Community News

Wed
09
Dec

Fill-A-Truck Holiday Drive benefits area nursing homes ...

Throughout the month of November, R.W. Pladsen, Inc. in Waukon hosted its Fill-A-Truck Holiday Drive, collecting gifts and necessities to give to area nursing home residents in Allamakee County in an effort to make their holiday season a little more special since many won’t be able to spend the holidays with family due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For each item donated to the drive, the donor’s name was put into a weekly drawing for a variety of gift certificates, t-shirts and other prizes from Allamakee County businesses. As evident in the photo above, a variety of items such as books, blankets, toiletry items, games, movies, stationery, calendars and other personal care items were donated, with those items being delivered to area nursing homes this past week. Pictured above with the truck full of donated items are, left to right, R.W. Pladsen, Inc. staff members Greg Halverson, Karina Opperman, Bob Kubitz, Carli Quandahl and Steve Pladsen.
 

Wed
09
Dec

Allamakee County reports new record COVID-19 case totals for a single day and for a week’s timeframe

Allamakee County experienced another series of record high case counts for COVID-19 this past week, reporting a new record high total for both single-day cases, as well as for the entire past week. The State of Iowa reports that 111 new cases were confirmed in the county in the past week’s timeframe dating from Tuesday, December 1 through Monday, December 7, eclipsing the previous weekly high of 108 cases from three weeks earlier and marking the third 100-plus weekly case total for Allamakee County since the pandemic began.

All three of those century-mark case totals have happened within the past four weeks, with the fourth of those weeks totaling just under 100 - 95 cases. Those past four weeks have represented the four highest weekly case totals so far for Allamakee County since case counts began in Iowa for the pandemic in March of this year.

Wed
09
Dec

Waukon City Council discusses sanitary sewer ordinance enforcement in regard to Aveka

by Joe Moses

The Waukon City Council met in regular session Monday, December 7 via Zoom web-conferencing to address a full agenda of items including the hiring of a consultant to assist in drafting a new industrial contract for sanitary sewage  treatment, discussion relating to enforcement of ordinances and contract provisions with Aveka Nutra Processing and the purchase of a tractor and mower for City Park maintenance.

There was no Public Comment and the council moved into Department Reports with Library Director Cate St. Clair providing a brief update relating to Robey Memorial Library.

Wed
02
Dec

Pinterest To Go Bags at Robey Memorial Library

Adults who are missing the library’s Pinterest Projects Class can stop into the library and pick up a Pinterest To Go Bag featuring the project Napkin Transfer Paper, beginning December 10 until gone. Create this fabric-like paper and use it to make a small gift bag.

Pinterest To Go is being offered bimonthly until the in-house program Pinterest Projects resumes. Pinterest Projects is a free class that features a craft found on Pinterest, a visual bookmarking tool that helps people discover and save creative ideas. Contact the library at www.waukon.lib.ia.us or 563-568-4424.
 

Wed
02
Dec

Supervisors approve interim Zoning Administrator, discuss changes to cropland portion of County Farm lease and Allamakee County Comprehensive Plan as it nears approval

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, November 30 to address a full agenda of items including consideration of the 2020 Allamakee County Comprehensive Plan, the appointment of an interim Planning and Zoning Administrator and discussion of the cropland portion of the County Farm lease for years 2021 to 2023.

Wed
02
Dec

Water main project along First Street NW...

A project involving the installation of a new main waterline (as depicted in the two surrounding photos) began just prior to the Thanksgiving holiday and, depending upon the weather, is expected to be completed by the end of this current first week of December, according to Waukon City Manager Gary Boden. The project is taking place between Second Avenue NW and First Avenue NW and will service the newly renovated Waukon Police Station (the front of which is pictured at far left in the photo below) as well as a future building project that will take place in the now vacant lot owned by the City of Waukon at 105 First Street NW (just to the south of the shed pictured at far right in the photo below). The project is being funded by the City of Waukon through tax increment financing (TIF). Standard photos by Joe Moses.
 

Wed
25
Nov

Additional honors distributed at annual Allamakee County 4-H Awards Program


4-H Hall of Fame ... Barb and Mark Howe were selected to be Allamakee County’s Iowa 4-H Hall of Fame inductees for 2021.

