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Everyone is invited to attend a presentation on human trafficking in the state of Iowa this Thursday, March 6 in Room 113 of the Northeast Iowa Community College (NICC) Waukon Center, located at 1220 3rd Avenue NW in Waukon. The presentation is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m., and those attending can watch the film “Gridshock” and hear a presentation on human trafficking in Iowa from Stacy Besch of Team Iowa, a priority initiative on combating human trafficking.

An Iowa survivor of human trafficking will talk about her experience and her book, “She Survived,” that was recently published. She will also talk about what she is doing to educate students across the state of Iowa through her organization, The Lighthouse Foundation.
 

Allamakee County Treasurer Nicki Smedsrud would like to remind property owners the second installment of property taxes is due by March 31, 2025. Those tax payments can be made at the Allamakee County Treasurer’s office in the Allamakee County Courthouse at 110 Allamakee Street in Waukon between the hours of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Property owners are reminded to bring their tax stubs with their payment to ensure proper credit. To avoid penalty on the second installment, payment must be received in the Treasurer’s Office by Monday, March 31. Penalty will begin to apply April 1.

E-check and credit card payments are also accepted online at www.iowatreasurers.org. Property owners will need their receipt number to pay by E-check, and this can be found on their tax statement.

submitted by the Allamakee Energy District

In 2024, the Allamakee Energy District (AED) started offering free energy assessments to non-profit organizations in Allamakee County with funding from the Just Transition Fund, a project of the Rockefeller Philanthropies.

To date, AED has contacted 35 non-profit organizations in Allamakee County. It has provided detailed on-site energy assessments to 20 entities and other forms of assistance to six others.  Five nonprofits in the county recently completed major energy projects.

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Lansing recently installed a 42 kW solar photovoltaic (PV) array on a non-utilized south-facing slope behind the church’s parking lot. The system is sized to generate approximately 90% of the electricity the church and the rectory consume over a typical year.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, is seeking public comments on a draft Environmental Assessment, or EA, for its proposed Blackhawk Park bank stabilization and erosion protection project. The proposed project is upstream of Lock 9 on the Upper Mississippi River on the Wisconsin side, adjacent to Vernon County, WI.

The purpose of the project is to stabilize the bank and shoreline at five sites with seven work areas around Blackhawk Park that were affected by the flooding events in spring 2023. Construction would occur in summer 2025. There will be temporary effects to recreational activities in the immediate area during construction, which will last several weeks.

Dairy Banquet scheduled for March 22

Applications are being accepted for Allamakee County Dairy Princess until this Friday, February 28. Those applications can be found online at www.extension.iastate.edu/allamakee.

Dairy Princess candidates must live in Allamakee County. She and/or her parents must either own dairy cattle and have cattle engaged in milk production, be actively employed in a dairy operation or have an invested interest in the Dairy Industry. Candidates must be between the ages of 16 and 22, and be at least a junior in high school and unmarried.

submitted by the Iowa Department of Transportation

Just over a month into the year 2025 there has been a lot taking place at the site of the new Mississippi River Bridge being constructed at Lansing. Overall, the weather has been pretty good and that has helped the bridge contractor, Kraemer North America, make a lot of progress over the past few weeks.

Bridge Beams in Place
It’s really starting to look like a bridge on the Wisconsin side of the river. With the three new piers and abutment completed on the east side of the river, Kraemer was able to set three spans of beams for the new bridge. Every one of the spans consists of five beams for 15 total beams currently in place.

Each one is just over five feet tall and approximately 121-feet long, weighing in at 106,500 pounds. The beams were trucked in from Midwest Precast Concrete in Mt. Pleasant to the construction site on the Wisconsin shoreline.

by Joe Moses

Allamakee County Zoning Administrator Stephanie Runkle recently met with The Standard relating to the Allamakee County Planning and Zoning Commission’s Public Hearing scheduled for Tuesday, February 18 regarding an amendment to the County’s Zoning Ordinance L. The proposed amendment will add specifics to the County’s zoning regulations relating to Utility-Scale Solar Energy Systems, Community Solar Energy Systems and an update to requirements for Personal Solar Energy Systems, among other updates.

Bleeding injuries can happen anytime, anywhere. If let uncontrolled, severe bleeding injuries could claim a person’s life in as little as five minutes.

With that in mind, Emplify Health by Gundersen will be offering a STOP THE BLEED® training event Tuesday, March 25 at Meehan Memorial Lansing Public Library, located at 515 Main Street in Lansing, from 5-6 p.m. Anyone may participate in this training, which is being offered free of charge to the first 10 participants to register by the March 24 at 12 noon registration deadline.

Award nominations due by February 17, Dairy Princess applications due February 28; Dairy Banquet scheduled for March 22

The Allamakee County Dairy Promotion Board is asking for assistance from the general public in identifying worthy candidates to be recognized as this year’s top dairy producers in Allamakee County at the 2025 Allamakee County Dairy Banquet scheduled to take place March 22 this year at the Allamakee County Fairgrounds Pavilion in Waukon. Every year, top producers and several other awards are nominated from members within the county. The Allamakee Dairy Promotion Board and the Allamakee County Extension office are accepting nominations for the following awards:

The sentencing and ruling denying a new trial handed down Monday, February 3 in Allamakee County District Court to Mindy Jones, the woman found guilty of purposely setting fire to her 9 Allamakee Street business building in Waukon, is now being appealed to a higher court.

Notice of Appeal documents filed immediately the day after Jones was sentenced to 25 years in prison on a charge of first degree arson and another two years on a charge of animal abuse for the death of a dog ruled to be caused by the February 13, 2022 fire indicate that the Notice of Appeal to the Supreme Court of Iowa was filed by Jones’ attorney, Aaron Hawbaker of the State of Iowa Public Defender’s office in Waterloo, in regard to those February 3 orders delivered by Iowa First Judicial District Judge Laura Parrish.