, and was taken to the Plymouth County Jail. He was charged with trespass on a public utility, a class D felony.
Le Mars, Hinton, and Kingsley Police, Iowa State Patrol, Hinton Fire and ambulance, Sioux City Fire Rescue, and KCAU staff assisted the sheriffs department.
The tower was built in 1965, and stands 2-thousand feet high.
PHEASANT SEASON OPENS SATURDAY
The pheasant season opens this Saturday and D-N-R Wildlife Biologist Todd Bogenshutz says hunters will likely not duplicate last year. It was one of the better years in the last two decades with just shy of 600-thousand roosters taken. The roadside survey shows the wet spring did have some impact on bird numbers, but Bogenshutz there could be close to 400-thousand birds taken. Most of the soybeans have been harvested and large portion of corn as well, which Bogenshutz says will help hunters as they have better success when there are less standing crops for the birds to utilize for cover. The pheasant season runs through January 10th.
IOWA DRIVERS ARE NOW AT HIGH RISK FOR DEER DARTING ONTO THE ROAD
We’re now in one of the peak times of the year for deer-vehicle collisions. Trooper Paul Gardner, with the Iowa State Patrol in Fort Dodge, reminds Iowans to stay especially vigilant for the creatures that may try to dash in front of your car. A lot of deer are on the move because farmers are harvesting, he says. They’re very active between sunset and sunrise, but can be spotted during any hour. Deer can appear on practically any Iowa road, even in densely populated metro areas, and Gardner says motorists should be especially wary near woods and grassy areas. If you hit a deer, pull over, assess the damage, and if necessary, call law enforcement, as he says insurance companies may not cover the repairs without a police report.
EMERALD ASH BORER LEAVES MARK ON STATE
The Emerald ash borer is now confirmed in all 99 Iowa counties and the impact can be seen across the state. Entomologist Mike Kintner oversees the state Ag Department’s efforts to battle the invasive beetle and says ash trees make up half the trees in some communities
Kintner says preventive insecticide treatment is an option for healthy ash trees. But once they show severe symptoms – like dead branches in the top third of the tree – recovery is less likely. Kintner says the damage is easiest to spot in summer when healthy branches leaf out.
The woodpeckers dig into the tree bark to eat the larvae underneath. Infested ash trees tend to die within two to four years. As landowners and communities consider replacing these trees, Kintner recommends planting with diversity in mind.
VIRTUAL DRIVER’S LICENSE NOW AVAILABLE ON APPLE DEVICES
The Iowa Department of Transportation says you can now load your Iowa driver’s license or I-D to Apple Wallet on your iPhone and Apple Watch. Once you do that you can present the I-D in Apple Wallet in person at select T-S-A checkpoints, including the Des Moines and Eastern Iowa Airports. The virtual driver’s license has already been available on android devices. For more information, go to the D-O-T’s website.