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Members of the ninth-rated Waukon girls basketball team head toward their fans displaying the State Qualifier banner they were awarded after posting a 55-44 victory over 13th-rated Davenport Assumption in their Class 3A Region 4 championship game played Saturday, February 16 at Marion High School. The Lady Indians jumped to a 5-0 headstart and never looked back, leading the game from start to finish to qualify for the Class 3A State Tournament for the first time since the 2009-2010 season, when the basketball Tribe finished as the Class 3A State Tournament Runner-Up. The Lady Indians (18-3) will now begin their Class 3A State Tournament journey with a first-round game Monday, February 25 against an all too familiar foe, seventh-rated fellow Northeast Iowa Conference squad Crestwood (15-5), beginning at 6:45 p.m. inside Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Full coverage of Waukon’s Region 4 championship triumph appears on Pages 15A-16A inside this week’s issue of The Standard.

First public meeting of the Friends group scheduled for March 3 in Harpers Ferry

Those who use and appreciate Yellow River State Forest (YRSF) in rural Harpers Ferry now have a way to directly support this treasure in Allamakee County.

A group of approximately ten area residents started working together late last spring to form a Friends of Yellow River State Forest organization. Now, they are ready for anyone and everyone who is interested to become involved. The new Friends of YRSF organization is holding the first public meeting of the Friends group March 3 at 2 p.m. at the Ethel Robinson Meehan Community Center in Harpers Ferry.

Friend groups are made up of dedicated volunteers who raise funds, make park improvements and otherwise give support, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR). Across Iowa, these citizen groups work to improve, protect and preserve natural resources.

by Joe Moses

Senator Michael Breitbach of Iowa’s 28th District, Representative Anne Osmundson of Iowa House District 56 and Representative Michael Bergan of Iowa House District 55 hosted a legislative forum Saturday, February 16 at the Allamakee County Farm Bureau building in Waukon. The event was an opportunity for the general public to have discussion with State of Iowa legislators representing their communities.

The event began with a greeting from Allamakee County Farm Bureau President Rick Weymiller with brief comments from Bergan, Osmundson and Breitbach before questions and comments were heard from the public with approximately 15 members of the public in attendance.

The Waukon girls basketball team has played its way to the Class 3A State Tournament for the first time in nine seasons, earning that qualification with a 55-44 regional finals victory over 13th-rated Davenport Assumption Saturday, February 16 at Marion High School. The Indians will now play an all too familiar foe, fellow Northeast Iowa Conference squad Crestwood, to open their Class 3A State Tournament journey Monday, February 25 at 6:45 p.m. at Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines.
The Standard newspaper will be printing a Waukon girls basketball Spirit Banner to be available in the community later this week. Call 563-568-3431 to be a part of that banner cheering the Indians ON TO STATE!

by Lissa Blake

After 122 years in business, Calhoun Creamery in Churchtown is closing its doors.

January 1 of this year, Calhoun Creamery member farmers joined the Foremost Farms cooperative. “The transition gives Calhoun Creamery members the assurance of a long-term, steady market for their milk,” said a press release issued by Foremost Farms in regard to that transition.

Foremost Farms and Calhoun Creamery have a long-standing history, as Foremost Farms has purchased milk from Calhoun since the late 1990s.

“Combining our milk supplies benefits Calhoun and Foremost Farms members,” said Michael Doyle, President & CEO of Foremost Farms. “Calhoun needs a market for its milk, and Foremost is addressing the need for a stronger presence in that area.”

HISTORY
Calhoun Creamery Manager Michelle Donahue explained Calhoun Creamery was started in the spring of 1896 by 20 local farmers who owned 210 cows.

Mississippi River guide Ted Peck of New Albin snapped and shared this photo Monday, February 4 around 2 p.m. of an ice jam on the Upper Iowa River near the intersection of State Highway 26 and Black Hawk Road about two miles south of New Albin in Allamakee County. Peck had been observing the ice jam, explaining that it began at the railroad bridge located just to the east of the State Highway 26 bridge pictured in the photo above and estimating that it had raised the river level in that area at a rate of nearly one foot per hour. Crews from Canadian Pacific Railroad were on scene to clear some of the ice away from that railroad bridge, which sits lower than the Hwy. 26 bridge pictured above and caused the flowing ice chunks from the previous weekend’s thaw to back up well past that highway bridge, as evident in the above photo.

A legislative forum open to the public has been scheduled for this Saturday, February 16 at the Allamakee County Farm Bureau building located at 14 First Avenue NE in Waukon, beginning at 11:15 a.m. Iowa House of Representatives District 56 Republican Anne Osmundson and Iowa Senate District 28 Republican Michael Breitbach have each been invited to field questions and discuss issues with the general public at Saturday’s forum.
 

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, February 11. During Public Comment, Chairperson Gloria Payne of the Allamakee County Historical Preservation Commission provided an overview of the organization’s activities, indicating that it was a good year. Payne discussed the organization’s Annual Report, which is being added to the February 18 Board of Supervisors meeting agenda. She also indicated that there is a vacancy on the seven-person commission.

Award nominations due by February 8; Princess applications due by March 1

The 2019 Allamakee County Dairy Banquet will be held Saturday, March 16 at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon. The meal will be served from 7-8:30 p.m., with the program starting at 8 p.m. The annual celebration recognizes the importance of the dairy industry in Allamakee County and the contributions dairy families make to the industry.

Every year, top producers from the county are recognized at the banquet. In addition, several other awards are presented that evening. The Allamakee Dairy Promotion Board and the Allamakee County Extension Office are accepting nominations through February 8 for the following awards:

The temperature reading of -26º pictured above on the clock thermometer at Waukon State Bank on Main Street in Waukon gives some indication of just how cold it was Wednesday morning, January 30 during the Polar Vortex cold snap that gripped the Midwest and beyond with historically cold temperatures in some areas. The -26º reading, however, was only about half as cold as it actually felt at times during the frigid stretch, as sustained winds hovering around 10 mph with gusts approaching 30 miles an hour plummeted wind chill factors to nearly double that temperature reading, those -40º to -50º wind chills creating dangerous situations that kept many area businesses from operating Wednesday, January 30 and even into Thursday, January 31, as depicted by the nearly empty Main Street scene above. Among those halted business operations was the U.S. Postal Service, which did not deliver mail in parts of as many as 10 states during Wednesday’s worst day of the cold snap.