Allamakee County Beef Champion ... Jeremy Bieber.

Club Vice President Awards ... Left to right: Breelyn Dahlstrom, Bear Creek Kids and Madi Palmer, Elon PMC.

Officer Awards ... Left to right: Tegan Dahlstrom, Bear Creek Kids Club Reporter Award, and Natalie Byrnes, River Valley Panthers Club Treasurer Award.

Intermediate Livestock Awards ... Left to right: Katherine Hagen, Champion and Wyatt Baxter, Honorable Mention.

Editor’s Note: Surrounding photos were also taken the night of the October 25 Awards Program but a technical matter prevented them from being fully uploaded and included with other Award Program photos submitted and previously published in the November 11 edition of The Standard.
 

Wed
25
Nov

Slight decrease but still the second highest weekly total of new COVID-19 cases for Allamakee County this past week; Public Health issues statement on death reports

Although the new confirmed COVID-19 case weekly count for the past week decreased for the first time in a month, that new case count for the past week’s timeframe of Tuesday, November 17 through Monday, November 23 still remained at 95 cases, by far the second highest weekly total and ranking only below last week’s total of 108 cases. Similar to last week’s highest-ever single-week case count, six of the past seven days reported were in the double-digit area for number of new cases.

Wed
25
Nov

Heartland Barbershop and Gospel Singers to perform Ecumenical Concert December 13...

The Heartland Barbershop and Gospel Singers, the Waukon area’s newest vocal ensemble, has been heard singing sacred choral selections regularly Sunday mornings on KNEI Radio 103.5 FM at 8:30 a.m. opening the worship services at St. John’s Lutheran Church with their four-part harmony singing “Turn Your Radio On.” The St. John’s Sunday Services can now also be seen and heard on Facebook searching St. John’s Lutheran Church, Waukon, Iowa. The men have been singing at various functions since last spring and have accumulated an extensive vocal repertoire of music from the “Star Spangled Banner” to “The Lord’s Prayer.” Their music has been heard on the radio as far away as the Virgin Islands. They will be the featured performing vocal ensemble for the Allamakee Ecumenical Choir Concert scheduled for Sunday, December 13 at 7 p.m. Further details concerning the concert will be made available soon in a future publication.

Wed
18
Nov

Celebrating Global Entrepreneurship Week: Young local entrepreneurs share their business ownership experience


Cooking up his own business idea ... Denzel Decker of rural Allamakee County, owner of Decker Delish, taught himself how to make his own specialty cupcakes and started selling them at farmers markets and craft and vendor shows, as well as making them to order for special events. “I’ve kept the same recipe the whole time,” he says. Submitted photo.

Creativity is... a piece of cake ... Denzel Decker’s cupcakes are known for their whimsical designs. The cupcakes pictured above featuring beach, sunflower and honeybee themes are from a photo submitted from his business Facebook page for Decker Delish. Submitted photo.

A sign of his times ... Thomas Rethwisch, age 16, of Lansing, owns and operates his own vehicle polishing and detailing company, “Thomas’s Polishing and Detailing,” as indicated by the sign that hangs above his shared business location in Churchtown. He comes by business ownership via a family inclination toward entrepreneurship: His father, Matt, owns and operates Rethwisch Trucking, Inc. Photo by Julie Berg-Raymond.

A bright and shiny future ... Thomas Rethwisch works on one of his polishing projects that are just party of his Thomas’s Polishing and Detailing business. “It’s hard and dirty work that requires me to wear PPE such as a full-face respirator, ear muffs and gloves,” Thomas says, but he also finds he has a knack for it that helps fuel his young business venture. Photo by Julie Berg-Raymond.

by Julie Berg-Raymond

The world has perhaps never needed entrepreneurs more than it does right now.

With the entire planet struggling to understand and work through the effects of a global pandemic, it may well be entrepreneurs among us - the innovators and risk-takers who Jonathan Ortmans, founder and president of the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), calls “a force for good” - who will inspire us to keep going, keep trying, and keep alive what Ortmans believes is our common “curiosity and enthusiasm about making the world a better place” (genglobal.org).

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