Community News

The Allamakee County Pioneer Cemetery Commission is hosting an open house at the Freedom Bank lower level in Waukon Tuesday, May 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A short presentation will begin at 1 p.m. but those interested can stop in anytime for a cup of coffee.

Someone will be present to answer questions all day about the Commission. Anyone who cannot attend and has questions or information to share is asked to contact Commission member Marcia Rush at 563-880-3014.

On display at the May 16 open house will be pictures of work already done; copies of old cemetery plat maps; items and ideas to use to clean and preserve tombstones - and what not to use; as well as a map of Allamakee County with all the cemeteries.

by Joe Moses

The Allamakee County Board of Supervisors met in regular session Monday, May 8 to address a full agenda of matters including the consideration of the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, the Public Hearing for the Fiscal-Year 2023 (FY23) Allamakee County Budget Amendment and the Liquor License Renewal for Empty Nest Winery.

The meeting was called to order by Board of Supervisors Chairperson Dan Byrnes with Supervisors Dennis Keatley and Mark Reiser in attendance. There was no Public Comment during the time allotted for that agenda item.

Tuesday, May 2, the Next Gen Welds program through Waukon High School received a donation of $10,000 from Gemini at its Decorah location in an effort to provide funding and learning opportunities for students, in the interest of promoting local advanced manufacturing. More than a dozen students under the guidance of Waukon High School Industrial Arts instructor Caleb Ferring made the trip to the Gemini manufacturing facility in Decorah to receive the donation and also tour the facility.

The Allamakee County Veterans Museum will be offering its next public program at its museum located at 105 Allamakee Street, Waukon Thursday, May 18, beginning at 1 p.m. There is no charge for admission and no membership requirements to attend.

The late Dr. Frank Norden left his optometrist practice in Waukon in 1942 to join the U.S. Navy. Initially, he was assigned to medical duty, but he volunteered to go to sea and was assigned to a tugboat, the USS Sakaweston YTB-289, and later appointed its captain. He returned to Waukon in 1946 after discharge from naval service and resumed his practice.

His daughters, Kristen and Margaret, will share their recollections of his naval service. The program will also include a video tour of a typical WWII era military tugboat.

As predicted by the National Weather Service, water levels on the Mississippi River at the Lansing gauge reached their spring flooding crest Friday, April 28. However, the crest the Service forecasted of 20 feet that would have reached major flood stage and ranked second all-time behind the April 1965 record of 22.5 feet was, fortunately, off by about half a foot, ending up at 19.61 feet in Friday’s early morning hours. That crest is actually the fourth highest recorded by the National Weather Service at that Lansing measuring gauge, also behind the river’s most recent highest crest of 19.93 feet in April of 2001 and the earliest highest crest recorded of 19.90 feet in June of 1880.

Peoples State Bank’s new Waukon location recently received a First Dollar Visit from the Waukon Chamber of Commerce during a ribbon cutting ceremony held at the bank’s newly-opened building at 802 West Main Street in Waukon. Pictured above at that First Dollar presentation and ceremony are members of the Waukon Chamber of Commerce, employees of the Peoples State Bank Waukon location and members of the Peoples State Bank Board of Directors. Submitted photo.
 

The Allamakee County Pioneer Cemetery Commission is having an open house at the Freedom Bank lower level in Waukon Tuesday, May 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A short presentation will begin at 1 p.m. but those interested can stop in anytime for a cup of coffee.

Someone will be present to answer questions all day about the Commission. Anyone who cannot attend and has questions or information to share is asked to contact Commission member Marcia Rush.

A Pioneer Cemetery is defined as a cemetery that has 12 or fewer burials in the last 50 years. A Pioneer Cemetery may be an individual burial, a family plot or an area within an existing cemetery.

It is estimated that in 1996, Allamakee County had 20 cemeteries in the county plus six small plots and several single burials that would meet the qualifications of a Pioneer Cemetery. Since then, at least two more plots and one cemetery can be added to that list.

by Joe Moses

The Waukon City Council met in regular session Monday, May 1 to address a full agenda of matters including a Presentation by FEH Design relating to the Street Department/Park and Recreation Garage, a Partial Pay Request relating to the 9 and 11 Allamakee Street Clean-Up Project and the Annual Insurance Renewal for the City of Waukon. Mayor Pat Stone called the meeting to order with approval of the meeting agenda.

The meeting moved into Department Reports with Water and Sewer Superintendent Jim Cooper noting the work performed over the weekend by Water and Sewer Department employees in repairing a water main break in his absence. He added that his crew worked a late evening in making this repair with their efforts being greatly appreciated. Cooper also reported that only 27 water meters are left for replacement as part of the city-wide commercial and residential water meter upgrade.

During the 2023 Iowa Auctioneers Association Convention held in late January of this year in Des Moines, Jodi Sweeney-Egeland became the third generation of the Sweeney family to be inducted into the Iowa Auctioneers Association Hall of Fame. She joins her father, Jeff Sweeney, the 2001 inductee; and her grandfather, the late Ray E. Sweeney, the 1992 inductee.

Jodi grew up in the auction industry and started coming along to her family’s auction events to help run clerk sheets at age five. By the time she was 11 years old, she was promoted to clerking and performed that task through junior high and high school. Jodi went off to college at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) in Cedar Falls in the fall of 2005 and decided to take a summer session at the World Wide College of Auctioneering in June of 2006.

The Allamakee County Veterans Museum in Waukon is still in search of a number of photos to complete its Wall of Honor (pictured above) displayed inside the museum. Organizers of the Allamakee County Veterans Museum are seeking help from family members, friends and the general public in locating good quality photos of a number of Allamakee County Veterans who were Killed in Action (KIA) or held as Prisoners of War (POW) during World War I, World War II, the Korean War or the Vietnam War.

A full listing of the photos still needed for Allamakee County Veterans follows in this article. Anyone who has pictures of these men is encouraged to bring them to the museum or contact the museum by phone (563-568-2954) or by email message (info@allamakeehistory.org) so that arrangements can be made to make a copy that photo for this project: