Postville News

by Sharon Drahn,
Postville Herald

by Sharon Drahn,
Postville Herald

The public is invited to attend the launch of "Postville, U.S.A.: Surviving Diversity in Small-Town America", Monday, November 16 at Turner Hall in Postville, beginning at 7 p.m. Authors Mark Grey, Michele Devlin and Aaron Goldsmith will make a short presentation at 7 p.m., followed by a question and answer session. For more information, contact Maryn Olson at the Postville Resource Center, 563-864-7021, or Cindy Berns at the Postville Public Library, 563-864-7600.

Jason Meyer, formerly employed as The Standard's Sports Editor, recently purchased the Postville Herald-Leader from The Standard's parent company, News Publishing, Inc. The sale was finalized October 29.
In addition to changes in the paper's layout and design, Meyer has changed the name of the paper back to its original name, the Postville Herald.
Long-time Editor of the Herald-Leader, Sharon Drahn, will remain on staff as News Editor.

The victims of last weekend’s fire in downtown Postville will receive assistance in locating and paying for rental housing. Hershey Friedman, chief executive officer of Agri Star Meat and Poultry LLC, is providing a donation to the Postville Response Coalition for rental housing assistance. Five apartments were destroyed in the blaze, displacing 18 residents.

Hershey Friedman, CEO of Agri Star Meat and Poultry, LLC, welcomed the press into the meat packing plant last week as he spoke optimistically about the future of the industry in Postville.
Friedman, who is a native of Canada, has plans for rebuilding the kosher meat packing plant into a thriving business. Having acquired the former Agriprocessors plant from the bankruptcy court in August, Friedman, 59, is also the CEO of Polystar Group, a privately held company with interests in packaging, plastics and machinery manufacturing throughout the United States and Canada.

by Sharon Drahn
Postville Herald-Leader

“Postville: Games, Apparitions and Mementos,” a two-person exhibit focusing on the people affected by the immigration raid on Postville, will be on display October 23-December 6 in the Center for Faith and Life on the Luther College campus in Decorah.
The exhibit includes felted images by Lana Suomala and drawings by Craig Ede. The exhibit is open to the public with no charge for admission.

Sholom Rubashkin, former vice president of Agriprocessors, Inc. is suing  for non-compliance with a Freedom of Information Act request regarding the May 8, 2008 immigration raid at Agriprocessors.
The suit states that Rubashkin asked for documents on why and how the raid was conducted and all information related to the raid. According to court documents, Rubashkin made the request in February of this year. Three follow-up letters were also sent and, according to Mr. Rubashkin's attorneys, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have not produced the documents.

A new book about the community of Postville was recently released. Postville, U.S.A.: Surviving Diversity in Small-Town America was written by Mark Grey, Michele Devlin and Aaron Goldsmith. The book's web site, www.postvilleusa.com, describes the book as follows: