River Valley

by B.J. Tomlinson

The Lansing City Council met in its regular session Monday night, September 19 and set the Citywide Fall Clean-Up Day for Tuesday, October 11. Refuse will be picked up at the curb, except appliances, which can be dropped off at the City Shed for a $5 fee.

A Public Hearing was opened by Mayor Mike Brennan to hear a report from Upper Explorerland Regional Planning Commission (UERPC) regarding the status of the Lansing Owner- Occupied Status of Funds. Michaela Collins from UERPC said four homes have been completed, one is ready for final inspection and one more will be completed by October 1. There were no comments or questions from the public and the hearing was closed.

The Council set a public hearing date of October 3, 2016 to report on the status of funding for the Lansing Water and Sewer Improvement Projects.

by B.J. Tomlinson

Because of Labor Day Monday, September 5, the Lansing City Council met in its regular session Tuesday, September 6.

The Council continued its discussion from past meetings related to the police contract with New Albin. Present at the meeting was Josh Dreps, New Albin City Council and Safety Committee member. Dreps said the New Albin City Council and Safety Committee members were all in favor of the terms in the new contract.

Lansing Council member Don Peters recommended a change in one paragraph of the agreement (Item 2.1, regarding Disputes). He suggested that instead of “disputes being resolved by the Mayors of both towns”, that they should, instead, be resolved by the Safety Committees and Mayors of both towns. The Lansing City Council agreed to the change and will revise the contract verbiage.

Lansing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) has been awarded a $25,000 grant from the American Heart Association as part of Mission: Lifeline, an American Heart Association community-based initiative aimed at improving the system of care for heart attack patients throughout rural Iowa. The Lansing EMS organization says the grant has specifically funded the purchase of a monitor which will perform all the vitals signs such as pulse, blood pressure, respiration and SPO2, as well as record and transmit a patient’s heart tracing directly to the emergency providers at the hospital, before the crew leaves the patient’s location.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of Americans have the most serious type of heart attack known as an ST-elevated myocardial infarction, or STEMI, in which blood flow is completely blocked to a portion of the heart. Unless the blockage is eliminated quickly, the patient’s life is at serious risk.

At a recent meeting of the Allamakee County Conservation Board and Foundation, a plan was suggested to include the Lansing area business community in raising money to support the Driftless Area Education and Visitor Center.

Under the plan, area businesses will be contacted and asked to donate toward three exhibits that are being reserved for the group. These three exhibits will carry the designation of being sponsored by the Lansing Area Business Community.  The three exhibits include:

by Susan Cantine-Maxson

“It’s like losing your family,” Dawn Schobert, long-time employee of the Blumenthal Lansing plant, expressed in regard to the plant's closing as the long-time Lansing facility has now ceased operations. “Many of us have worked together for as long as we can remember. I’ve worked there 42 years. We’ve seen each other get married, have kids, see those kids graduate, lose family members. Now we won’t see those people every day. It’s going to be hard.”

For the past seven years, Denise Becker of Lansing and her daughters, Jessica Verdon and Jennifer Becker, have run in the annual Chicago Rock and Roll Half-Marathon, which took place Sunday, July 17 this year. In addition to Sunday’s half-marathon, they also ran a 5K race the previous day, Saturday July, 16.

Every year Becker and her daughters run in the event to raise awareness of how Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) affect returning service members, helping to spread the message of “if we send them, we must mend them." Becker cites that, on average, 22 veterans take their own lives on a daily basis due to PTSD/TBI.

by B.J. Tomlinson

The Lansing City Council met in its regular session Monday night, August 15 addressing two issues that were postponed from the Council’s previous meeting. One was a request from organizers of the upcoming Bluff Country ATV ride to utilize Mt. Hosmer Park October 1 as part of an organized one-day event. Main Street Lansing Director Craig White said the group would be arriving in groups of 20-25 via South Road to Fourth Street, Center Street and Sixth Street, and that volunteers will be posted there for crossings. After discussion, the Council agreed to issue a one-day permit.

Finney, the wooden fish hidden somewhere within the Lansing community as part of The Standard newspaper’s promotion of this weekend’s Lansing Fish Days celebration, has been found. The nephew/uncle tandem of Jasper Peters, age two, of Lansing, son of Emmaline Peters, and Ezekiel (Zeke) Greenley, age eight, of La Crosse, WI, son of Kim Greenley, found Finney Wednesday, August 3 near the can collection cage by Lansing City Hall after following the clues available at each of the contest’s local sponsors. The two are pictured above displaying their prizes for finding Finney, which include $50 in Downtown Dollars donated by Kerndt Brothers Bank and Main Street Lansing, a gift bag with nutMeg’s items and a gift certificate donated by nutMeg’s, one large specialty pizza donated by Expresso, a $20 gift certificate donated by Studio K, pizza coupons donated by Kwik Star, and a $20 gift certificate donated by Carquest.
 

The Niña, a replica of the caravel sailing ship that was part of the famous trio of ships used by Christopher Columbus in his journey across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492, is pictured above sailing south past Lansing on the Mississippi River about mid-morning Tuesday, August 2. The ship was accompanied by another replica from the original triad of vessels, the Pinta, on its recent Mississippi voyage, as both set sail from Riverside Park in La Crosse, WI, where they had been docked for public touring over the previous weekend. The third vessel of that famous threesome, the Santa Maria, has never been reconstructed because it would be far too large of a vessel to navigate the river waters the other two ships currently sail on as floating maritime museums. Both replicas were constructed in Valencia, Brazil, the Niña being built from 1988 until she set sail in 1991, and the Pinta being completed 16 years later.

The Ferryville Tourism Council’s second annual Summer Heritage Campfire Program is winding down. Presentations are taking place at the south end of Sugar Creek Park in Ferryville, WI and all begin at 8 p.m. with a talk followed by s’mores over the campfire. Attendees need only to bring lawnchairs.

Mary Antoine, the director of the Fort Crawford Museum in Prairie du Chien, WI, will be the guest speaker August 10. Her topic will be the Winnebago Uprising from a woman’s point of view. Antoine has researched this topic extensively and will present an interesting perspective on this historical event.

All of the programs are offered free of charge at Sugar Creek Park in Ferryville, WI. For more information, contact Sherry Quamme at 608-734-9077 or Joanne White at 608-734-9018.